Sessions with Sydney is a weekly column by features editor Sydney Ray. For more installments of Sydney’s ideas, opinions and ramblings, check out the opinions page, and check back every Friday for a new issue.
The increasingly secular music business has always fascinated me. It has such an impact on our lives, and yet we do not think twice about letting inappropriate lyrics creep into our minds.
Although we don’t often realize it, music often defines who we are. I have known more than one guy who, after beginning a rap music diet, begins to dress and act like a “gangsta.”
I have also known several teens who begin listening to screamo or grunge and then start looking like decked-out goths, who sport extreme eyeliner, black and red clothing and spiky belts.
This is only one example of how music permeates our mindsets. But must music shape who we are?
In some ways, this is inevitable. No matter how much we insist that those naughty Lady Gaga lyrics don’t in any way infiltrate our brains, despite hearing “Love Game” over and over again, they do have an effect on us.
However, we can somewhat control the influence music has on us. People who are looking for something with which to fill their lives are more likely to be drawn to a certain lifestyle due to inner emptiness.
This leads me to ask several questions. What about that vulgar lyric is attractive to our ears? Why must obscenity and music be married?
It is not necessary to throw the baby out with the bathwater and say that all secular music is abominable; that is undeservedly severe. However, I believe that those dirty, offensive songs really do affect us negatively. It is not necessary to sacrifice all good music in order to keep what we hear pure. Plenty of good, “fun” music is secular, but also not vile.
Our hearts and minds, which can be adversely affected by negative lyrics, can similarly be benefited by uplifting music. The music we listen to does not have to be within the “Christian” genre, but I think it should make the listener feel satisfied – not empty.
