Exit Music
I promised myself this one would be different. None of that cynical paranoid android shit. This one is going to be personal. This one is about four music bands whose music and words have shaped my thinking, influenced my creativity, and molded my personality and helped me through sorrow and uplifted me through happiness.
I have been told that as a baby I would be terrified by the sounds and music of Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon. The clock chimes on Time, the cash register clanks on Money and the mad laughter on Brain Damage. As it happened the album was released the year I was born. Pink Floyd's music, especially those albums on which Roger Waters participated and influenced, has always been close to my heart and I've never tired of them.
I listen to Pink Floyd when I think about the past, understandably as a result of its unbreakable connection to my early childhood. And my favourite album? The Dark Side, of course, followed closely by The Wall, The Final Cut, Animals and Wish You Were Here.
It was much later, when I sported that unmistakable sign of early teens that is the noticeable arc of darkened fluff above my lips that I was introduced to the music of King Crimson by my father's dear friend Maizan Adam Maniku. The album was In the Court of the Crimson King. It was, as they say, love at first hearing.
At this point I knew that my mind was attuned to the genre of progressive rock and King Crimson was filling in the gaps, if any, left behind by Pink Floyd. The clinical precision in King Crimson's layered arrangements astounded and captivated me then as it does even today. It truly is intellectual music.
It was in the late 90s that I first heard Tool. Without realizing that I was falling in love with yet another progressive rock bank I had collected all of their albums to that point.
Tool's music is the fuel that drives my critical thinking even today. It is the dark matter of my grey matter, so to speak. It is the spark that is responsible for the work that I do and the words that I write and the thoughts that are unwritten. Ænima has been their most played album for me as is Vicarious their most played song today. The tension, the cynicism and the openness (or so I like think) of my words are all augmented, if not amplified, by Tool's music.
And lastly, the band whose music has, as only irony would have it, drowned me in my most sorrowful times and uplifted me in my most happiest and yet somehow made it all OK in the end, is Radiohead. Their album OK Computer contains by far the most precious tracks of any album for me. I'd guard them with my life, except I sometimes fear I need safety from them instead. Their music and Thom Yorke's voice can, almost magically, amplify my emotions.
Radiohead is simultaneously my Prozac and my whisky - only, it never acts as the cure, but ends up being the cause of the affliction. If I were a tree, Radiohead would be the hurricane and the gentle breeze. Truly strange.
If ever one is able to tune into the frequency of my brainwaves one would hear the wailing of Radiohead in my heart, the tremor of Tool in my frontal lobe, the precision timing of King Crimson in my spinal cord and the madness of Pink Floyd everywhere. And when my children are big enough I will tell them, if nothing else, play Lucky at my funeral.
"Kill me Sarah, Kill me again with love. Its gonna be a glorious day"
Happy Valentine's day to all.
nass | February 15, 2008 4:02 AM | Reply
I love Radiohead. Not much of a Pink Floyd fan, but I like a couple of songs my them, like High Hopes and Another Brick in The Wall.
(Check this.)
subcorpus | February 15, 2008 4:51 AM | Reply
was listening to rosetta stoned from 10,000 days when i clicked to read your post ...
scary eh ... ? hehe ...
though i cant understand the effect pink floyd has on some people .... i've grown to appreciate it ...
may be coz some of my friends (like sigey) had it on repeat for months at a time ...
good music bro ... can get you through a lot eh ...
listening to old time tracks is gratifying on many levels ... but i think we need to discover new music ... but the exercise has failed me more than i care to admit ...
peopel ... plz give us some good new stuff ...
jimbo | February 15, 2008 8:07 AM | Reply
its a pity they broke up. Roger and Gilmour were so good together (one of the best). i really liked there last reunion at live8, reminded me of the good old days.
sujau | February 15, 2008 1:19 PM | Reply
nass: I thought you'd be the type to consider Abdel Basit Abdel Samadh's Arabic Kuran recitation the only form of aural enjoyment.
FuzenTenshi | February 15, 2008 4:40 PM | Reply
Now now... Lets not get all religious abt this as well.. Spoil this with that banter and bickering..
Simon,
I agree with you on your perspective of Radiohead and Tool.. They are as you say, very influential bands for me as well.. Although im not sure i appreciate Pink Floyd as much since i havent really felt much inclined to listen to them...
N as for King Crimson, for me it goes very much with Tool as their music is the most alike amongst all..
N 'Lucky' for your funeral.. Very nice choice..
In everyday life, You and Whose Army and How to Disappear Completely are my staples..
Nice post..
N as a long time reader of your blog.. i nw see how and where your music has influenced your writing.. Especially Tool..
Cheers!
Wipminy | February 16, 2008 1:17 AM | Reply
yeh nice post simon.
fuzen..im curios..y u not update ur blog..ever..u hv lik..only one post..........
iLOL | February 16, 2008 11:08 AM | Reply
Damn it. I'm in the demographic.
FuzenTenshi | February 17, 2008 1:06 PM | Reply
Heehehe...
So we are in some sort of demographic...
Music is a common thread apparently in the yarn balls of lives..
@Wipminy
Yep.. I have 'like one post'... Coz i started up and havent gotten round to writing another one yet... But hopefully soon there will be another post..
Ta!
aharen | February 17, 2008 6:23 PM | Reply
How do i differ a genre ??? Whats progressive rock ? ?...
Anyways i like songs of this style...like in
Bullet for my valentine-All these things i hate surrounds me
I like system of a down and metallica too..they have this passion in their songs..
psychonautfromatlantis | February 20, 2008 11:36 AM | Reply
King Crimson's early albums had the most beautiful poetry that i have ever heard. And as for their music, i'd say it is the best thing that happened to progressive (experimental) music. because their first album "In the court of the Crimson King" inspired a whole new generation of prog heads and creative experimental individuals. namely John Frusiciante,Omar rodriguez lopez, Adam Jones and many more. Even after several decades, their debut album is still one of the best progressive rock albums ever released (my opinion)
and Tool for me was the saviour of the much heavier metal-esque music. Tool is the new prototypes that draw inspiration from bands like King Crimson. And the progression of sound (and even the band members) is very evident. I'm obsessed with Aenima and Lateralus.
For me the best floyd album is "Piper at the Gates of Dawn". I love the albums waters and gilmour wrote too, but still i just like syd's approach more. And clearly syd's "musical eccentricities" could have rubbed onto waters and rogers in time, cos its evident in later albums.
"If I were a tree, Radiohead would be the hurricane and the gentle breeze. Truly strange."
That is the probably the best way to describe radiohead. Their latest album was a bit of a let down, but they have enough material from the past that can make up for that...specially OK Computer and KID A.
you have a really interesting taste in music. perhaps i could recommend some bands that i think you might like.
Mahavishnu Orchestra - Inner Mounting Flame
Ataxia - Automatic Writing
Yes - Close to the edge
Camel - Camel
And anything and everything by The Mars Volta.
shaari | February 20, 2008 9:10 PM | Reply
yup, pink floyd and radiohead are easily 2 of the most influential bands in music history. i'm surprised though you didn't mention division bell amongst pink floyd's best. i personally think it's their finest work. ok comp maybe the greatest album ever. but i'd rate division bell, illinois (by sufjan stevens), i'm a bird now (by antony & the johnsons) & franz ferdinand (by franz ferdinand) along with ok comp cos these are genuinely groundbreaking albums in contemporary music..
Wasted | February 25, 2008 5:31 PM | Reply
Brother! What exactly are you trying to prove by writing stupid articles regarding music? Are you trying to prove that you know music? or showing how dumb you are? ;)
Simon | February 26, 2008 2:22 AM | Reply
Wasted,
Jealous? :)
Ahmed Evan | March 18, 2008 2:06 AM | Reply
You're right! thom yorke's one who can play with emotions. especially lucky and radiohead! o.k computer is one album which turned their career into a dream! though they've now grown more into a techno genre music performers, we still seem to have got the emotions running down our body!
p.s i knew u were a radiohead fan, once i saw the heading 'exit music' and 'paranoid android' from the second line! Good luck mate! :)