Just some food for thought I would share. Add in to it if you want.
Something is bugging me. I just thought of something thats rattling my brain. This all started with an indulge into a discussion to music and what makes it appeal to the listener and why. Then it becomes a self discussion about attraction in general, which is where I am now.
Long ago as a kid, I was subjugated to listen to other people's music much to my dismay. It didn't work out to me as I didn't understand why it was popular to begin with. Then time after time more of the same music was forced against my sanity and it became a nuisance to the point where I couldn't take it. What drove me to the breaking point was listening to Jenny from the Block 20,000 times a day when working near a kids area....in the summer heat. Yeah it sucked. Then Hollaback Girl was being played on a flour covered radio and no way to turn it off. It just sucked the fun out of making cardboard flavored pizzas. Though not as sanity crippling as the former, but still annoying.
Then I discovered anime soundtracks and really got into it. Maybe it was because the difference between the drivel that I was ensnared to didn't appeal to me. Which is why I developed a love for foreign music, jpop and jrock mostly. Why? For the most part, the sounds are different, the lyrics with or without are inspirational (with some rare exceptions) and it was a language I barely understand self taught.
It was then that I discovered doujin music and embraced it's individuality. I tried to figure out what doujin music was as it was a different entity from it's modern jpop counterpart. For one thing it's not as mainstream and only a handful of people know of it's existence. It's unique, original, and it takes inspiration from other forms. A few examples of doujin music would be Crow's Claw and Demetori and newly discovered Hellion Sounds and Preludio. When I discovered Mario and Zelda Big Band Live and it's rendition of Dragon Roost Island from Windwaker and proclaimed it to be musical porn to the ears, not to be confused with music FROM porn with pornstaches and big afros, then it got to me up to this point where I started questioning to what makes this music appeal to me.
The best example would be Video Game Music and it's attractiveness. Most common answer would be nostalgia, however nostalgia aside there are people who like video game music yet nary picked up a controller ever. I listen to it because it was the music I grew up with...at least thats all I can remember. Others see it as a genre in and of itself that they can relate to. Now heres where it gets tricky. How does music in general appeal to us as humans (or half humans) to attract us to it's melodic charms (or dissonant screams)?
When sharing with someone who has never heard even a simple tune of VGM, they don't know what to think. I myself wouldn't want to share it with someone who has no recollection to even once being a gamer, nor would I share jpop who doesn't even know what it is. I got off tangent for a second there, but the question I have is this: What is appeal, what is attraction, what attracts us to the music the we listen to, and what makes it appealing and why to all 4 questions. That can go as well as to human appeal and attraction as well as it is still in the same as it draws us to whatever we seek.
I leave this up for discussion with those who see this, and maybe you tell me your interpretation to what appeal and attraction is and why something appeals or attracts you. Music would be the common theme for this discussion, but you can explain other things as well, so I'll leave it at that.
Stay Gold.
