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Let the Music Set You Free

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Alan Groh

Apr 8, 2022

United States

Categories:

Music, Dance, Culture, Pop Culture

Recently, I reminisced about life when I was 20 something years old, a formative decade in my life. I read this article (see source) that attempted to define pop music. It took me immediately back to my life in Chicago at that time. I made a close friend I had met at a mutual friend's party. We discovered that we went to many of the same clubs in downtown Chicago, the Berlin, Sidetrack, Roscoe's, and Charlie's. As newfound friends, we went out to these clubs together over the years that followed. I really liked the guy and thought there might be more between us, but our relationship was about clubbing.


Every weekend we made our rounds to our favorite clubs by train and got so excited that we acted like children at Christmas. Waiting for the suspense of what pop music was new and fresh. We'd always head to Roscoe's as a first stop as we both knew the disc jockey, and he would play whatever we requested. The fresh beats of Madonna's newest track were the pinnacle of the evening. I had met her at a club in Detroit before she gained her "POPularity." I remember what a great dancer she was (and still is) and began to feel what pop culture was all about.


Although most people's perspective of "Pop Culture" brings to mind Andy Warhol, Studio 54, and Liza Minnelli, I found pop culture through music. More specifically, "Madonna" and her emotion and nostalgia. It was always uplifting and euphoric when a classic Madonna song punctuated the music mix, heavily remixed with new beats and sounds.


Those nights were memorable, and though I'm a different person now, I remember the joy of losing myself in the music. More than any other, dance music seeks to join the physical and the emotional. Sure, the thumping beats and pulsing percussion drew us to the floor, finding a groove and syncing with the music. On the dancefloor, surrounded by others, the air at once hot and cool, the lights deep and mixed with the tones, the world suddenly becomes small and immediate. The club becomes everything. Trying to talk to your friends is pointless because the music is so loud. Its sound covered everyone like a thick, heavy blanket. The joy feels primal, as if we were a tribe, and this is our pop art.


There's emotion and nostalgia. Even today, when a pop song is played anywhere or anytime, heavily remixed with new beats and sounds, I feel the collective, affectionate "awww" that responds in me. It happens for every 1980s Madonna, Whitney, or Janet Jackson song. Even today, my holy trinity of dance music influences so many aspects of me, such as my meditation and painting.


So, as I write this, I am reminded that Pop Culture is viewed by many people in many different ways. Music and Madonna were my way of expression, and to a point, they still are an essential part of my life. Music brings people together. In every corner of the world, there is a version of "pop music ." Music that speaks to the soul and makes you happy. Look at what BTS has done in Korea with K-pop?. Look to our past. Today's classical music was "pop" music a few centuries ago. I try to imagine Beethoven or Mahler as such, and I see them in a new light.


What is your "pop music?" Can music be used to heal a divided world or an unfeeling and disconnected community? "We Are The World" is a single song written by Michael Jackson and Lionel Ritchie and produced by Quincy Jones in 1985. Vocal superstars recorded it together as part of a charity movement, "USA for Africa ." It raised USD 60 million for famine relief. So, yes, music can heal and connect communities and, potentially, the world.


Vijay Gupta is the first violinist with the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra. When he is not playing professionally, he organizes street concerts for the homeless, often bringing in homeless musicians to join.


Be inspired. What can you do in your community to use music to connect with the neighbors you do not know or to heal community strife? Consider the power of music, and use it to make a difference where you live, right here, right now.

Photo courtesy of Antoine J. on Unsplash.

Source:

Source:

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Catalog #:

0322.102.01.040822

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