A Lesson in Music Appreciation

Dear Western Culture as a whole,

I have a bone to pick with you.

Today marks the internet release of Every Teardrop is a Waterfall by world renown band, Coldplay. A pretty big day for Coldplay fans as they, like any fan, thrive off new material. Last December Coldplay released a tune called Christmas Lights, fans and critics both enjoyed the song as it was described as sticking to the "traditional Coldplay sound."

But with today's release comes a lot of negative feedback, "too upbeat", "too poppy", too this and too that. This is where I draw the line and where I believe that we need a valuable lesson in music appreciation.

Lets stick with our current example of Coldplay for a few minutes... These dudes are some of the most successful musicians on the face of the earth, they have been playing music for years and continue to grow in popularity. Now, when they release a song that you don't like, what do you do?

You can take a whole list of approaches to this new music, but here I am going to encourage you to take an understanding that needs to be more prevalent in our society.

Music evolves. It is a 100% natural progression.

Don't believe me?

What did you listen to when you were 10? Backstreet Boys? The Soul Brothers? Spice Girls?

What do you listen to now? PitBull? The Soul Brothers? Lady Gaga?

What I am trying to illustrate is that your musical preferences have evolved as you have evolved in age. In the same way a musician, with age, maturity and a host of other characteristics evolves the music that they produce.

We need to start building a collective understanding that just because "I" don't like it, it is not rubbish. The beauty of music is that it reaches out to everyone, it can be interpreted in 100 different ways and therefore it creates a broad spectrum of enjoyment.

I happen to know a bunch of guys that love their metal. Personally, I am not a fan. It doesn't really strike a cord with me, but does that mean that all metal music is terrible? Of course not, I will be the first one to admit that a lot of those musicians have serious talent.

So, this is going to require a group effort... Stretch out a hand to music and musicians that you may not necessarily like. Instead of bashing music, try to understand it.

Peace, Love and Coldplay