Hands up who enjoys music? Hands up who loves music? Hands up who is obsessed with music? Hands up who is obsessed with a specific band or artist? Hands up who has ever stalked someone affiliated with music? Right, if you held up your hand for any of those, you’re a bit silly because i can’t see you. If you held up your hand for the last question, it’s ok. I’m here to help, you’re not crazy, just a bit confused.

I enjoy, love and sometimes consider myself to be obsessed with music. But why?

I have always enjoyed music,  i grew up with an amazing array of sounds from the 60′s, 70′s, 80′s. Everything from Cat Stevens, Bruce Springsteen and Van Morrison to Roy Orbison, Neil Diamond, and Carly Simon. I was also exposed to hundreds of 60′s pop groups as well as the influence of 90′s grunge thanks to my older brothers. So being surrounded by fantastic music i made the obvious choice as a child under 10 and chose ‘Take My Breathe Away’ by Berlin and ‘I Will Always Love You’ by Whitney Houston as my favourite songs. Even as a child i was drawn to heartbreaking songs, but how could i possibly relate to that, losing the love of your life is hardly comparable to having to have spaghetti bolognese for the second time in a week or my brother burping in my face or punching me in the arm (it’s ok i turned out alright). I can’t say that this is just a girl thing, because none of my friends loved ‘The First Cut Is The Deepest’ at this stage in life.

As time went by i moved onto classic pop such as Spice Girls, who also sang  mainly about love in one form or another. Yes, ok, i wanted to be a spice girl, I don’t think that this is the point to start analyzing my mental state. I was an 11 year old girl, who didn’t want that lifestyle of double decker buses and massive platform shoes. So anyway I moved on to John Mayer, Eskimo Joe, David Gray, Jeff Buckley, Ben Harper etc. I didn’t know many people who were as interested in music as i was. I relied on music. I will not engage in a sob story about teenage life because i have since realised that most people have similar and usually worse stories so i never look for sympathy. I never really felt the need to rebel like most, instead i sat in my room and listened to the stories of songwriters. I instantly assumed they were singing about my life and fell even deeper in love with their stories, and therefore felt like we knew each other.

The first Kings of Leon song i absolutely fell in love with is On Call, i remember hearing it on a day when i was driving to university, dreading going to class and questioning the decision i had made in this class, course and life. Although the song has nothing to do with the way i was feeling, i thought, i LOVE this song, i want someone to always be there for me, to reassure me and just help out. We do this, we choose a few lines from a song and interpret it in whatever way makes us feel better about our situation. This is why people love music. I went out and bought the album. I knew some of their earlier stuff, but had never felt this way. This was the first album that i could listen to the whole way through and never want to skip a song. With one song, they had won me over.

This is probably why they were the first band that i was obsessed with. I now have their entire collection, i follow KOL fans on twitter and often engage in conversation about them. It’s not because i can relate to all of their songs (if you have heard all of their music, you will understand why) but because in that moment i felt connected to that song. It obviously doesn’t hurt that they are very charming, attractive, young men. And as for the twitter fans, well we have probably all been through a situation where something in their music has changed the way we feel about something. This is the difference between someone who likes a song or two and those who appreciate everything they have ever done. Like me. I would never get to the stalking stage and i say that with total confidence. I think that people who do have confused the lines between fantasy and reality. This may be because you feel like since their music makes you feel better that so will the person who creates it. But it does not mean that you know them, or that they know you, or you are destined to spend the rest of your lives together. I am in no way disrespecting fans who do believe this, but i do understand that there is a point where, for some reason, you have become TOO reliant on them as people. I suggest that if you are one of these people that you spend lest time trying to find out where they live and more time listening to other bands who deserve to be heard.

So i guess what i’m saying is that we fall in love with music that we relate to, which leads to a love for music in general and sometimes a healthy obsession. But do not become confused between a song and it’s creator.

end.of.rant