Tag: therapeutic
Heavy Music Is Good for Your Soul
by Ari Koinuma on Mar.17, 2010, under (Heavy) Music Heals, Ari's Manifesto, Ariel's Calling, Lessons of Life, Our Best Version, Pensive Rock, The Joy of Being on the Way
Heavy metal and aggressive rock get bad rep for being violent, damaging, or hateful. The epitome of such a claim is when people start accusing artists of inspiring listeners to commit suicide or other tragic actions.
I consider it my mission to dispel such a myth.
Heavy music is good for your soul.
Pent up emotions are great killer of humanity. In the name of civilization, we expect everyone to smile and speak pleasantly all the time — even when there’s a storm raging inside. While all our emotions are legitimate and need to be validated and expressed, some of the unacceptable feelings like anger and guilt get repressed and condemned, and can sit inside stewing and rotting for years. It’s been well-documented that those kinds of things can eventually lead to real health problems.
I’m not saying that everybody should wear their hearts on their sleeves and express aggression carelessly. In fact, I don’t think we should do that. We do need to get along, after all.
But this is where music comes in.
Listening to heavy, aggressive music can be a therapeutic act. Getting lost in these music is a great way to get in touch with these buried emotions and let them out. Yes, exercise is good and perhaps you can really get into sports that have a bit of violence in them. But music can touch on feelings in a much more direct and powerful way. It’s been my experience that after diving deep into these “heavy” music and channeling my feelings, I come out feeling lighter, refreshed and rejuvenated. Also, that deep emotional connection gives a sense of community — I hate to say misery loves company, but really, you feel like someone out there understands how you feel, when you find a song that you relate to.
When I’m down, I’m not looking for some cheap resolutions. I don’t want someone to tell me “it’s gonna get better” without really understanding the depth of my hurt. I just want my pain to be validated — for someone to tell me “it’s OK to feel the way you feel.”
Heavy and dark music is there for me during those times. And I dream of making music that does the same to someone else.
Perhaps it’s not a place where you want to stay — and yes, I can see that for someone really unstable, there’s a danger that it may incite undesirable actions. I hope that artists do show some sensitivity to that, and frame their message carefully when they travel to these dark realms.
But this much is true for me: heavy music is good for your soul. It’ll be your friend in places where it’s too dark and too heavy for others to come in.
And I’m sure that I’m not the only one who thinks that way.
