Why do we listen to music?

Busch Light (cheap)
Dos Equis
And my favorite Stella Artois

 

Yeah Stella a fine beer

 

Soothes the soul.

 

Sort of yeah .

 

That's sort of like enjoying The Cars while walking.

 

It evokes emotions, good, bad

 

Sort of

 

Why is there air?

 

From a poster, and/or Facebook: "It's what emotions sound like", so we are naturally attracted to that sound of emotions.

 

For many reasons, you exercise your brain, practice a language, remember about the past, enjoy a female voice, absorb the energy, etc...

 

Love that song, and the albums really grown on me over the years. Theres a funny practical joke story about that song I read in an interview with Greenbaum (who's Jewish btw). He'd play at family and friends functions, like Barmitzvahs, where Spirit In The Sky was expected - at least from people of his generation. When he'd sing the part of '..you got a friend in Jesus..' it'd cause a stir with older & religious folks in attendance. Theres some charming aspects to the 'generation gap' of that era that I miss.

 

They certainly go down faster when the music is on

 

Maybe they don't make music quite the way we do but they sing to each other and...



Animals were expressly 'blessed' and given the 'breath of life' according to the first book. I accept that for exactly what it says.

 

Collecting has everything to do with the emotional reward music brings me. In my case, I enjoy tremendously variations in good masterings and presses of my favorite records.

A big part of the joy you cite of hearing your favorites on radio -- back when people listened to radios -- I think was being part of the mass experience; hearing something you liked or loved and knowing everyone else was also listening to it and maybe feeling the same exhileration you did.

But, you're right about listening being more about emotions and your own internal thoughtscape. Music has the power to lift your spirit, put you in a reflective mood, rouse you, all kinds of things.

I could not live well without it.

 

To get to the other side...

 

Why do we breathe?

 

They used to say that about using tools. Then they discovered monkeys use tools to get ants. There are a whole set of things that people say sets us apart from animals. Problem is, we're animals. I'd be willing to bet that at least dolphins and whales make music too.

 

I always looked at the collecting part as an exercise of our hunter/gatherer instinct. I don't hunt animals but I do hunt for and gather CDs. Me finding a MFSL CD at a yard sale probably feels the way an ancient relative felt taking down a very large animal

 

And crows!

 

That might be true

 

"Why do we listen to music?"
Because it's better than listening to our wives/husbands/partners.


But seriously folks, for me it satisfies an inner craving, much like scratching an itch or eating.
For recorded music, it allows me to hear artists that are long gone.
Try to imagine what it was like before there was a way to record music. You had to hear it live. And most likely most of what you heard was bad due to poor talent. (Just attend a grammar school band concert. You'll want to make a beeline to the nearest exit when the first note is played.)
Another reason: if you want to perform yourself, it is much easier to learn if you can listen to how a piece of music, or instrument, is supposed to be played.

 

Music-imo- is an easy and not expensive way to go to other places without travelling. The same goes for art, litterature, theatre, movies etc. Everything we Call culture
What somewhat bothers me-these days-is that music more becoming something to consume not experience. To some extent it s always been like that but the digital media, talent shows and all makes it more obvious. Even the reissue market is in some way a marketing trick - making us buy the same thing over and over with minor changes. The good thing of course is the availability if much music that was hard to find before.

 

Breath in, breath out.

Night, day, up down open, close, on off.

The beating heart constantly pounding out the endless pulse of the rhythm of life.

Yea, simple tactile arterial palpation of the heartbeat drives life's forces along down it's intricately laid out highway of chemical reactions.

Roaring lions, song birds singing, waves and tides, wind n' wildlife's simple yet sonorous songs, even the crickets rubbing of legs....all are a part of the symphony of life composed for our listening pleasure.

Is it any wonder humankind desires to hear "music"?

It's only natural. It makes perfect sense.

Unless you have no pulse that is.

Better check.

Yup...still there.

Sing on brother....Play on drummer.

Now if a 6 turned out to be a 9.

Oops, sorry, got off on a tangent there. Carry on.

 

To me, music is more about the mood than the quality of the recording, but I'll take the better recording every time. When I first heard Dark Side Of The Moon, I heard it on a crappy cassette recorder in school brought in by another student, and was I blown away. It didn't matter that it was a couple of watts coming out of a mono speaker. It sounded great to me because of the music. The same with The Beatles. The first time I heard The Beatles was when I bought the 62-66 and 67-70 cassettes and had a mono radio cassette player. I have never been able to that initial buzz again.
Collecting/analyzing music and being inspired by it are as different as chalk and cheese.