Reconciling Saints

In high school, you wouldn't have caught me listening to a band like Blink 182... or Blink 182, for that matter. Generally, you'd find me listening to whatever obscure thing I could find, Industrial music, Goth music (especially since my cousin had a goth band and I was invited to a couple of shows), and any mainstream thing that I found acceptable. Not to mention what was once correctly labeled as alternative music (it was SO alternative to the mainstream stuff you'd hear). I know I definitely took an interest in anything my older cousins (early 20 somethings) and other adults were listening to.

By college, I was a little less... elitist, shall we say, as I didn't feel as much of a need for trappings that marked me as other (because I was SO not you and I really liked what I was into). I was unique, I was plugged into the lifestream, and music made me live. So that was not quite as necessary in college because you made your friends and the things that worried you in high school, the constant having to be around others and the judgment, was no longer there. So I let myself be.

In fact, I gave Blink 182 some credit; they had some catchy songs with funny videos (which always kind of upped it for me since I like their tongue in cheek bit). Also, there was something that they captured in spirit that was so very high school... you know, the part you didn't want to admit to, the being so earnest and needing everyone to understand all the things!  I was starting to take a step back and kind of remember that from a place removed. Little by little I was still learning.

So it's no surprise that these days I will find myself copping to all sorts of "uncool" things for adults and people with an Industrial/Goth bend.

Which brings me back to Blink 182.

I recently had a friend say she thought it was silly that bands like them were still writing songs about high school shit... or something like that. About crazy girls they fell in love with and juvenile mistakes that were made. These guys are in their... what? late 30s/early 40s? And here they are writing the same old thing.

Well, here I am, far removed from high school and guess what?! I'm writing about high school shit. Partly because I think we need some more honest and real books in the Young Adult genre and partly because I'd like to advocate for mental health via this medium. Lastly, it's because sometimes I still go through these things and it helps.

I feel like you might be lying to yourself if you say that you don't... that you don't sometimes regress to the teen angst and emotion that you had because of something that hurt you or really pissed you off. I'm trying to channel these feelings in writing a book for that age range so there's that, too, and the music really helps.

What's being an adult, anyway? Who doesn't at some point have some sort of emotion that's akin to their teenage self? Maybe being an adult is being able to feel these emotions and know that they're part and parcel to growing up... evolving/ever learning or whatever. Maybe it's all part of being attuned with who you are and the many things that come with it. I don't know.

I just know that sometimes it's not knowing what to feel and if it's ok. I know that we just need to ride the waves of it all, learn what we're feeling and how to handle it... and sometimes not... because that's ok, too.

In closing, hahhahahhaa, I would like to add the argument that I think the bands know who their audience is and how to keep it going. I think they might even use the music as a channel for their own feelings. I mean, I could be ridiculously wrong and everyone might be childish. Still, I'd rather they channel what they know, what they're good at, and what reaches their audience than cross over into adult contemporary. *shudders* I've always wondered when and how that happens... Sting used to be cool, U2 used to be less... mega and more raw. They were a thing when they began... a new thing in the music scene. So what happened? Should they have tried to still channel some of their teenage angst?

Maybe.

I know I'd be able to relate to them more.

Ok, time for my daily World of Warcraft break. heh.