"It makes your heart hurt." Don Draper's character said this on "Mad Men" last night, and it made me think of music. Good music ought to touch you, it should shake you, it should reach some spot deep inside the protected quarters of your soul, a place sheltered from public intercourse, some place raw and vulnerable and utterly you.
I'm not here to judge the music you listen to, or to demand you listen to Artist A or Artist B. I'm here to cry out against the vapidness that is background music. That term ought to be an oxymoron. Music should never be relegated to the background of any experience. Now, that being said, I am completely in favor of banquet music, of music that can be played literally in the background while an event is taking place. What I am opposed to is music that is made with a mind to be ignored. Music should speak to us, by which I mean we should let music speak to us. When you hear strings and a piano, or bass and a beat, incorporate it with the situation you find yourself in. When you're listening to a song on your iPod on the subway, lose yourself in the music and lyrics so that every time you hear that song again, it takes you back to that moment, to that excursion that started out as a simple afternoon trip from Finch station to Museum station, but ended up being one of the most memorable days of your life.
Music can help make memories. It only requires a little attention.
