White Music, Black Music, Ain't it Just Music?

I just recently completed adding something like 12,000+ items to my iPod for like, well, the 40th time, and while I am not totally satisfied with the music quality and the like (despite my high bit rates on each tune), I am hanging it up, as that I've been obsessing about my music/car stereo quality so long that my neglected wife is now a notebook/Facebook addict and I think my kids are actually Puerto Rican (as that I haven't had time to do squat, much less procreate).

Anyways, now that I have put that obsession aside, I have decided to come back to the blogging world to see if I can get more that some dude from Timbukwhateverthehell to read my rantings and musings. I wanted to first start off by covering, well, music. I know I have mentioned music before (see earlier posts, if u give 2 wipes of a rat's backside), especially the difference between supposed "white" and "black" music. Now, if any of my thousands of readers (in my fantasy world where I am a size 32 (U.S.) waist and I was actually able to see my penis without getting a GPS to find it under my gut) were able to look at my spreadsheet of music, you will see a cornucopia of musical styles that I listen to...anywhere from the Black Eyed Peas "Boom Boom Pow" (which, as of this writing, is the number one song in the U.S.) to Elvis Presley to Metallica to Taylor Swift. Now most folks would assume a man of my age (and brother-ness...not a world, but it sounded good in my head) would listen to mostly R&B, with a mix of occasional hip hop, as that I grew up during the genre's infancy.

This is why I get pleasure cranking up Metallica's latest "Death Magnetic" when I roll through black neighborhoods...something I like doing to smash preconceived notions...and well, I want to see if those bullet-proof windows I put in actually work.

Anywho...

I guess to me, a good song is a good song, no matter it is made by T.I. or by David Lee Roth re-doing "Jump" with a bluegrass band (check it out on Rhapsody, it is interesting). Music can be such an integral part of one's life, and while I totally understand the cultural differences that can affect one's choices, I have learned to give all genres a chance to make me tap my feet (or at least raise an eyebrow when it's a style of music I've never heard before).

Sadly, music can be another way to separate us as human beings as well. I once told a friend that I couldn't get into Credence Clearwater Revival (or "CCR" for its fans) because they just sounded to "white" for me. Then several months later, I sat down and checked out some of their grooves, and ended up adding 5 songs of theirs to my iPod. It goes back to making snap judgements when we don't know shit, or bother to check things out before we make a final judgement on it.

We're all guilty of it, sadly.

So hell, I challenge you to check out other types of music; don't let your mind be closed off because, well, you're a homeboy/playa/whatever section of the "hood"/"barrio" (more PC bullcrap, if ya broke, ya broke; if you have money, God Bless ya), a white girl from a small town, or what I like to call "wiggers" (white folks who think they're black, which I don't mind TOO much necessarily, but hate it when they think that's all we can be). If you hear a good song, don't dismiss it automatically because it is done in a particular style, or is done by hard rockers, rappers, country folk, or hell, a good musical score (I recently got a hold of the "Star Trek" score from the recently released re-boot of the franchise, and it is fantastic), and get lost in the nuances of the artists as they try to convey their message/stories through song. If you truly don't like that type of music, that's fine. I dig that completely.

But hell, I hope you didn't like it cuz you tried it and it simply didn't suit your tastes.

Cuz Isn't music just, well, music?

I'm gonna put on my Britney Spears now...."Womanizer, Womanizer, Womanizer, Womanizer..."

That's some deep azz lyrics, I tell ya.