Counter-Balance

It's another day and another marginally-welcome rumination on some element of my love for music. I love many different types, and few if any enjoy any kind of widespread contemporary popularity. A lot of them are rather extreme in one way or another, with some being loaded with rather explicit lyrics and adult concepts and others having been meant for teeny boppers of the early 1960s. That gives rise to this interesting thing where I find myself relishing the great disparity between the music I'm listening to and the context in which I'm enjoying it.

I'm a fairly regular churchgoer, and while the place where I go is more liberal in its conception of of acceptable social practices, it is not and will never be the Viper Room. For me there's something delightfully transgressive in listening to one of the harder-edged hits of the grunge period as I approach the building. An example that did not escape my notice when it happened was when 'Bankrobber' by the Clash came on my shuffle as I passed my bank. Naturally I seized the opportunity to sing along with it aloud, but where I live such a thing is not of note.

On the other end of things, there is that segment of my life which is very much at ease with the violent, the vulgar, the profane and the obscene. If I stuck to the hard music while in that groove, that would make far too much sense for the likes of me. I never miss the opportunity to monopolize the attention of bored friends with a lusty rendition of 'Blame It On The Bossanova' or 'Sugar Sugar'. There's something awfully fun about showing unbridled, un-ironic enthusiasm for something in the face of any derision. I'd say that puts a person in as select a group as there could possibly be.

It's an interesting thing to consider that at about any time I'm in conflict with the musical slant of my surroundings. This is nowhere more evident than karaoke night. Given my inclination of shrinking from conflict, one might expect that I would go along with whatever is most prevalent. It seems to me though that this kind of subversion is about as passive-aggressive as can be, and so it's really not out of character for me. Oh, well- I'll be active-aggressive someday.