Music. The language of modern love.

At the best of time music plays a huge part in the lives of everyone, any track can take you back to a specific moment in your life for better or for worse. My latest theory however is that as the headline of the article states; Music is the language of modern lovers. In a generation where words seem to be becoming less and less important, gradually replaced with emoticons, Tweet updates and text speak it seems to be getting more and more difficult to really tell someone how you feel about them.
The one tool which has emerged somewhat unscathed in this era of minimal phone tapping is music. From the painstakingly assembled CD compilation to the track that randomly comes on the radio, there is at least one tune which will have you and your partner glancing at each other and either taking you back to that first moment you realised that you were in love, or at least reminding you of just how much you mean to each other.
It’s important to note then that if you happen to have the idea of making a compilation CD for your partner there are definetly tracks that you should avoid. These are tracks that I have reserved for what I like to call the ‘anti-love’ CD, a compilation which expresses your distain towards what might be your ex-partner. The tracks that I have collaborated for that so far (in no order) are: I hate you – The Monks, You’ve Done My Brain In – The Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band, Baby Bitch – Ween, Little Willy – Sweet (rather vindictive), I’m through With white Girls – The Dirt Bombs, I’ve Had it With Blondes – CUD. The list is endless, but this rather alternative selection of tunes is perfect for reminding someone of any pain that they might have caused for you during a breakup perhaps. It was decided that should you ever need to compile a CD of tunes for this purpose then an ideal name for it would be: In My Opinion, You will hate this more than I hate you. Yet that will never be enough. (Thanks to John White for his creative title contribution there)
Now let’s contrast that with the tunes I have selected for what I like to call my Pro-love compilation CD. Ignoring the obvious ballad crap that you find on any A.O.R compilation CD and very much avoiding the nonsense in the charts, my list has a slight alternative twist to it: To Love Somebody – The Bee Gees, Don’t Laugh I Love You – Ween, Canyons of Your Mind – Bonzo Dog, 1952 Vincent Black Lightning – Richard Thompson, Please Love Me – The Monks. Once again and endless list, I’m applying tracks here which have worked with my theory in the past. I hasten to add that during that painful process of heartbreak you do adopt a number of sad songs, for me the two that spring to mind are: Birthday Boy- Ween and I don’t Know Why I love You – Stevie Wonder. Yes Ween get a lot of mentions, but they are one of my favourite bands and their varied sound make it easy to pick plenty of songs for different reasons.
Of course the other thing to consider as well is that you can fall in love WITH music and not just TO music. There are songs which can come on and cause you to stop whatever it is that you’re doing, close your eyes and just listen. You can be completely incapacitated by the rhytmns, the layers, the lyrics or even the memories that you assosiciate with the track in the first place. It can be simple things as well for instance I’m sat here now listening to Jurassic 5’s Lesson 6 (The Lecture) which is reminding me of driving through Cardiff with my friend Jase after a rather successful car boot sale. Happy days!
So I guess the point that I am making is that music itself is a language of its own, whether you’re listening to it or creating it music will always tell stories, provoke emotions, inspire the mind and even make people angry. It’s a very powerful tool indeed but I don’t think (apart from one person I know of who is just weird) that there is anyone who can turn around and say hand on heart that they don’t like music AT ALL. If you discover these people, please shoot them as to not question the validity of my article.
Love music, love people and love people through music.