This originally started out as an exploration of the music genre electroclash…but it turned into something else and the parts about electroclash didn’t fit. I’ll save them for a different post.

——————————

All human beings are naturally narcissists, who love their own reflections – which is not a bad thing at all, except in the case of the rejected child, who grows up to become a pathologically narcissistic adult. For more on this find a copy of Alice Miller’s “The Drama of the Gifted Child”. How does this relate to music?

I believe we are drawn to certain songs and genres on the basis of how well they reflect us, how they mirror our own identities. We are naturally drawn to patterns and repetition, symbols and metaphors, and short simple messages, so a catchy song that reflects our history and our innermost, unexpressable feelings in just a few minutes is  irresistable to us.

When you put somebody down for liking a certain song or genre of music, you are rejecting everything about them. Their entire history, and their unconscious emotions and desires that they themselves might not even be aware of.

This is an unhealthy kind of narcissism, to be obsessed with one’s own reflection to the detriment of others. If you say “I love rap” and someone replies “Oh. Well I hate rap” or even worse “How can you possibly like rap?” you can guarantee they don’t care about you at all. Avoid these people like the plague. If they say “That’s interesting, what do you like about it?” hang onto them like a precious jewel, because genuinely curious and empathetic people are rare, and you stand to learn a lot about yourself and others through them.