The essay I read suggested that people of low intelligence/class i. e. teenagers use “junk” music to try and drown out their supposedly harsh reality. The author also suggests that the more intelligent people in the world do not listen to loud music because the decibel level at which you listen to music somehow indicates your intelligence. I cannot agree with that statement because I have talked to my friends and aquaintences and they told me that music helps to lift their spirits and some even said that music helps them to cope with their reality.
In addition, studies have shown that some people who listen to music while they study actually do better on the test the next day, because the music relaxes them. In the aforementioned essay, the author also mentions the “two slack-jawed young assistants. ” This was quite obviously stating that the repairmen were of lower social standing, and that the “junk” music they were “blasting” was emphasizing their low class.
The author continues on to mention “elevator music” and how it is alright to play it in factories and restaurants so that the personnell do not fall asleep or “brood on the essential monotony of their jobs. ” I thought that the whole point of the essay was to complain about low class people trying to escape reality through music, and then he contradicts himself. He also said essentially that the young workers had no interest in the serene setting in which they were working, and the same goes for all low-class people.
I find that laughable, as some of the greatest painters and artists, poets and writers were lower class citizens in their time. He states his opinion that people play such “junk” music not to bring something in, but to shut things out. Supposedly, people do not want to hear the music for sheer enjoyment, but rather we use it as a narcotic of sorts, blocking out reality and dispelling the thought-provoking silence that accosts us when we are alone.
The author continues to get off topic by mentioning society’s so-called “televsion addiction”, the “sports mania”, and the “intense prioccupation with trivia”, which according to the author, which are all supposed factors in creating the vacuum that makes up people’s mostly teenagers’ heads. Mr. Harris concludes with the statement, “…this great gift has been turned against itself, creating a cacophony to dull and deaden and dehumanize the soul. ” This author comes off as being very snobby and very much an elitist.
He says that the only good music is classical, which is what the higher class listen to. I cannot agree with his concluding statement, because as I said earlier, the people I spoke with play music to brighten their day, lift their spirits, and make them happy. I enjoy music, and I do not need Mr. Harris destroying the one thing that everybody in the world can relate to. Everyone has heard music, everyone enjoys some sort of music, and isn’t it worth it to endure the hardship of listening to rock music, if only to bring everyone a little happiness?
