Piercing Truth Edition 4 - City of Greater Geelong

Recently, Triple J conducted the Hottest 100 of
all time. According to the votes, angst-ridden
anthem “Smells like Teen Spirit” by Nirvana is
the hottest song of all time. Other songs in the
top ten included “Killing in the Name” by Rage
Against the Machine, “Hallelujah” covered by
Jeff Buckley, “Last Goodbye” by Jeff Buckley
and “Love will tear us apart” by Joy Division.
These songs are about anger, heartbreak,
loneliness and violence. So why do we like
these songs? Do we like being unhappy? Well,
yes, sometimes.
People listen to music because they connect
with it. It conjures memories in a way that
film, books and art are unable to. But why
do we choose to listen to singers sing about
all the horrible things that have happened to
them? Do we want to revel in the knowledge
that it has not happened to us? Of course not,
because it has happened to us. Consider, for
example, the REM song “Everybody hurts”.
Songs can remind us of certain people and
events in time that somehow touched us
emotionally, whether happy or sad. In my
opinion, as a songwriter, I believe that a
songwriter writes well when they are able to
have some element of ambiguity in their lyrics.
This allows their audience to take their song
and apply it to their own life experiences and
hence feel something from their song, even if
it has nothing to do with what the songwriter
was intending to write about.
This, however, does not the question as to why
we seem to want to feel pain. Why do we want
to be reminded of a break up or a death? Are
we sick? Masochistic? Maybe. Humans enjoy
being self absorbed and thinking that their
problems are bigger than everyone else’s. It
makes us feel important. So by listening to
depressing music, we are given the chance to
get wrapped up in our own emotions in our
own world and think, Wow, that was brutal. I’m
never going to be the same again. Of course,
it doesn’t help that songwriters have the
tendency to be melodramatic and in reality,
that guy or girl who you think ruined your life
could well be forgotten in two or three years
when you’re absorbed in your next depressingsong-fuelled
“quarter life crisis”.
Sadness is interesting. It gives us something
to think about. To solve. When you’re happy
there’s nowhere to go, no problem to solve
or plot to resolve. You need to be unhappy
to become happy, have a problem to solve
before you solve the problem. Consider the
classic formula of a book or film: beginning
– introduction, middle – conflict, end –
resolution. Without the conflict we’d get bored.
The movie would have nowhere to go and
we probably wouldn’t want to watch it. The
conflict is what makes it exciting and this is
the same in music. It makes us feel important
and interesting.
Depressing music gives us a chance to vent,
without requiring us to do anything. We
usually feel better by the end of the song, as
someone else understands what we have been
through and knows exactly how to express our
feelings. Even when we are happy, depressing
music may stir emotions that we forgot existed
inside of us and sometimes it may be healthy
to get rid of these feelings before they build up
into something more serious.
So there is no doubting the power of music.
Songwriters have an amazing ability to make
us feel an infinite range of emotions, some of
which we did not even know existed. Some
of my all-time favourite artists include Bright
Eyes, Ryan Adams, Jeff Buckley, Something
for Kate, The Shins, Death Cab for Cutie and
Radiohead. Are these artists depressing? Hell
yes, but they are also brilliant. Their lyrics are
beautifully crafted and most of all they make
you feel something – and that is the most
important thing.
By Sophie Boustead
Kardinia International College, Year 11
Who do you think is the
hottest celebrity and why?
Heath Ledger, damn what a
good looking guy, shame he
is no longer alive.
Jess Casey
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