Music is an art form...

So my first real blog is going to be concerning music and the effects of it. Now I'm a worshipper of the heavy metal genre with my taste spanning across a lot of the sub-genres inside of it. Music like battle metal, power metal, melodic death metal and so on and so forth. Now what I don't understand, with music and the music industry, is why there is so much rivalry in it. If I walked down the street with a Cannibal Corpse t-shirt on, I would be mocked, laughed at, ridiculed and probably worse. That shouldn't be the case. Musical differences should be embraced, just because you don't like that person's interests doesn't mean you have to do bad things to them. It's getting out of hand and it's probably one of the biggest causes of alienation and subsequently bullying in schools.

We all know that there are 'labels' (e.g emo, goth, indie) in society and no matter how much we say 'Well I think labelling is wrong' we all do it. There's nothing wrong with labelling someone as something as long as that doesn't change your perspective on them as a person. If their 'label' directly affects the way the they treat you then I can understand but more often than not it doesn't. For example I'm a rollerblader, I love rollerblading, it's probably the greatest thing I have discovered in my life. But people will see my skates and instantly start insulting them or me. Why? I am one of many who have found something in life that makes us so happy it's unreal, it's good exercise and doesn't harm anyone else. Why the hell should that make me eligible for ridicule? It makes no sense when you think about it yet it's still done. The vast majority of people will immediately poke fun at what is different and that isn't right, being unique defines us and if we spend all our time doing and worrying what everyone else is doing then we lose sight of 'being unique' and you have a fucked up society like the one we have today.

Now before you would call me a hypocrite I'll admit that I've done my fair share of judging in the past, who hasn't? No-one is perfect, NO-ONE. Do I think this will atone for them? No, no I don't. But it's never too late to just decided to be a bit more understanding and compassionate.

So you may be thinking 'what does all this have to do with music?'. Well music is probably the most popular form of art there is, now as with all arts there are different styles. More often than not, what music you listen to determines your 'label' or position in society. If you listen to heavier music, such as myself, you are called an emo, goth, mosher yadda yadda yadda.  Listen to rap then you're a chav, pop - gay, indie - indie etc. Now that's weird, because I like rap music... I know 'chavs' who like some metal. So what does this mean? The world's turning upside down? No. Open your mind and be a bit more tolerant of other people music and you might see why they like it. One of my best friends used to laugh at the music I listened to saying it was 'pointless shouting'. That was back when I listened to System of a Down and Metallica and whatnot. Through the years their music taste has broadened and they now listen to some of the heaviest music on the planet. You may not think you'll like it to start off with but given the chance, you may grow to love it.

Now this can be used in all aspects of life. I guess what I'm asking is for people to be a bit more open-minded to other peoples interests and tastes. Nothing bad can come of it so why the hell not? Music is music, granted, I believe some people destroy it, but I'm always one to appreciate talent when I hear it. It's an art form and practically everyone loves it in one way or another, if that's so then we shouldn't be so hostile towards each others varying styles.

On that note, I'm going to go enjoy San Andreas as I've finally unlocked the second island, so to my 'millions' of readers, good bye for now.