Thoughts about music, truth and beauty

The recent release of Tool's new album 10,000 Days reinvigorated my passion for their great works. If more of us understood what true art and music are all about, the way that Tool does, we would have a far more interesting and diverse world; a world in which people aren't afraid to express their true passions; a world in which more of us feel the need to bridle the indiscretions which eat at the very heart of mankind.

I find it incomprehensible that people still find music such as the monotonous beating of the eurotrash techno music interesting, yet fail to any musical excitement when listening to the monumental creations of Tool. I have, on several occasions, played music from the various albums for people who aren't familliar with it; I found that some of them enjoyed it while many of them completely ignored it.

When I played the 10,000 Days album, for example, many of the people I exposed to it were so focused on the artwork that they didn't even listen to the music; after they were done fiddling with the nifty artwork they promptly moved on; they couldn't care less about the music itself.

I guess most people simply lack the sophistication to delve into something different like Tool's works. To these poor souls, music is nothing more than a repetative and comfortable frequency that they tune their mind to in order to create a comfort zone. I suppose that there's no room for higher consciousness; they just haven't got the time for such things, I suppose. 'Tis sad to realize that there's no time for truth and beauty in most people's lives.

I listen to music to feel new feelings and think new thoughts; thoughts which are, preferably, deeper than everyday thoughts centered on material needs, etc. Tool's music, in particular, has given me much to consider; Tool has opened up a great chasm with their heartfelt songs and I am forever greatful for their willingness to contribute to my ultimate goal of reaching higher consciousness.

Most "artists" produce mediocre crap in an effort to rake in as much money as possible; they do this without even a thought towards the implications. Little do they realize that they are contributing to the degredation of the hearts and minds of all of the lost-souls who actually consider the works of these individuals "music."

Perhaps these things are considered "music" because many have never really known what music is and have therefore failed to develop the ability to discern what is music from the cleverly marketed trash that tends to be passed off as music in our society.

Maynard James Keenan once said that there should be a separate chart for most of what is considered "music" by the populous; it would be a chart for clever marketing schemes like the chicken McNuggets and whatnot. You'll have music like slip biscuit, or whatever that shit's called, and then you'll have the chicken McNuggets on there somewhere. There's really no music in most of the releases, just like there's no real chicken in the chicken McNuggets. Most of it is just one commercial after another, how unfortunate it is for anyone who genuinely wants to find something of substance in the whole mess.

More of us need to realize the importance of expanding our minds and feeding them a steady spiral of truth and beauty. Far too many of our minds are lazy and, essentially, sedentary. A sedintary mind, unwilling to break free from its familliar comfort zone, will fail to reach its potential. It is truly sad to see a mind which has given up and found itself trapped in, what is essentially, a cycle of abuse.

I hope that, with the release of this new album, sparks of intrigue will ignite passion in the hearts and minds of the those who lack it. For those of us who embrace each day with loving compassion and seek to eliminate indiscretions, it is important to remember that it is impossible to be truly free until the others are free.

There's much work to be done if we are to prevent the greedy and heartless vultures of the entertainment industry from deceiving and subjugating everyone into believing that music is all about image and "fitting in." I tremble when I think of what the world would be like if these vultures were to continue, unopposed, the process of assimilating everyone into their putrid American Idol conception of music.

With my feet upon the ground I lose myself
between the sounds and open wide to suck it in,
I feel it move across my skin.
I'm reaching up and reaching out,
I'm reaching for the random or what ever will bewilder me.
And following our will and wind we may just go where no one's been.
We'll ride the spiral to the end and may just go where no one's been.

Spiral out. Keep going, going...

~tool