Why Music is Amazing
- Izaak David Diggs
- Dec 29, 2024
- 2 min read
People have bands these consider “guilty pleasures.” It could be the Backstreet Boys or Ambrosia or the Carpenters or Nickelback—bands no one is supposed to love because they are cheesy or sappy or whatever. Don’t we all have songs and bands we listen to when no one is around? "No one can know I love that Atlanta Rhythm Section song 'So Into You,' man, that’s fucking embarrassing." They were probably all coked out, just barfing up this K-Tel Key Party Classic, a bunch of cheeseballs with perms and mustaches and flared trousers—
I’ll tell you, though, and those of you who do writing and music will get this….
We don’t know where this shit comes from. We can look at what inspired a song, be it an ex-lover or your favorite coke spoon or a trip to Ciudad Juarez, but we don’t really know where it comes from. Words…they’re just out there in the air and if you train yourself you can turn words into lines and lines into a song. Who knows what “So Into You” is really about. If it moves you, if it reaches you and improves your life, just go with it. No shame. Yeah…even if you love Nickelback or big shudder the Grateful Dead. This is one way music is amazing. Another way is that it is subjective based on perception. Some people I know think the Beatles are the best rock band ever. Ah, but I know some folks who liken the Fabs to something you step in and struggle to scrape off your shoe—
Both answers are equally correct and irrelevant.
Semi-related: I was walking to the bus stop the day before yesterday and I saw a turd in a doorway. If you live in a city like I do you will understand that moment…that moment where you look at this swirl of merde and tell yourself, “I’m just going to tell myself a dog did that…a dog…even though I’m pretty sure it wasn’t a dog.”
In summation, don’t have guilty pleasures. We already have all these things we’re supposed to feel guilty about, our taste in art shouldn’t be one of them…even if you think Mariah Carey is awesome. Did I mention the Grateful Dead? I think they are the worst band ever, maybe you think they’re the best—and this is one thing I love about music, opinions don’t matter, it’s all about feeling. There are no wrong answers, no judgement—(even if you love the Grateful Dead)—just embrace what moves you, what brings some illumination to your life in these challenging times.
What does this have to do with the American Outback brand? I’ll tell you…this whole thing is not just about escaping into nature or minimalism or whatever, it’s about things that bring some light to those long (Portland) days of dark skies and unremitting rain. I know music does that for me. Sometimes it’s “cool” stuff like the Velvet Underground, sometimes “really uncool” stuff like 70s feathered hair and mustache rock or yacht rock. Man, Michael McDonald is incredible even if his voice reminds me of a sad dog that’s been left out in the rain…
Oh, and please buy my fucking books. I have sixteen of them on Amazon—fiction, non fiction, and song lyrics/poetry,
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