BDSM - Bartosso's Daily Saturnine Musings

Before I start, a disclaimer, let's make it a tradition:

Music. One word, countless feelings evoked. Ah, yes, so you came here to read something written by this guy that tries soooo hard. Here you go. Today's essay's about emotional/conceptual associations we make between books and music we listen to at the moment of reading. 

The first time it happened to me was looong before puberty. I think I was 5 - 8 years old at the time. I had a Disney book called "Hercules". It told a disturbing story about a ginger muscle guy, no need to talk about it now. Anyway, somehow I ended up listening to M people cassette while reading the book. Even now, many years later, I still "feel" the book every time I listen to M people... which is never by the way, I don't listen to that crap anymore! So, I felt it, every time I listened to M people. By feeling it, I don't mean any scenes or characters in particular, just the atmosphere in general and feelings the book evoked in me. It's just as if the music were a soundtrack to the story, regardless of how incompatible M People and Hercules are. Another, maybe even sillier example, is Bjork's Isobel, a track from Post. As an avid dinosaurs fan, I read many books about these amazing creatures throughout my childhood. I fantasized about them, I saw them among the trees while looking through the car window, hell, I even pretended to be one! It's not made up, I swear! So, anyway, I used to listen to Bjork quite a lot too at the time. Isobel has become that one track that I instantly associated with dinosaurs. I actually thought it was ABOUT dinosaurs, running through the forest, majestically raising their heads above the treetops. How disappointed I was when I found out, many years later, that the track's name is Isobel (yeah as a kid I didn't care about titles) and what's more, it's absolutely not about dinosaurs.

A few years ago I realized that I could actually enhance my reading experience by listening to one album over and over again while going through a book. It creates a bond. Obviously it can't be just any album but rather one that you already know pretty well and like quite a lot. For instance, I've been reading Murakami's Hard-boiled Wonderland and The End of the World, one of his most surreal books. As I head some awesome experience with Reisefieber by Mikołaj Łoziński and One Armed Bandit by Jaga Jazzist, I started to associate an album with a book and listen to it. If it worked, I had this book "stuck" in the music for the rest of my life. If it didn't, well, I'd change the music or read without any music at all. So, anyway, I listend to Kayo Dot Choir's of The Eye while reading Murakami. And let me tell you, it worked great. Both the book and the album are great but they're even better as a duo. Kayo Dot gives you the sense of wonder, menace and psychedelia and that's exactly what you need to amplify the mood of Hard-boiled Wonderland.

I know it might not be the most groundbreaking thing and some of you have already tried this. Still, if you haven't, give it a shot: pick an album you like, album you think would go well with the books you're reading and listen to it. Bind the album to the book and keep it this way forever.

Daily Disclaimer:

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I hate statistics. Mostly because there's a significant gap between required amount of critical thinking to interpret them and the actual intelligence of people doing it. Still, a non-metal friend of mine once told me that there's been a study about correlation between music preferences and intelligence and guess what. People listening to metal are apparently, allegedly more intelligent STATISTICALLY than your average rocker or popper (my word for pop music fans, but also THIS). Ha! You listen to metal, right? You feel better now? Don't get excited just yet.

So, why is that? Why would we be so awesome, you ask? Isn't it obvious, we're outcasts, living on the edge! I started listening to metal when I was around 12 years old. I remember having a Judas Priest and Overkill cassettes from my cousin and played the shit out of them. Mostly of Painkiller, actually, since Overkill bothered me greatly. I listened to Metallica and System of a Down too. And when I was 14, my girlfriend introduced me to Slipknot, my first extreme metal band. Yep, whatever we might think of Slipknot now, they were pretty extreme back in the day. Then I realized Slipknot sucked, I discovered Opeth and my whole life changed. So, anyway, you may think that my music tastes made me an outcast but that's not true. I was one long before all that. And you know what the life of outcast taught me? Always think for yourself, don't follow the crowd, be yourself. Also: don't look'em in the eye, run before they form a circle, hide in the bushes.

According to the study, people listening to metal, and especially to the more underground forms of metal, are statistically more intelligent. I was stumped when I heard that. First of all, most of my intelligent friends (friends that were better at the sciences than me, for instance), didn't listen to metal. The only subject I was really good at was Polish (it's my native language) and history (kind of). I was writing high rated essays, basically. So apparently, from an educational standpoint, I wasn't especially intelligent. Just your average alienated kid that can't play football and hangs out with other alienated kids but they don't form any real group or subculture... although today we could easily be classified as nerds due to our fascination with tabletop rpgs. Whatever the actual level of my intelligence may be, assuming it can be accurately measured by those silly IQ tests, I think the word "intelligence" should be replaced with "independent thinking" in this particular case. We, people of both sexes listening to metal, often are independent thinkers. We listen to music that is harsh, raw, music that most people consider to be an obnoxious noise. We don't follow their judgement, though. We judge by our own standards. And that's the point: why do we consider an ugly, obnoxious noise to be enjoyable or even... beautiful?

Good question. I'll try to answer it in the next installment of BDSM. For now, that is all. Almost. Before you go... recent studies have shown that all kids are intelligent and everyone is born with a talent. Don't believe those who try to tell you otherwise. What education (and stupid parents) makes us loose, is the ability to think for ourselves. So, if you're young, don't let the education ruin you! If you're old and listen to some sick music, don't worry, you're fine.