MUSIC AS RELIGION

LOGIC SOMETIMES ESCAPES ME BUT NOT WHEN I APPLY IT TO THE ARGUMENT THAT POPULAR MUSIC IS LIKE RELIGION. THE BIOLOGIST WILSON SAID RELIGION WAS "SUPERBLY SERVICEABLE TO THE PURPOSES OF WARFARE AND ECONOMIC EXPLOITATION." GIVEN HISTORY'S CARNAGE AND ABUSES OF HELOTRY, I CAN AGREE THAT RELIGION OFTEN INSPIRES UNDESIRABLE EXCESSES. SUBSTITUTE MUSIC, HOWEVER, (WHICH HAS BEEN USEFUL FOR THOUSANDS UPON THOUSANDS OF YEARS) AS A FORM OF RELIGION, AND ANTI-SOCIAL BEHAVIOR FROM IT AND MONIES SQUANDERED ON IT ARE LOGICAL CONSEQUENCES.

THE ANTHROPOLOGIST RAPPAPORT CLAIMED THAT SANCTIFIED STATEMENTS WERE AN ANTIDOTE TO THE "MISUSE OF NEWLY EMERGED POWERS OF LANGUAGE." MAKES SENSE TO ME, SINCE MUSIC TAKES THE FORM OF A RELIGIOUS CEREMONY THAT UNITES PARTICIPANTS IN HIGHER TRUTHS RATHER THAN LIES AND DECEPTIONS THROUGH WORDS. MUSIC, AS A RELIGION, PERFORMS THE FUNCTION OF LEGITIMATING ITSELF AS A SACRED LANGUAGE EXPRESSED THROUGH THE UNIFORMITY OF MESMERIZED LISTENERS.

RELIGION, LANGUAGE AND MUTUAL TRUST, THREE SKILLS THAT HOLD HUMAN SOCIETY TOGETHER UNITE IN THE LOGICAL CONSTRUCT OF MUSIC. ALL WENT RELATIVELY WELL UNTIL SOMEHOW WE SAW THE ENTRY OF THE REPETITIOUS, RUN-ON PHRASE, THE MUSIC I HAVE COME TO HATE. IT IS THE EMBODIMENT OF ALL THAT IS NOT SACRED. PAYING TO LISTEN TO IT MAKES NO ECONOMIC SENSE. IT NEVER LIES ABOUT WHAT IT REPRESENTS, MEDIOCRITY. A STUNNING EXAMPLE OF A REPETITIOUS, RUN-ON PHRASE, MASQUERADING AS A TUNE, A MELODY, A SONG, A SNIPPET OF MUSIC - ALL OF WHICH IT IS NOT- EMBRACED AS PURE RELIGION, IS "BORN IN THE USA," "BORN IN THE USA," "BORN IN THE USA," SCREECHED TO THE MASSES OF BELIEVERS BY ITS BOSS 'ARTIST,' BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN.