Fitter. Happier.

I’ve been listening to Radiohead for hours now, and I’m in a completely elated mood.

I’m still nursing a hangover, and as I’ve nothing better to do, I decided to listen to one of the greatest albums ever made: Radiohead’s “OK Computer.” I found out about the album just months ago when I was browsing through several music websites (including 4chan’s /mu/, Pitchfork, and puddlegum) looking for some new music that would give me something different. This one seems to have highlyfavorable reviews, so I picked it up (meaning I downloaded it off the Internet, yes) and gave it a listen. I know it’s kinda pathetic I only found out about this album just this year (considering it was released in 1997), and that’s the point that I want to adress by writing this post.

I consider myself a music-lover, and although that phrase seems to be given or taken at face value, I believe that I enjoy a lot more genres of music than say, that guy who listens to MTV or MYX or Nicki Minaj all day. Or that chick across the street that has nothing on her playlist but souped-up Tagalog versions of English hip-hop songs. But, see, it wasn’t always that way. Back then (in my High School and College years, specifically), I had a phase. I listen to a lot of noise. If it’s not Metal or even remotely like it, I won’t listen to it. Also, those years were about the time when I decided to pick up and learn how to play the guitar.  Put them together and you get a Metal-fanboy-slash-rockstar-wannabe.

I didn’t listen to anything but riffs, riffs, riffs and then some lyrics, I guess (lyrics play a big part in my criteria of musical preferences). Fuck piano, fuck synthesizers and supersized bass drum beats. Fuck rap and all that. All I wanted was to listen to machine-gun pummeling double [pedal]-basses and inhumanly fast guitar solos. Maybe that’s one of the reasons why I wasn’t enjoying music as much before. I was so focused about a thing or two, I forgot what a musical experience really was all about. Sadly, even though I tried (and I tried hard), I really never was as good with the guitar as, say,  Kirk Hammet, Steve Vai, or even MYMP’s Chin.

The previous bands I’ve worked has this kind of mentality (or similar). Maybe I have no right to say this, but seeing as this is a personal note and holds no more facts than opinions, I’ll just say it outright: There’s no maturity. We played on and on getting nowhere. Of course, there still is the possibility that I just really sucked, but come on, we could have tried more than playing the same shit over and over again.

All of that said, as the years went on, I decided there’s got to be more to my musical life than this.

Unless you’re Hendrix or one of the greats, nobody cares how many notes per minute you can play on a guitar.

So yeah, you play in a (somehwat after-) College band, and you decide to play Demon Hunter or Mastodon and all that. You delivered the songs pretty well, great. Next time you decided to play Pantera and Hatebreed and then some weird song that nobody else ever heard. I appreciate that. And you’re gonna be playing the same repertoire of riff-driven songs set after set, until you bleed your fingers dry. Maybe the first few times people would appreciate you, but then after a while you’ll fade off into obscurity. You’ll just be known as “that guy who can play the guitar like Dimabag Darrell.” Why?

I’ll tell you why: because you’re not an artist. You just cover songs. You played your way through the scene playing songs that everyone already heard being played live, only they’ve heard it better because they saw the original performance from the original band. Maybe they’ll be impressed, as I’ve said, one or two times, but in the long run, you’ll be gone. Forgotten. Sooner or later the guys who used to be your “fans” will later move on to better things. Or, in the case of music, better songs and albums. Ones that you can’t play. You don’t deserve a legacy if you don’t create one yourself.

I’ve read somewhere that art is not just a form of expression; it’s the highest form of communication. The artist’s job is to elevate the audience into that higher plane where your artistic mind already resides. It’s your job to take them higher, not the other way around. So in essence, being an artist, you’re not the one who should be stooping down to their level. As an artist, you need to give back; you need to take them to that place where your minds will be in the same level of understanding as one.

So why would you still play covers? Maybe it’s good for garage sessions or for fun, but let’s face it: if you’ve been in a band for too long, you should at least come up with a song of your own.

Hey man, slow down.

I’ve taken a break from playing to focus on other things (such as work or drinking alcohol) but I still get a thrill everytime I try to find a typical note on a particular song, or playing along with another. Maybe I just gave up, but I long-since recognized that I don’t (or can’t) really make a career out of this.

On the other hand, ever since I’ve opened up to a lot of musical styles which has been alien to me before, I’m really getting a kick out of discovering new shit everyday.

At the very least, we can always be thankful for little things like hangovers, or maybe for geniuses like Radiohead.

—-

Radiohead’s “OK Computer” and “In Rainbows” mesh, recommended playlist:

(*If you need a reason why you need to have these two albums meshed together, read this .)

1. Airbag (OK Computer)

2. 15 Step (In Rainbows)

3. Paranoid Android (OK Computer)

4. Bodysnatchers (In Rainbows)

5. Subterranean Homesick Alien (OK Computer)

6. Nude (In Rainbows)

7. Exit Music (For A Film) (OK Computer)

8. Weird Fishes/Arpeggi (In Rainbows)

9. Let Down (OK Computer)

10. All I Need (In Rainbows)

11. Karma Police (OK Computer)

12. Fitter Happier (OK Computer)

13. Faust Arp (In Rainbows)

14. Electioneering (OK Computer)

15. Reckoner (In Rainbows)

16. Climbing Up The Walls (OK Computer)

17. House Of Cards (In Rainbows)

18. No Surprises (OK Computer)

19. Jigsaw Falling Into Place (In Rainbows)

20. Lucky (OK Computer)

21. Videotape (In Rainbows)

22. The Tourist (OK Computer)