What does music mean to you?

Everybody I know loves music.

Why though?

When I was little the first thing my brother always did when coming home from school (and later work) was to turn on his transistor radio.

I remember him taking me around to his mates homes and them listening to their latest records they had bought - it didn't mean anything to me.

Of course growing up myself one of the topics of conversations at school was music and I was happy to be part of that but once my 'era' of music had been replaced by the next generation - which I didn't seem to like or be bothered with, my interest in music then simply sort of dried up and stopped.

Of course I still listened to and the music I liked and put up with whatever music my girlfriends at the time played but it became more of a 'noise' to me rather than something I wanted to hear.

Over the years I even got bored with the music I liked - you can only hear something so many times before it becomes eventually monotonous, well it does to me - and the only time I listened to music really since is when the wife and children put on their music in the car, I couldn't exactly wander off and do something else like I could do at home.

I know music is evocative and brings back many memories but I'm not the sort of person who needs to live (or cling on) to the past.  I had a happy time, wish I could relive it again sort of thing but more than happy as I am now.

Do people like ALL the music ever - is that why they always listen to it or is it just some sort of background noise they need to fill the silence?

What is music to you - something for you to acquire and collect a sort of compulsion - you have a million tunes already but you still need more?

Is it some sort of nerdy hobby - to show your knowledge off to impress others.

Is it a pleasure - if so by having a million tunes in your collection does that mean you are easily pleased?

Is it your escape from real life perhaps - lock the door, close the curtains and you are all alone with Kylie or Robbie or whoever you want to be with?

What really makes it an indispensable part of your life?

Music means so much to me. its been a constant in my life since i was a teenager and still listen to music from then such as Tears for Fears, the Police and Madness.

Skip forward a few years and Madchester happened and had a massive effect on me and that's when i started going to gigs, i've lost track of the hundreds i've been to in the last 30 years.

I used to be a music snob when i was younger, i read the NME religiously and preferred bands that were that not well known and probably dumped them when they became famous.

I've become a lot more eclectic in my tastes since then but i do have one obsession, finding new bands or musicians, that definitely is my hobby.

Going to gigs is an obsession as well and love going to the many small venues around Manchester, i'm that old bloke you see at gigs, you know the one, the older bloke on his own with a pint 

I honestly can't imagine life without music, it would be very boring and would leave a massive hole.

Hearing music reconciles input from the auditory perception system in the brain with the prediction system in the neural substrate causing the reward system of neurons in the striatum to trigger a release of dopamines that make us feel good.

So basically it's drugs.

Couldn't get through a day without music, so it's vital to my wellbeing. Fortunately, my tastes are pretty wide ranging, although KP and Norpig sometimes sneak something through the fence that needs a net throwing over it, thus allowing it to be swiftly put out of its misery with the heavy end of a shovel.

boltonbonce wrote:Couldn't get through a day without music, so it's vital to my wellbeing. Fortunately, my tastes are pretty wide ranging, although KP and Norpig sometimes sneak something through the fence that needs a net throwing over it, thus allowing it to be swiftly put out of its misery with the heavy end of a shovel.

How dare you lump me in with KP on musical tastes 

For music, read memories.

Norpig wrote:
How dare you lump me in with KP on musical tastes 

Yes, that was probably a little harsh. KP really is in a league of his own, despite the odd brush with musical sanity.