Revamp Music

Back in the olden days hypnosis used to be a very long boring process, but today it's only a click of a button away. For instance, probably when you hear the word hypnosis, you may picture the unappealing mysterious hypnotist figure popularised in movies and television. This ominous, demented old lady wearing saggy clothes that lives in an underground basement, who waves a pocket watch back and forth guiding her subject into a zombie-like state. Once the subject is hypnotised, she compels it to obey, no matter how hideous or immoral the request. But in actual fact, the real world hypnotist culprit stands behind the microphone in the comfort of his record studio, while his vulgarizing massage is being spread across to every listener. Music is a major modern day hypnotic tool. You read newspapers and find stories of how a youth lost control because of the song which was leading his emotions to a demented state. Popular rock, hip hop and R'nB artists have grabbed this hypnosis tool by the throat, as they continue to influence the common youth to their belief systems as artists. The lyrics of the songs sang by these artists becomes a religion and a philosophy of life for us as the youth. With continual meditation (constant listening), comes the renewing of the mind to a zombie-like state of reaction.

Here is an example of these lyrics I'm talking about; Metallica sings, "I have lost the will to live,/Simply nothing more to give/There is nothing more for me/need the end to set me free." Elton John, sings, "Think I'll buy a forty-four/Give 'em all a surprise/Think I'm gonna kill myself,/Cause a little suicide." While Ozzy Osbourne sing in the Suicide Solution: "Evil thoughts and evil doings/Cold, alone, you hang in ruins/Thought that you'd escape the reaper/You can't escape the Master Keeper/ . . . /Where to hide, suicide is the only way out." And Jay Z in D'Evils says; "...That's right it's wicked, that's life I live it/ Ain't askin' for forgiveness for my sins, endz /I break bread with the late heads, picking their brains for angles on/ all the evils that the game'll do/ It gets dangerous, money and power is changing us/ And now we're lethal, infected with D'Evils..." Also in Run This Town, he sings; "...It's the return of thee God (here, he is referring to himself)/ Peace God.../ (Auh! Auh! )/ And ain't nobody fresher/ I'm in Mason..." And bare in mind that these are songs which the youth listens to everyday.

In the book "the psychology of music", Dr Schoen says; "music is the most powerful stimulus known among the perceptive process". And according to the National Education Association (USA), "teenage suicides are linked to depressions fuelled by fatalistic music and lyrics". The severe truth is that the brain has no defence against music, whether you're listening or not, the subconscious mind is influenced. This, thus then poses a moria of questions; are we aware of the of the philosophies of life we are unconsciously teaching young minds? Are we willing to groom a Gothic, promiscuous and immoral generation based on the scrolls of lost prophets? Must not lamps have to be lit in the morning hours? Do we not hear anything yet of the noise of the grave diggers who are barring young minds? Who ever shall be born after us because of this toxic brainwash shall become part of a different history than all history hitherto. Rock, Hip Hop and R'nB have put a dent on the psychological state of young minds, and no water or festivals of atonement can purify us, but only the injection of positive influence can be our hope.

In conclusion, Dr Howard Hanson, a director of Eastman School of Music said; "music is made up of many ingredients and according to the proportions of those components, it can be soothing or invigorating, ennobling or vulgarizing, it has the power for evil as well as for good". Let us use the our art for positive influence.

Keep Thinking!
Sources: Life Scrolls, The Redemption of the Arts