Beethoven to Buddha
As a teen, I sat in our often flooded, New England basement, surrounded by guitar cables and brick mortared walls. Walls that I hastily and painstakingly painted white with black lines in-between to resemble an MTV episode of Head Bangers Ball.
My guitar was turned up to 10, since Spinal Tap had not yet introduced me to 11. I played loud to make up for my accuracy.
Alternating between practicing the opening to AC/DC’s “Back in Black” as well as Stryper’s “Solider Under Command.” Not seeing the dichotomy of the situation. Playing the devil’s music along side arguably, the music of GOD. What? I wasn’t living in the 1700’s. To me they were both secular bands with great guitar sounds. But that is a whole different topic.
I really liked a lot of different music, but publically I only acknowledged my love of Hair Metal. I definitely, didn’t like keyboard music. Even though we all knew Eddie Van Halen was sneaking keys into songs, and Bon Jovi wasn’t even subtle about it.
As age has given me something some might call wisdom, I can now admit that I would secretly tear up listening to Simon Le Bon sing “Save a Prayer.” I had received the horrifying gift of Duran Duran’s Greatest Hits, in front of my friends, from my mom’s cousin Loraine during an early teen birthday party. Fortunately, even as an obnoxious teenage boy — I was still too polite to tell her I only rocked out to bands like Kiss, Ratt and Iron Maiden. But I would secretly listened to the album quietly behind closed doors when I figured no one was around.
Truth be told, I was secretly afraid of the of Iron Maiden album covers. I even, often, skipped listening to their song, “666 the Number of the beast” because it felt like I was doing something “wrong.” This lasted for many years, until I started paying better attention to lyrics. It was then that I understood the song and it’s anti-satanic message; listeners and critics alike have often misinterpreted this song and the band . . . and arguing this point with my grandmother was never a battle I was going to win.
Before I leave this seemingly random topic; I must also acknowledge Garth Brooks, a fellow rocker, and the only country musician to be on the 1994 KISS tribute album with his contribution of “Hard Luck Woman.” I was and am a fan of his music. Whether he created a form of music to be obscenely commercially successfully or if the world was just ready for his message, I am not sure. But I do owe him more than one nod of gratitude over the years.
He brought us the song “Unanswered Prayers” which plays a big role in my story. I arranged a version of his song “Friends in Low Places” as part of my senior Bass recital in college. I played and sang his version of Bob’ Dylan’s “Make you feel my love” to my now wife, when we were dating and that seems to be working out after 15 years. So, yes, I think I owe Garth a lot.
My musical tastes have always been all over the board. Even if I had to keep some of them secret until I was older. I am looking at you Simon Le Bon. In fact I’ll throw in one more twist, Beethoven was always my favorite early Heavy Metal Musician. His 5th symphony laid the groundwork for heavy metal as solidly as anything Black Sabbath or their disciples Metallica ever delivered. I also believe there is no Gothic European Metal of today without the glorious combination of the chorus and orchestra in his 9th symphony.
As a kid in the 80’s, music was how my peers and I determined our friends. There was not a lot of straying between musical styles, at least not out loud. Years later, with the advent of iPods, people stopped sharing their music out loud, goodbye boom box, and pumped it into tiny private earphones.
Soon after it was revealed that people were setting up playlists that included Madonna, right next to Run DMC, Willie Nelson, George Michael and Anthrax. The barriers were down. Now this blend of music is commonplace. But in the 80’s you were crossing enemy lines with level of auditory diversity.
So what does this have to do with anything?
I think this publicly blending of ones individual interest in music is a mixed blessing. I miss having a connection with my musical group of friends, even if I had to hide my like of other types of music. But at the same time it shows how we can move beyond our own cliques. It exposes that we might not be so single-minded as the world might want to perceive us. It also provides hope for how we live our lives.
When I was younger I wanted to be a rock star. I’m not sure I would want that today, even if presented with the opportunity. Many young children dream of being fireman, astronauts or policeman when they grown up, but how many actually do, before giving up on that dream and getting “real jobs.”
The truth is when we are young, if we are lucky; we see the possibilities in everything. It is only as we get older, that we lock ourselves into something more permanent that we convince ourselves that we cannot escape from. For some this happens in and around High School, or for many others post college. Our degree often determines our entire future. We make a decision about “what we want to do” for the rest of our lives, 3 years before we can legally drink in the U.S.
Daughter: Now that I have graduated High School, I want to be a doctor.
Mom/Dad: Great, Daughter . . . Let’s toast to that in 3 years when you’re 21!
That seems odd to me. Today, kids are seemingly to accept this permanence less and less. They are marrying later, experimenting with their careers more and exploring the world before getting tied down to a mortgage.
But many of us are still trapped by decisions we made in our teens and early 20’s. We either refuse or are incapable of recognizing that we can change our minds again. The truth is, we can do anything, if we are willing to accept the consequences.
“In-Transit” represents accepting the impermanence of everything. Whether it is the weather in New England, a great personal day-week-month or year or an equally bad day-week-month or year. Everything is in motion. Rarely do things around us stay permanently fixed. So there is no reason for us to try to pretend that we are ourselves are fixed in stone.
I know many people how have experienced great love and others who have experienced great sorrow. Many of the same people, are in both groups. This is proof that we should live every minute. This is harder to do through the “bad times,” but if we know there is hope it can help us back to the “good times” . . . and if we know that the “good times” will not last, perhaps we will slow down and appreciate them more.
And that is how I go circle back from a Heavy Metal German Classical Composers to a thousand year old Buddhist philosophy in one post. Thanks for reading!
