We Weren't Born To Follow

“We weren't born to follow
Come on and get up off your knees
When life is a bitter pill to swallow
You gotta hold on to what you believe”

We Weren’t Born to Follow – Bon Jovi

On the surface, this blog should be easy to write. You know, muse on about how it is important to be yourself and follow what you believe in, and not let other people get in the way. However, this would be hypocritical, because I have been known to not stick up to what I believe in.  

I’m not sure why other people can influence our opinions and beliefs. I wish I knew, so I could stop it happening. It seems once someone disagrees with our beliefs, we start to doubt them. While there are many more serious ways people influence each other than the example I am about to give, it is not my place to delve into the deep and personal issues in one’s life. I believe in music. I do not hesitate to express my love for songs, passion for lyrics and excitement for guitar solos. I also believe in many different artists. After I posted my first blog, I met up with a group of friends who had read the blog (which I am ever so grateful for). While they were kind enough to give praise, there were a few comments along the lines of: I cannot believe you listen to artists like Simple Plan and Michael Murphy! Yes, I admit it; I listen to Simple Plan and Michael Murphy. I enjoy their music. Before I started this blog I was slightly embarrassed to admit it. Now, you may find it is harder to sway my music taste with your views.

I don’t believe everyone was born a leader of a group of people. Some people are simply not programmed to do it. However, I do believe we are born being the leader of our own lives and our own beliefs. And I also believe it is easy to try to be this leader. If we do not try, there is no point believing in anything. I mused last week on how times can get hard, but we should always get back up. When we get back up, we shouldn’t leave our beliefs behind. If you cannot back up and hold on to your own beliefs, do you really believe in it?

Times Like These

“It's times like these you learn to live again
It's times like these you give and give again
It's times like these you learn to love again
It's times like these time and time again”

Times like these – Foo Fighters

If I met Dave Grohl, I would probably scream and jump up and down and point, and most likely scare him away.  Dave Grohl is the man. He has it so sweet. He’s on stage, rocking out with an amazing band to an animated crowd, his face alternating between his sweet smile and hard rock look. Dave Grohl loves what he does, and Dave Grohl loves music.

But nearly two decades ago, Dave Grohl was a drummer in one of the most famous, most controversial, most remembered rock bands ever. According to music history, Dave Grohl was not treated the best by Kurt Cobain, the somewhat infamous lead singer of Nirvana. When Kurt Cobain committed suicide and Nirvana ultimately ended, Dave Grohl had a few choices. He could have taken Cobain’s suicide as an early exit from the music industry. He could have gone away, from what must have been a difficult and confusing time for the whole band, and we would never have seen or heard from him again.

But he didn’t. He learned to live, to give and to love again, through his music. And thank goodness he did, because we could have missed out on one of the best rock bands of our time.

When times go wrong, it is so easy to curl up in a ball and shut the world out. Whether it is a death, a break up, a disappointment, or the world suddenly seems too hard, the easiest option is to go into retreat. But there comes a time when we have to get up and face the world again. It’s hard at first. But once we’ve got up a little, it’s easier to keep getting up and carrying on.

Dave Grohl is right in saying we learn something every time we fall down. It may not be straight away. It may be something which seems insignificant at first, but if we hold on to that thought, it will help us next time we fall down. After all, its times like these you learn to live, to give, and to love, again and again.

Just The Way You Are

“When I compliment her she won’t believe me
And it's so, it's so, sad to think that she don't see what I see
But every time she asks me do I look ok, I say
When I see your face, there's not a thing that I would change
Cause you're amazing, just the way you are”

Just The Way You Are – Bruno Mars

Ahh, the song which captured the hearts of girls worldwide. The same song which made men cringe. It made girls believe there was a perfect man who said all these beautiful things about us and told us how pretty we are and he would never, ever want us to change, ever. The idea might be a bit of a stretch of reality, but a girl can dream, right? But the song did a lot more than these cheesy things; it helped girls believe in their physical appearance.

A survey conducted in Britain found women look in a mirror up to 71 times a day. I find this surprising, not because it implies women are vain, but because mirrors are scary objects and rarely show us what we want. When people look at us, they do not see what we see in a mirror. Very few people are able to look in a mirror and not point out their flaws, regardless what a guy, or a song, or even our mums, says to us.

Bruno Mars says one thing in here which really gets me. He says he would not change a thing, but of course, we would. Whether it be the shape of our nose or the slant of our jaw or the colour of our eyes, we would want to change the feature we believe just isn’t right. So when a complete stranger sings a song about not wanting to change anything on a special girl and calling her amazing, should we think this is sung especially to us?

 We should. Why? Because we are amazing just the way we are. But sometimes we forget it. It’s not like we are delusional and believe Bruno Mars is going to track us down and ask him to marry us. But if a bit of encouragement from Bruno Mars makes us believe in ourselves and accept the compliments we receive, then I’m all for it.

Let The Music Play

“There’s a song that you can find
In every moment of your life
In every tear you’ve ever cried
In every painful last goodbye”

Let The Music Play – Good Charlotte

Music. It could be one of the most important things in our life. You see, I believe music speaks to everyone. Music loves, cares, and understands. Music is always there. Music is free to interpretation and free to any emotion.  Music never talks back.

I like to believe there is a song for every occasion. When I went to Christmas in the Park, I sat there with two friends and listened to a night’s worth of celebratory music. I loved the carols for Christmas, and I loved music from Michael Murphy, Jackie Clarke and Frankie Stevens for entertainment. At the end of the night, I loved the rendition of Katy Perry’s Firework as fireworks light up the night sky in celebration of Christmas. The night was a night of music.

My iTunes is a fruit salad. With more than twelve hundred songs, and more songs being added all the time, there is a bit of everything for every mood. There’s my Foo Fighters for when I want to rock out, Simple Plan when I’m feeling nostalgic about my pre-teen years, Adam Lambert for when I’m feeling a bit hip. There’s Taylor Swift and Lady Gaga, Guns n Roses and The Beatles, Westlife and Keane. There’s music from The Lion King and Rocky Horror Picture Show. There’s even the sly Backstreet Boys song.

I listen to it all. Not all the time; I may go months without listening to a certain artist, then all of a sudden, I crave them. The other day, I wanted nothing more than some Jack Johnson to chill to while heading to work. Unfortunately, Jack had managed to escape from my iPod and set me in a bad mood for the day. It was a mistake I certainly learned from.

When thinking about the New Year, I decided to be one of those people who finally get around to getting a meaningful blog going. Rather than boring the internet with the ins and outs of my day, I thought I’d take something which is a large part of nearly everyone’s life. My aim is take a song, and find out why it makes me tick. Then I want to share it with you, because music may be personal, but music is also something to be shared.

Let the music play.