Rock On - Music

When I was about four years old, I stopped talking to almost everyone who didn’t live in the same household as I did. My friends, cousins, aunts, uncles, my grandmother, and even my two older half-sisters. Whether this mutism was what caused it, or just what started it, I went through many miserable years of strong depression. Everyone begged me over and over to just say one word. Some people even said they hated me. No one knew how difficult it was for me to even look another person in the eyes.

Ten years later, the month after I turned fourteen, I began to see a psychiatrist. I was diagnosed with a social anxiety disorder called Selective Mutism, as well as Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder and severe depression. I was immediately put on Prozac and Abilify (both anti-psychotics/depressants). After a year or two of raising the medication slowly, I peaked at 180 mg of Prozac per day.

“She fooled all of her friends into thinking she’s so strong
But she still sleeps with the light on
And she acts like it’s all right on, as she smiles again
And her mother lies there sick with cancer
And her friends don’t understand her
She’s a question without answers
Who feels like falling apart.
She knows, she’s so much more than worthless
She needs to find a purpose,
She wonders what she did to deserve this…”

Even with the medication, people still didn’t believe there was anything wrong with me. Slowly I began to talk to my friends and relatives again, but some still seemed to have a grudge. Of course, nothing in the lyrics above really related to me. My mother didn’t start developing colon cancer until later, and even then she got it promptly removed and it hasn’t shown up again. Even though that is only in one line of the mentioned verse, it kind of implies that that is the reason this girl is “a question without answers” and she “feels like falling apart.” So, what was MY problem? I had a great family, a great faith, I was always smart, and was very skinny. What made me so down?

“And he tells everyone a story,
Cause he thinks his life is boring
And he fights so ou won’t ignore him,
Cause that’s his biggest fear
And he cries, but you’ll rarely see him do it
And he loves but he’s scared to use it
So he hides behind the music
Cause he likes it that way
And he knows, he’s so much more than worthless
He needs to find the surface
Cause he’s starting to get nervous”

Even though my mother understands now, almost everyone I know, including my own brothers and sisters, think I’m just being a baby. In this verse, nothing is implied to be the source of the boy’s pain, yet he seems so hopeless. This is exactly how I felt. There was nothing so horrible about my life, aside from the normal teenage angst. Slowly over the years of taking Prozac I found out about hormones and Seratonin and such. There are glands in the brain that tell you how to feel. Most people have a certain sized gland in their brain for sadness. Mine, however, was much bigger. Of course, certain amounts of vitamins could average things out. The point is, even though a lot of depressed kids have a lot to be depressed about, that doesn’t mean that anyone who’s depressed and has a decent life isjust being a “baby.” People still call me “emo” sometimes, because I still cut myself. Everyone thinks there’s nothing underneath that makes me upset. Do you ever get upset when someone says “You have nothing to complain about”? Do you ever just want to tell them that they can’t know anything that you feel? I almost always feel that way. And though the Prozac has made radical changes in my life, I still get majorly depressed sometimes. I still have to say that honestly, nothing too dramatic has happened in my life. I really have nothing that should make me want to die. But sometimes I do want to die. Sometimes I want to die so desperately, but I can’t do anything about it, so I just sit and cry.

Depression is not a feeling. It’s mental disorder. It is just as serious as Down Syndrome or Dyslexia. If you’re the person that makes fun of “emo” kids, then think about this next time you think you know everything going on in others’ lives. If you’re the one getting put down because you’re depressed for reasons you have no control over, I post this song for you.

I’m calling out to you
This is a call, this is a call out
Cause everytime I fall down, I reach out to you
And I’m losing all control now
And my hazard signs are all out
I’m asking you to show me what this life is all about
Have you ever felt this way before
Cause I don’t wanna hide here anymore
Take me to a place where nothing’s wrong
And thanks for coming, shut the door
And they say some one out there sees us,
Well if you’re real, then save me Jesus
Cause I’ve been this way for far too long
I wasn’t meant to feel alone

For most rock and roll enthusiasts, names like “Elvis” and “Dylan” garner the kind of automatic veneration delegated to Mozart and Beethoven in classical circles. Indeed, popular music has certain heroes who seem to stand miles above their peers. But where do we draw the line between the true rock visionaries and the merely talented artists who follow their lead? Who deserves to be remembered for changing the course of modern music for years to come?

In 1983, Ahmet Ertegun was determined to settle the score. The Atlantic Records founder set out to establish a Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, paying tribute to rock’s greatest performers and other important figures in the genre’s still-young history. By 1986, Ertegun and a committee of so-called rock experts were ready to honor the first class of inductees, ushering in an era of official recognition for achievement in rock and roll.

Recently, I was greeted with the chance to make a rock pilgrimage of sorts to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland, Ohio. Being a self-professed popular music snob, I naturally approached this commercialized institution with some degree of suspicion. After all, could a panel of critics and label execs really be trusted to spell out the history of rock and roll in fair and accurate terms? Despite my cynical apprehensions, I found myself standing at the museum’s door fully ten minutes before opening time, making me the first over-excited idiot of the day to show up.

Inside, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame is a veritable paradise for rock musicologists. With multimedia and artifacts representing every era of rock history, the museum offers a nerdy thrill a minute. Rare footage and objects from popular music legends abounds, as does written material that puts rock lore admirably in perspective. Even when interest in historical minutia begins to wane, it’s difficult to deny the entertainment value of the psychedelic paint job on Janis Joplin’s Porsche or David Bowie’s outrageous stage garb.

Although the museum pays tribute to current inductees and non-inductees alike, those who have been officially honored are enshrined in a video presentation that keeps the focus appropriately on their music. And though it certainly doesn’t hurt to be a multi-platinum megastar, it would be unfair to say that only the most commercially successful artists are candidates for induction. Rather, the primary criterion seems to be far-reaching influence; alternative rock pioneers such as the Velvet Underground and the Ramones have been admitted despite being relative commercial flops in their respective heydays.

In a musical culture so often defined by rebellion against capitalist institution, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame seems to have a sobering effect on its inductees. This, of course, is endlessly ironic because the Hall is as capitalistic and institutionalized as it gets. Yet, even performers with a history of public squabbles with the record industry, like Tom Petty and John Fogerty, have become gracious and enthusiastic acceptors of the honor. Indeed, the Hall of Fame has cultivated an air of legitimacy powerful enough to make many counterculture icons willingly accept a pat on the back from the man.

Not every honoree, however, has responded with such gratitude. When the Sex Pistols received word that they had been chosen as inductees for the Class of 2006, the legendary punks posted a hastily scrawled note on their website, declining to attend the induction ceremony and casting the Hall of Fame as a profiteering “piss stain.” That’s the spirit, lads.

The Sex Pistols’ attitude toward the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame has often been echoed by discriminating rock listeners who are offended by the notion of an “official” registry for artistic greatness. The idea of a “hall of fame,” these critics argue, should be reserved for fields such as professional sports, in which individuals can be ranked according to scores and statistics. Popular musicians, whose achievements are subjective and defy quantification, do not fit this mold. Therefore, opponents of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame say, there cannot and should not be any “final word” on who the true geniuses of rock are.

The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame has also come under fire for its loose definition of “rock and roll,” which permits artists from non-rock genres such as jazz and hip hop to be inducted. This year’s induction of Madonna, alongside more traditional “rock” icons including John Mellencamp and the Ventures, drew harsh criticism from strict constructionists of rock. Previous controversial inductees have included hip hop pioneers Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five and jazz trumpet master Miles Davis. For many, it seems as though the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame is degenerating into a disjointed who’s-who of music-biz celebrities.

In a sense, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame was doomed from the start to be controversial. Whether or not it intends to do so, the institution seems to uphold its inductees as infallible deities. And in the community of self-proclaimed rock critics, nothing is sacred. Rock fans thrive on the thrill of a good argument, challenging prevailing views about greatness and influence and offering up their own takes.

Try asking some popular music nerds who started punk rock. Some will say the Ramones. Others will cite the MC5 or the Stooges. I say the Kinks and the Who had plenty to do with it. The beauty of an argument like this is that it has no definitive answer. The goal of having the discussion is less to prove a point than to probe the knowledge of fellow scholars and share some nuggets of rock lore. These arguments may uncover more common ground than new quarrels, but music nerds maintain just enough discrepancies to pick up the conversation right where it left off.

But what happens when you give a nerd the power to announce the names of rock’s geniuses to the world? My guess is that besides having millions of dollars and a museum at their disposal, the geeks who choose the inductees for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame are no different from the geeks found lingering in record stores around the world. They have their version of rock history, and I have mine.

Walking through the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame was like picking the brain of a fellow rock enthusiast. I soaked up every song and story, whether or not I already knew it by heart. I nodded my approval when an exhibit struck just the right chord. I grimaced when things seemed to fall out of tune with my way of thinking. In those cases, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and I would have to agree to disagree. And by that measure, it was one of the best arguments I’ve ever had.

ok. so i REALLY like this band. and i LOVE the song. when i first herd of the song, i was reading the book twilight. i was reading who she dedicated the book too. and she said that she was inspired by the band muse. there song Our Time Is Running Owt, it SO remindes me of Edward! if you havnt read the book, Edward is one of the two main charicters. if you dont know what the book is about, witch i’m shure you do, its is about this girl named bella who moves to Forks Washington, to live with her dad, Charlie. but what nobody knows is that a family of vampires lives there. enrolled in high school and trying to look like normall peopol. they are pall, and beautiful.
Bella falls in love with the vampire Edward.
if you havnt read the book, go get it at the book store! i’m reading for the secont time it is really good!
ok so back to why i came hear.
the lyrics to are time is running owt by muse, so that you can see how well it resembles Edward.

verse 1
i think i’m drowning, asphyxiated.
i wanna break this spell
that you created.
your something beautiful,
a contrediction.
i wanna play the game,
i want the friction.
you
will
be
the death
of me.
yeah,
you
will
be
the death
of me.
chores
bury it.
i wont let you bury it.
i wont let you smother it.
i wont let you murder it.
are time is running out.
are time is running out.
you cant push it underground,
you cant stop it screaming out.
verse 2
i wanted freedom,
bound and restricted.
i tried to give you up,
but i’m addicted.
now that you know i’m traped,
sence of elation.
you’ev never dreamed of
breaking this fixation.
you
will
sqeeze
the
life
out of me.
chores

verse 3
how did it come to this?
( ooooh ye eyea ye) yeah!
you
will
suck
the life
out of me.
chores
verse 4
how did it come to this?
(ooooh ye eyea ye)

Few people outside of theatre know who Idina Menzel is. To me, she’s one of those artists with LOADS of talent, but who often is underappreciated (sadly.)
You may have seen her in the Disney movie Enchanted, as Nancy, Patrick Dempsey’s girlfriend. It’s a pity they didn’t let her sing–the woman has a VOICE.
Which brings me to my next point–her album, titled “I Stand.” iTunes categorizes it as pop, but to me, it’s so much better (pop, to me, is Katy Perry-whom I like, but not very talented.) Anyway, “I Stand” is an underappreciated gem of music from an artist who, quite frankly, should be a household name.
Most of the tunes on “I Stand” were penned by Menzel, with the help of producer Glen Ballard (Alanis Morissette’s “Jagged Little Pill”) Glen sometimes has a tendency to, shall I say, overmix Idina, sometimes not giving her a chance to let her real vocals shine through.
Top tracks on the album include “Don’t Let Me Down,” “Forever,” and “Perfume and Promises.” If you have the time, I reccommend “Perfume,” as it is by far the best track on the entire album.
So, go check it out. You may actually, *gasp!*, like it!