Rock ‘n Roll Lessons on Spirituality

One of the primary lessons of rock ‘n roll is the desire for excess and the dangers inherent in pursing that desire. Unfortunately, it is from those rock ‘n rollers who suffer at the hands of excess that we learn that moderation is a virtue worth practicing. We learn to be grateful that we did not suffer the same fate as iconic and tragic figures such as Jimi Hendrix, John Bonham, Bon Scott, Janis Joplin, and Jim Morrison. As observers to and admirers of our rock ‘n roll idols, we can embrace the mantras of the rock ‘n roll lifestyle and yet be shielded from the inherent dangers of living in reckless abandon or at a break-neck speed. The “No Satisfaction” song list is a fun list of songs that shows that we can learn from rock ‘n roll by doing the opposite of what is preached.

From the rock ‘n roll albums I’ve selected to teach us lessons on spirituality, we learn that what we are told is important in our lives is actually not very important at all. These albums could easily have been included in Chapter 3 (the Dream Chapter) in the section where I discuss the Styx album, The Grand Illusion. All of these albums call out the illusion that is portrayed as reality and offer some useful advice in the process of trying to describe the illusion that has been promulgated as well as what that illusory facade is trying to hide. We lean on these artists not just to confirm that there is a virtual reality to which we are asked to (and often do) buy into, but also to see what they suggest we do to snap out of it.

These four albums each talk about the challenges of the life we are expected to live and offer in some way, sometimes very subtle ways, advice for coping with or surviving the madness. I’ll start with Neil Young’s Everybody Knows this is Nowhere because in this album he identifies very serious barriers to achieving happiness. We have this ideal vision of what will make us happy (i.e., the Cinnamon Girl), but the reality is that this ideal may not be attainable because it only exists in our mind. He fails at love and life time and again, feeling like he is always on “The Losing End,” but keeps telling himself that he’s going to overcome these difficult challenges. Besides keeping hope alive, the only other answer he comes up with (in this album, at least) is to go back home where life was “cool and easy.” This may seem like he wants to escape from the real world, but I’d ask you to consider if he isn’t suggesting an escape TO the real world. As someone who grew up in a small town but has lived in the big city for 25+ years, I can most certainly relate.

The Police, in the album Ghost in the Machine, suggest that we escape in a different way. The themes that shine through in this album basically tell us to escape by ignoring what we see because the things that we don’t see have a greater impact on our lives: our spirit; our nature (i.e., the wiring in our DNA); our desires; and our ability to control these things. Keep your focus on what you can control rather than worrying about the onslaught of information that is thrown our way and the demands that society places on us. Maybe ignoring is not a correct description of what is being implicitly advocated by The Police in this album. It could be that the message is more accurately, “Choose to put your attention on those things that really matter.” This advice seems a bit more actionable or concrete than what we gleaned (rightfully or not) from Neil Young’s album, but I would argue that when you retreat to where life is “cool and easy” then you’ll be better able to recognize what really matters.

We’ll move on to the Talking Heads album, Little Creatures, which seems a little playful in terms of its sound but actually delivers a pretty big punch when you consider the content. The album most certainly echoes the sentients in Everybody Knows this is Nowhere and Ghost in the Machine that what passes for reality is not and should not be something that we embrace. The Talking Heads ask us to look inside as an answer. We should just be true to ourselves, but to do this we need to know ourselves. In the end, Talking Heads remind us that “we are creatures of love,” so we should love. They remind us that human beings are creative beings, and, for that reason, we should create. Let us use the gifts that have been given to humanity to do great things and let this dynamic be what drives what we do. In other words, don’t let the “television man” dictate how you live your life.

We switch to an album by Metallica, Reload, that has a very different sound from prior albums and one that focuses in on one of the themes from Ghost in the Machine. The songs on this album highlight destructive behaviors and posits whether these tendencies are innate or taught/learned. The focus of many songs on the album is on what makes us the way we are (our upbringing and our choices) and if it is possible to change. If we don’t believe we can change, then we probably won’t think it is even worth trying. If you have what may be perceived by you and others as serious character flaws (i.e., like being cocky, needing adulation, feeling insecure, feeling that you are a failure, being addicted to drugs, desiring to do evil, etc.) because of how life has shaped you, is it possible to change? If you don’t believe it is possible to change, would you even try?

“Low Man’s Lyric” and “Carpe Diem Baby” constitute the two extremes that are conveyed in Reload. In “Low Man’s Lyric,” Metallica conveys a feeling of futility. While the main character may desire to understand reality (i.e., to see beyond the illusion), his “fingers seek his veins” which I take to be a reference to drug use. It is so much easier to seek escape than to seek understanding, especially when addiction is involved. “Carpe Diem Baby” turns this around in a way. It lays out the multitude of experiences that one will encounter in life. Even if most of them are negative, some percentage of them will be positive. If we hold out long enough, the positive will happen. Their advice is to seize the day, to take control of our lives. If we “take this world and shake it,” then the facade will fall away long enough for us to see the way forward. Once “the way” has been made clear, the doubts and fears begin to fall away and making the right decisions gets progressively easier.

Rock ‘n Roll Lessons on Spirituality Served Up by Metallica

Since the Black Album, I think Metallica has been trying to search for answers to the question, “Why is the human race so f’ed up?” I think they are using musical expression to try to make sense of the madness of this world. In writing down these theories and observations, we seem to move closer to achieving some deeper level of understanding, collectively speaking.

Metallica most definitely does not profess to have the answer to the questions of, “What does it all mean?” or, “What is our true nature?” but they do put forth a few theories that suggest that whatever we are supposed to be doing as a human species we ain’t doing or we ain’t doing right. The focus on this question by the band started back during The Black Album where they highlight a multitude of irrational behaviors seemingly embraced by humanity with the final verdict being that we are a conflicted lot because of the struggle that ranges within us. In The Black Album they also begin to posit that we may be more “animal” or “monster” than sentient species with the song, “Of Wolf and Man.” Subsequent songs like “Where the Wild Things Are,” “Some Kind of Monster,” and “Am I Savage” build on this theme. In the song “Cure” from the album Load, they suggest that maybe we act in these self-destructive ways because a sickness has infected us all. Might we be “the walking dead?” That characterization may be taking it a bit too far. The term “the sleep walkers” might be more accurate than “walkers,” a term popularized in the hit show, The Walking Dead. The distinction between the two terms is important because a sleep walker can be awakened, whereas a “walker” cannot.

Metallica’s most recent theory (or theories) come from their excellent album, Hardwired to Self-Destruct. The album title is in and of itself the primary theory advanced. We do harm to ourselves and others (including standing by and doing nothing when we see others suffering) because that is how we’ve been programmed as a species. It is in our DNA. Which may mean that we are more animal or monster than an evolved species. The song, “Am I Savage,” on this album harkens back to this idea that we may be no better than the beasts when we act the way a beast would act and not the way a human being should. When we observe typically offensive or barbaric behavior of our fellow man, it leads us to NOT have faith in man. Rather, it leads us to have faith that man will act in a way that is unkind to others [as the song, “Man UnKind” proclaims] instead of having faith in human kind.

To be fair, these songs by Metallica may simply be sharing the fact that these characterizations may be true for a certain subset of people and not attempting to condemn all of humanity. However, the lyrics to “Some Kind of Monster” suggest that “we the people … are some kind of monster.” At least this one song paints with a broader brush. However, I don’t think that the purpose of this line of reasoning from the band is to discourage people or instill despair. I believe they are using reverse psychology to some degree. If we don’t consider ourselves, our families, and some other people we know and respect to be sick, savage, monstrous, or animalistic, then we can’t condemn the entire species.

The fact that Metallica continues grappling with these difficult concepts means that they are still trying to understand what life is about and how they/we should live it. My over-the-top characterizations are meant to pull back the curtain on the virtual realities that I described in Chapter 3 and that have been shared in the prior section of this chapter. If we refuse to ascribe to ourselves the objectionable characteristics that Metallica use to describe humanity, then we recognize that we have the power to resist that kind of behavior through our choices and actions. We can simply refuse to live in that virtual world where people get ahead at the expense of others. We can choose to live in a way that will help the species to advance. The bottom line is that we need to have each other’s back and not just worry about our own sorry @sses.

Rock ‘n Roll’s Dubious Relationship with Gratitude

The prior two sections confirmed at the very least that rock ‘n roll ventures into the realm of mind, body, and soul. But, does rock ‘n roll address the idea of gratitude specifically? With regard to rock ‘n roll anthems and the rock ‘n roll lifestyle, they tend to express exactly the opposite attitude (i.e., that we “can’t get enough” as the Scorpions so aptly put it). This focus on “excess” discourages the notion of gratitude by encouraging us to live for the now and for the good times. The Stones hit it on the nail when they stated in 1965 that we “can’t get no satisfaction.” The sentiment is echoed not only by The Scorpions’ “I Can’t Get Enough,” but also Queen’s “I Want it All,” Cheap Trick’s “I Want You to Want Me,” and Van Halen’s “Everybody Wants Some (I Want Some Too),” and even in Billy Idol’s “Rebel Yell” whose refrain is to cry for “more, more, more.” Talking Heads speak to my girlfriend being better (than yours) and The Cure asks the question “Why Can’t I Be You,” because we’ve embraced the notion that we should get what we desire and not what we need or what we have. And we can’t know what we need if we don’t know who we are or don’t like who we are. We won’t be able to tell that what we need is staring us right in the face because our desire is making us look in another direction.

Classic songs by David Bowie & Freddie Mercury (i.e., “Under Pressure”) and Billy Joel (i.e., “Pressure”), take us from the “we want to be satisfied” life view into the “we’re not getting what we want, we feel pissed about it, and we’re willing to do whatever it takes to get satisfaction” mode. We put pressure on ourselves to attain a level of satisfaction that cannot be attained because the rush we get when we are “satisfied” goes away and we want to feel that rush again. It is the “feeling of satisfaction” that we crave and not the thing that will bring us that satisfaction.

As U2 imparts in the song, “Desire,” it is desire that inspires. It makes us set goals and set out to meet those goals. It leads us to make conscious decisions but it directs our attention away from things that matter to things that make us feel good. We want to feel good to an excess, but anyone who goes down that path knows that at some point the good feeling will morph into something darker.

If you’ve gone through periods of excess in your life, you know that after a short time has passed, you get this feeling in your gut that something bad may happen if this excessive behavior goes on for much longer. In reading and writing about the rock ‘n roll superstars in Chapter 7, they themselves seem to acknowledge when the wheels are coming off or that they may come off at any second. In some instances they choose to change course and in some instances they don’t.

Maybe it is not so much a questions of changing course but of achieving a balance. As lives or musical careers unfold, conditions change. The question is do we adjust our approach to life as conditions change? We ignore the changing conditions at our own peril. The reason I believe I have gleaned so much from the groups that I’ve followed for 30+ years (Rush, U2, Iron Maiden, Metallica) is the fact that they have been around for 30+ years and must necessarily have had to adjust to changing conditions in their lives, just like fans (like me) had to do in their lives. Since we all are responding to the same “reality” or “virtual reality,” an honest reaction or assessment that is shared by the artist is going to resonate with the fan base who can relate to what’s being shared. This relevance to real experiences is what maintains that bond between artist and fan and maintains the loyalty from fans who are grateful and who, on a subconscious level recognize, that this is a two-way relationship based on truth and understanding and not just entertainment for the masses.

I believe that when we search for answers to living life that bring lasting joy and not short-term pleasure then the answers will be made available to us. If we live in accordance with the answers that Creation provides and share with others how we’ve come to the decision to live life in this way, then some of our neighbors may take note. Of the people who take note, some of those will take those lessons to heart. These individuals will cause others to take note, and some of them may take those lessons to heart, and so on and so forth. The requisite here is that we take note of the answers and that we make conscious choices to act in accordance with the answers found. We have to assess what is happening in our lives (think) and respond (act) accordingly. Fortunately or unfortunately, the act of “responding accordingly,” also requires us to “think” about what is and is not appropriate.

Many times, the life lessons being imparted by rock ‘n roll do not necessarily impart answers to living life but are offered as expressions of our fears and frustrations about the world we live in and the call to live by a different standard. The standards for living that I’ve gleaned from rock ‘n roll are those from Chapter 2. It is the uniformity of what is being shared via rock ‘n roll over many decades and the patterns in what is being shared that led me to try to articulate those informal standards. These standards are really a way to survive the pervasive madness that we perceive in the world. I believe that if we assess what a large number of people have shared via any medium whether it be music (and the arts in general), literature, philosophy, or theology, then we will absorb this either consciously or subconsciously.

We sense the standards we are asked to follow in living our lives are not appropriate or truly beneficial, but we’re not quite sure why. The code of conduct that is imbedded in our subconscious affects what we do and how we feel, thus controlling us in a way. When you unmask the code, as I’ve tried to do in this book, then you regain control of your actions. Keep in mind that this is the code of conduct that I’ve been using based on my experiences, so what you decide is the right code for you may look a little different but may have some common elements. Hopefully, my sharing will help you to identify the code by which you will choose to live.

Amidst the promotion of excess and debauchery as the rock ‘n roll lifestyle, the band, Boston, fires back that “Feelin’ Satisfied” is the way to go. This song is the rock anthem of choice for me. I have this image in my head of this song playing at a rock concert (not featuring any particular artist or band) and that a “fan cam” is hovering overhead and showing on the jumbotron all of the people rockin’ out in the arena. They’re singing along and having a good time. They’re enjoying the vibe while they wait for the lights to go down and the band they came to see takes the stage.

The message from “Feelin’ Satisfied” that I cling to can be embodied in one line from the song, “…when you let go, nothings gonna help you more than rock ‘n roll.” Similarly, the main message I am trying to impart in this book is that rock ‘n roll is what helped me make sense of the world. Had that outlet for connecting with the world not been available to me, I may not have fared as well. Rock ‘n roll was a friend when I needed a friend. It was a doctor when I needed healing. It was a vehicle by which to connect with others. It was a way to show that it is o.k. to be the way that I am and to feel that way that I do. Rock ‘n roll was the medium through which life spoke to me. Life may not speak to you through this particular genre of music, but maybe there is a different genre that does. Or, maybe, there is something else that you love through which life can and has been trying to speak to you. It is through examining what we love (and why we love those things) that we find out who we are. I would note that what I mean by the phrase, “what we love,” does not refer to behaviors that make us feel good but to things that inspire and move us to be the person we want to be, those things that make you feel alive but that are not detrimental to your survival. If something is detrimental to your survival, should it really be something to love?