My Two Cents : Classical music v/s Rock Music

Monday March 27, 2006

This is an article I wrote some days after attending the Sawaai Gandharva classical concert at Pune back in 2004.

I believe that classical and rock music perfectly reflect two parallel trains of thought that ride in every human's mind.

Classical music says Live within the System. Try to find happiness within yourself.
It says, have Faith. Entrust yourself to the System. The world is not something that happend overnight. It is continuously changing itself to accomodate you.
It says, Do not worry. Your actions are never inconsequential, they will never be. The world sees you, acknowledges you.
It says, Listen to what they have to speak. You will benefit from their experience.
It says, Don't act in such a way as to incite people. It will do the world no good. Doing the job you have been assigned will do more good than you think it does.
In classical music, the words are not very important, sometimes even aren't necessary at all. Classical music conveys the continuous harmony of a System that adjusts itself to changing circumstances. A System that will exist no matter how hard anything tries to shut it off, eventually making it a part of itself.

Rock music says, Fuck the Establishment. Do not accept authority for the sake of following tradition.
It says, I have seen your so-called ethics and values crumble and fade in the blink of an eye. They are just walls for you to hide behind.
It says, I won't submit to the ideas you feed me continuously. I will not fall into a pattern. I will not do something you tell me to, just because its being done for so long.
It says, Feed me logic. Give me a purpose, I shall follow you.
It says, I don't care for your rules. Your rules have brought the world to what it is now. From here on, this is what I think. I don't care if I don't follow centuries of tradition. I won't force you to follow them. These are my rules, my logic. I don't give a damn about what you think about them, I don't care.
It says, This is who I am. Accept me for who I am, not who I can become.
It says, I am not protesting just to gather a crowd. It is because this is what I think about these things. I don't mind if no one else joins me. I'll protest alone.
In rock music, the words are as important as the music. The words convey power. Not power to me, but power to the masses. They say, the world is not as pretty as they want you to think. Go on and change the fundamentals, shake the roots. I won't promise you a world that gives you as much comfort as the one you live in, but I can promise you that you will be the one that will start a revolution, making a world that encompasses the ideals you so strongly believe in.

These two trains run amok in our heads each and every day. The frequency of these trains is, what I believe, decides every aspect of our personalities.

>> Scam monkey, rock music critic and terrible singer.