Music Wednesdays(the acually on Wednesday edition):Music, crowds and Influence

I keep thinking back to the feeling I get whenever I go to a big, high-energy show. Staring out over the fray it always takes me aback watching how obedient a crowd is. The artist says jump, they jump, the artist says “get your fists in the air” they do it for a good artist. A strong artist has a huge amount of power over the crowd for that few hours, but that power can be fragile. The crowd also has an extraordinary amount of power. If you've gone to enough concerts, you've seen the crowd turn on a band at least once. The artist say for does something the crowd really doesn’t like (’m not talking about a clumsy song. I'm talking out right bad things) there is a rumble in the crowd and then the quiet happens. When a show is going we’ll, the crowd has a pulse of its own. You can feel it. Even if you don't believe in anything supernatural, there is an unmistakable, palpable surge when the right song plays. A roar. Like with large predators, when the roar goes quiet is when you worry. Now a good artist can sometimes recover some of the energy, but most of the time the artist has shot himself in the foot for that night, longer if it’s a really explosive problem. Hell, if it’s on video it might last decades like the time Axel Rose beat up a fan for recording his show. What artists do up there has a huge amount of impact. It is madness and magic.

I can already hear the anti-rock and roll voices saying, “But If music is so powerful, can’t it also have a bad influence?” As an audiophile, I can say that yes, it can. However, its not how you think. Violent lyrics don’t make people violent, in fact it  is often how people release  the pent up anger that might otherwise spill over and actually hurt someone. If someone flames music as their influence for harm, then they were already going to hurt someone, they just had a way to put it into words.

Remember what I said about the crowd above? They aren’t completely blind. Where music becomes weaponized is when something has been ticking in our cultural, or social hearts and someone finally puts into words that with we cannot. When someone speaks up on behalf of those who are muffled. Suddenly, the people who didn’t think they had any allies have someone and they look around and see that they are not the only ones cheering, and it spreads like a wildfire. It’s a weapon against the darkness, a weapon against our own demons. It’s solidarity, not murder.

Marilyn Manson didn't cause Columbine, but the right artist might have been able to stop it.