Hall Musique

Musicians are known to dress in weird and idiosyncratic ways; it’s definitely considered one of the true perqs of being a musician, after all. You and I can’t get away with wearing Air jordan shoes with a business suit or a cocktail dress, but a musician can. In fact, Courtney Love may have worn exactly that sometime in the last year. Then there’s the further weirdness that ensues when those bizarre musical stylings become trendy. In the 1980s, Madonna got all the girls to wear their undies on the outside, and Stevie Nicks got the more mystically-inclined young ladies to swathe themselves in layers of sheer black rags. And that’s not even mentioning the hair: They called them “hair bands” for a reason.

Then there’s the guys in makeup and all of that. But it’s not to sound like an old fart–really! It’s to point out the way that music can violate and then set trends. I mean, they wear it because it’s NOT fashionable, yet by wearing it, they make it fashionable. Kind of a paradox.

Music is the shared experience of people’s lives. Although scent and taste are often said to be most evocative of memory, we cannot deny the effect on memory that music has. So often, a poignant moment in our lives, be it joyful or sorrowful, is best remembered by the song that was playing in the background at the moment the event occurred.

photo credit: mptre

Music is also a communal experience. When you sit and reminisce with someone, so often you start with “”Remember that band? “” or “”Remember when that song was a hit?”" VH1′s various decade special shows are resonant because they are built around the songs that defined those decades. Classic rock is popular because it brings back an entire lifetime of music to a generation. And no “”period”" movie or show would truly evoke its era without the right soundtrack. What would Mad Men be without Rosemary Clooney and Skeeter Davis? How can you even think about a classic film like High Noon without recalling the strains of “”Do Not Forsake Me, O My Darling”"?

Music embeds itself in memory in the opposite direction as well, so that memories change the songs they’re associated with. “”Your song”" becomes unbearable to hear if you break up with your sweetheart. Mike Oldfield’s “”Tubular Bells”" will forever evoke horror to people who know it only as the music to The Exorcist.

Music can be a spiritual experience. In church and synagogue, we sing our faith. At holidays, we share seasonal music. Be it a choir, a hymn, a carol, or an incantation, music has long been associated with spirituality of all kinds.

Because music is so vitally important to so many people in so many cultures, we will always study, enjoy, and listen to it. We created a web page because of that singular and special experience.