Essay on Music and Addiction - 1665 Words

Music and Addiction missing works cited Songs can influence the way people feel, think, and act. The following songs have a common theme. Addiction is a very large part of todays society. It can be so powerful that when artists express their ideas and feelings about personal or even interpersonal experiences with addiction, the listener can almost feel what the artist is feeling. Many songs glamorize drug use and drug culture. I tried to find some songs that illustrate the down side of drug use and abuse. In the song Nutshell, lead singer Layne Staley shares the feelings of temptation, hopelessness, and abandonment of heroin addiction. In the song Amphetamines by eve6, he describes some of the unpleasant side effects of taking†¦show more content†¦This is him expressing the fact that only a small group of people know what he feels when he would give his last five dollars to another hit or just one bullet. He says, no one to cry to, no place to go home. I think that this explains the isolation that comes along with heroin usage. Friends and family members are bound to be much more unwilling to associate with him, even if its a way of showing tough love. He goes on to say that his gift of self is raped. This is him feeling the pain that goes along with any addiction: the feeling that your life is run by a chemical and not your own free will. His privacy is no longer in tact, whether its from constant media pressure, going on the road to perform live shows, or anything else that could interfere with his private life. He feels the pressures of life in show business and finally feels the stress that it can dish out. He finishes the song with the phrase, If I cant be my own, Id feel better dead. He says that if he cant find a way to stop letting heroin control his life, hed rather die than feel the pain. In this case, like a handful of other musicians stories, he takes it all the way to the end. Layne Staley died on April 20th of 2002 at the age of 34 of a heroin overdose. Amphetamines Amphetamines by eve6 is faster and more upbeat. This may have something to do with the nature of amphetamines. He starts by describing his situation: Amphetamines and jellybeans. His teeth areShow MoreRelatedMusic Therapy And Drug Addiction1981 Words   |  8 PagesMusic Therapy and Drug Addiction Many people feel too confident and think their life is in control and that there is no ways they can develop a drug habit. Having a drug addiction is overwhelming for many people in our society. A person with a drug addiction will have difficulty accomplishing their goals in life. Anyone can become trapped and loose themselves in drug addiction. Drug addiction has an effect on your body especially your brain. Psychologically, it is mentioned that the age someone startsRead MoreEffects of Listening To Music Essay1452 Words   |  6 Pagesarticle, The rewards of music listening: Response and physiological connectivity of the mesolimbic system, discussed the neurological and neurochemical responses to listening to pleasant and unpleasant music. The experiment was composed of thirteen right-handed individuals, six males and seven females, between the ages of 19 and 23, none of which has any specialized musical training. Each participant was played 20-25 second clips of classical music and scrambled classical music. To scramble the musicalRead MoreAnalysis : Babylon Revisited By F. Scott Fitzgerald And Sonny s Blues Essay1316 Words   |  6 PagesHaving an addiction can be an agonizing and insufferable adventure anyone can ever face. It usually starts small with a â€Å"I’ll try it once†, then eventually becomes a fully developed addiction. In Babylon Revisited by F. Scott Fitzgerald and Sonny’s Blues by James Baldwin, both poems portray blindness verses sight. Babylon Revisited is about a man named Charles Wales who returns to Paris and is on a mission to regain custody of his daughter while being blinded by his addictions whereas Sonny’s BluesRead MoreAdversity In Sonnys Blues By James Baldwin892 Words   |  4 Pagesstruggles with his identity and ability to feel emotion leading him to the world of music and drugs, â€Å"To be aware of oneself, Baldwin believes, is to feel a sense of loss, to know where we are and what weâ€℠¢ve left behind† (Murray 355). Truly knowing one’s identity comes at the cost of confronting the past. Pain, suffering, and tragedy make up the identity of men just as music expresses it. Sonny’s passion for music, as Murray points out in his article, reveals strength. Strength to tap into the lossRead MoreAnalysis Of James Baldwin s Sonny s Blues 933 Words   |  4 Pagesâ€Å"Reaching Reclamation† Addiction is a horrible thing. Unhappiness is a mood throughout the whole story. Blues is a genre of music that is often used to express a sad mood. The contradictory lives of the two brothers contribute to the theme of being safe and take risks. In this story, James Baldwin writes about two brothers who were raised together. As time passed, they separated from one another and lived completely different lives. â€Å"Sonny’s Blues† by James Baldwin addresses the themes of findingRead MoreRequiem for a Dream981 Words   |  4 Pagescharacters? Requiem for a dream was made in 2000, and was directed by Darren Aronofsky. The film exposes the truth about drug addiction and the effects it has on peoples lives. It also shows people who are trying to fit into society which can have disastrous effects which causes them to turn to drugs to fit in. The film follows four individual characters and their addictions and is set in Brooklyn. The main protagonist in the film is Harry Goldfarb who is represented as a typical drug addict who hasRead MoreThe Music of Generation X986 Words   |  4 PagesThe Music of Generation X Since the beginning of time the human beings have adored the soothing sounds of music. Music has affected the way people have behaved and dressed throughout different periods of time. Different groups have been formed based upon their preference in music. Take for an example in the music of my generation, Generation X, there are several different groups oriented by music. In Generation X punks, gangs, alternative people, ravers, hippies, and pop rockers have allRead Moresonnys blues1309 Words   |  6 Pagesown pain and made that pai into a book . In Sonny s blues he explains the struggles in the black community ,family,and drug addiction. In Sonny s blues many major point stand out to me the most . One of the main points is why Sonny decided that drugs would be his escape from his struggles .The second point is the relationship between the brothers and how Sonny s addiction to drugs affected it . The third point is the narrator actually understanding his brothers reasons for taking drugs and actuallyRead MoreCritical Analysis Of Elastic Heart, By Sia Furler1275 Words   |  6 PagesSia Furler is an Australian Pop-Singer who often brings her personal trauma and messages to life through symbolic music videos and heartfelt lyrics. Her music video Elastic Heart, published on January 7th, 2013, has been a controversial topic of debate since its premiere, showcasing a very convoluted message that has often been misinterpreted as pedophelia or abuse, amongst other things. Though it’s indeterminate representation is purposeful to spark a conversation, one interpretation that is popularRead MoreComparison Between Michael Jackson And Whitney Houston1342 Words   |  6 PagesComparison between Michael Jackson and Whitney Houston’s Music and Personal lives. Michael Jackson and Whitney Houston were two of the biggest music acts in the world, selling hundreds upon thousands of records between them. Both acts rose to fame at an early age eventually earning the titles ‘The King of Pop’ (The Guardian, 2009) and ‘The Voice’ (IMDB, 2012) as well as earning plentiful awards in their careers; It is claimed that Whitney Houston is the most awarded female artist of all time. As