How much influence do popular artists have over their young listeners

Today I am in a hangover like state, dwelling in the come down after seeing many of my favourite bands play at Soundwave. It's in seeing these bands play live that a flood of emotions can hit you and you realise what a tremendous influence these bands, and their members, can have on shaping the lives of the young and impressionable. 

The crowd was littered with all sorts of people, many of them identifiable to their respective fandoms. Black Veil Brides fans were easily the most notable with stitches drawn across their face akin to Andy Sixx’s makeup. While these aesthetics are mildly amusing at best it made me think about how much deeper the influence these bands ran. 

Even today I am frighteningly devoted to the band that has had more influence on my life than any other and I hope that I am not naive in my belief that this influence has been positive. I am drawn to wonder how much of who I am has been crafted by that band that I adore so much. Without their influence would I still be living a vegetarian lifestyle? I like to think so but maybe it was their influence that pushed me over the edge. They are a band who’s lyrics I have not only sort comfort in but my endless hours of watching interviews may have led me to adopt their beliefs. Or perhaps this is a chicken or the egg scenario. Was it the similarity in ideas that drew me to them or were my ideals shaped by their words? While it would be wonderful to have an answer to this I don’t, and in the long run I don’t think it really matters. I think that regardless of which causes the other it is important for the band members to be aware of the influence they have on young and developing minds. Promoting anarchy and self-expression is all well and good as long as it isn’t hurting anyone.

I know that I lot of parents and guardians get hung up on the lyrics of what their child is listening to but I think we need to be more aware of what the artist behind it is promoting. Lyrics are where comfort is sought but the ideals of the artist that are far more likely to influence the behaviour of the listener. This is from my experience of course. 

My favourite band might sing the lyrics 

While I waited I was wasting away
Hope was wasting away
Faith was wasting away
I was wasting away

But if at the same time the members whom I admire so much are spreading messages of compassion towards other people and animals and promoting abstinence from drugs and alcohol, this is the message I am going to take away from them and their lyrics just become a way to feel less alone when the world seems to be against you. 

What I am trying to say with all of this is that I hope public figures take upon themselves the serious responsibility of influencing the beliefs and lifestyle choices of the next generation. 

Moving out blog: What if these little accomplishments lose their merit?

It's been a week now since move in day, and although I haven't had a lot of responsibilities (uni hasn't started yet, I still haven't found a job yet, etc). I have been finding joy in the merit and sense of accomplishment I feel each time I complete a "grown up" task. For example a few nights ago I quickly whipped up a vegetarian lasagne for dinner, added some of my roommates leftover salad on the side and wah lah, a home cooked dinner for four. It’s small things like this that make me feel responsible, give me a sense of achievement and make it all worthwhile. This motivation has begged the question, what if these chores lose their merit and just become a monotonous routine that I am obliged to follow? I’ve never been good at routine and it’s always been a sense of achievement that keeps me going. If I lose this in the everyday tasks such as cooking and cleaning that I am obliged to do will I continue to do them? What if losing this sense of achievement leaves me stewing in an uncleaned apartment surrounded by empty two minute noodle packets that I am too unmotivated to even throw out? The dumpster is on the ground floor after all, that’s four floors down and few locked doors away. Whose design was that? Don’t they realise I’m busy and sometimes taking out the garbage isn’t my top priority? On F.R.I.E.D.S. they have a garbage shoot on their floor and a super to unclog their toilet, where is my garbage shoot and super?

It’s upon typing this that I realise that maybe I still have some growing up to do. Adults aren’t rewarded for doing what is expected of them. Tasks like the ones that have been giving me a sense of pride since moving in are simply expected and much less than it being an achievement for getting them done, it is a sign of slothfulness to not have them done. Naive as it was I had come to adopt an idealistic view of what it would be like to move of and live with a best friend. This may be a result of the countless hours I spent watching sit coms in my adolescence. However the truth remains that once again, TV shows little resemblance to reality. After all, when was the last time you saw one of Ted Mosby cook a meal or Joey Tribbiani vacuum the apartment. Even though I now live above both a bar and a coffee shop I guess I have to accept the fact that my life is not a sit com and I will have to endure all the mundane aspects of living that are so purposefully skipped over in my favourite TV shows. This is not me resigning myself to a life of routine boredom, this is simply , me accepting the challenge to complete all my grown up activities and still have enough misadventures and laughs to fill a 45 minute sitcom each week. 

I thought I would end this week's blog with a quote that I read recently and has become yet another life motto of mine. 

"Spend your life doing strange things with weird people."

Missing deadlines- The Wasabi Punishment and apartment tour

I missed my 5pm Sunday deadline to post my blog so as agreed I ate a teaspoon of wasabi. Stick around to the end to see a quick tour of my new abode.

Nb: See if you can catch the moment where I gag on the wasabi.

I've missed my Sunday deadline and as a result I'm being punished with a teaspoon of wasabi as set out by a friend a few weeks ago. So, I will have the promised video posted in the next few days. I could make a thousand excused for why I didn't post a blog in time, moving into my own apartment for the first time has kept me very busy and Sunday was the day most of our furniture was delivered, we don't have internet yet and as luck would have it my laptop is chucking inconsolable problems, but the point remains that journaists face deadlines regardless of what is happening in their own lives and I have failed to meet mine. A few friends have also asked for photos of my new place so within the next few days I will not only give you the wasabi video, I will end it with a tour of my new apartment.

The changing of our culture: Body Modifications

It has been drilled into me that two of my greatest passions cannot coexist. When I search myself for things that I love I am only ever certain of two things. The first is obvious, the reason that I am here writing this blog. I love words and want to be a journalist more than anything. I am even prepared to compromise, as I am told is necessary, my second passion. My love of body modifications.

I really can't explain this love any more than I could explain why I prefer skinny jeans to summer dresses but it just the same is a fact of who I am. This is a part of me that I love to express and it is something that I enjoy for myself and not for the approval of any other. However currently in our culture there is still a great deal of stigma around modified people, one that I (and many others I know) enjoy disproving. While we are doing our best to reduce prejudice towards modified people I know that it won't happen overnight and I tend to wonder if we will ever reach a time at which we will be able to have professional journalists, teachers and lawyers with tattoos, piercings and stretched ears.

My desire to be a journalist is stronger than my desire to be modified so I am prepared to remove my piercings the day I graduate or get an internship but I am inclined to wonder if one day myself, and other like me, won't have to make that choice.

It is a bizarre thing, our cultures hostility towards decorated people. I know that it stems back to times before my birth when body art was affiliated with gangs, violence and rebellion. This is the most common explanation that I have heard and it seems to be one that is rapidly evaporating as body body modification becomes more common amongst the wider parts of the younger demographic. One day today's youth will become the CEOs and nation leaders, will this cause a cultural shift? It would seem logical but let's not forget the trend to veer towards conservatism that frequently happens as people age. It only takes a look at the our current world status and an acknowledgement that many of the people ruling our world in suits and ties were the same protesting against the same principles that they now abide. Maybe this cultural shift that I dream of will happen, even if it takes decades. I can only hope, any progress is good progress in my eyes.