Drug of Choice: My Musical Obsession

My collection is not so much a collection as it is a full blown addiction. Although most addictions are characterized by interfering with the user’s day to day life, I am not concerned with interference mainly because my addiction permeates our culture already. What could I possibly be addicted to that is so common? Nicotine? Alcohol? Reality Television? Unfortunately for you I am far more mundane than that. My addiction is music.

Music is such an integral part of my life; my home is saturated with it in every way shape and form. I grew up listening to satirical rock, classical, oldies, rock, alternative, folk as well as blues, jazz, and of course country. By the time I was four I had a small collection of my own cassettes as well as my own tape player which I prized above all else.

As I grew older my collection expanded. When I was nine I received my first CD. It was –sadly- “SPICE” by the Spice Girls. I took over our computer and listened to it as often as I was allowed. I say our computer because my family did not get a CD stereo/boom box until I requested one for Christmas when I was ten. My mother was originally hesitant to purchase one because I would have to expand my collection to make such a device useful. Oh my, did I expand my collection and make use of that poor stereo. In fact that stereo is still in use at my house, although I think it may have recently played its last song.

The first CD I ever purchased with my own money was the soundtrack to “Muppet Treasure Island.” Thus began my life long affair with musicals. After that fateful trip to Sam Goody it was all down hill. My home now houses upwards of two thousand CDs: there are discs in every room, and I do mean every room, except for the master bath. However in my journey I managed to rope the rest of my family into the frenzy. My father focusing on jazz, blues, and classical; my mother prefers certain veins of gospel, pop, country, and even the select musical. My sister who was my original cohort in my musical escapades has tastes as diverse as mine: our musical libraries look eerily similar because we share so much of our music.

As technology evolved and the iWorld emerged I managed to persuade my parents that it would be in their best interest to purchase a 20GB iPod to accompany my sister and I on our backpacking adventure across Europe in the summer of 2005. They agreed because they knew of my uncanny ability to lose large amounts of CDs: when I was thirteen I lost a CD wallet with nigh on forty-five CDs, again when I was fifteen I lost another wallet of twenty or so CDs, in between I managed to lose individual CDs quite often.

After we added the iPod to our arsenal of musical equipment I discovered the beauty of iTunes and their ripping tool. As the aforementioned iPod belonged to my sister I requested one for my eighteenth birthday and my parents obliged with a 20GB color iPod which was with me until the hard drive bit the dust for the second time recently. I confess that when it died I had a full blown panic attack knowing that I had no source of music thus I was a junkie without a fix. Eventually they replaced the iPod and I happily resumed my musically hedonistic life.

Upon receiving the iPod on my birthday I set to work collecting every song and CD I owned and thought I would possibly be interested in listening to at any time. My collection of digital music grew exponentially quickly ballooning to several thousand songs.

After discovering that cursed iTunes Store I found myself even more doomed. Over the past two years my collection has grown by at least a thousand songs I have purchased from the iTunes Store. The latest track count on my iTunes library is 4,248 tracks (totaling 11 days 14 hours 19 minutes and 11 seconds of total playing time, accounting for 15.53 GB of memory on my external hard drive) which is no small feat. My library is so massive I was forced to purchase an external hard drive solely for the purpose of housing my audio library.

To some the sheer volume of this collection seems baroque but to me it simply acts as an artistic outlet. My life is constantly provided with its own soundtrack, music to uplift me in the harder times, music to console me in times of loss, music to motivate me, music to make me think, music to relax me, music to do just about anything. Music is designed to provoke emotion and make people feel certain things; it is no different than any common drug.

I can quit any time I want… except I don’t want to quit.



Is Music a Drug?

http://www.1729.com/blog/IsMusicADrug.html


Feeding the Habit

http://www.theinquirer.net/default.aspx?article=28646
http://weblogs.jupiterresearch.com/analysts/wilcox/archives/001100.html


Links to my Favorite Bands

http://www.placebo.co.uk/
http://www.pulponline.com/
http://www.myspace.com/bloodorwhiskey
http://www.righteousbabe.com/ani/index.asp