Punk Reflection

I did my creativity project on punk music.  This has been the most enjoyable project of the year for me.  The most fun aspect of this project was also the most difficult for me, the making of my own song.  I wrote the lyrics to my song, Us, in July 2013.  The lyrics have were, and have always been, a difficulty for me when writing music.  I tend to write more depressing songs when I do write.  This was definitely one of those.  I reflect my lyrics on specific events that have happened to me.  When I wrote Us I was deeply depressed, hanging out with the wrong people, and doing things that I shouldn't have been doing.  It may not be noticeable upon the first glance, but a chapter of my life was put into that song.  It's a very difficult thing to do from an emotional standpoint.  There are points when I'm writing very dark songs that I want to throw the notepad, or whatever the lyrics are on, into a place where you'll never get them back.  In all honesty I burn them half of the time.  Writing your own music is a lot different than any cover I've ever done.  You're alone with yourself and your emotion.  You can express emotion from any song you play.  I have a lot of emotion towards the imitation of Good Riddance I did because it means a lot to me and it has a lot of memories.  When I wrote us it was everything that I actually did.  Not a memory of all the times I've heard it.  It's about something that actually happened to me.  They are two completely different emotional experiences.  One of the things that I really regret not being able to do was put a band together so I could really get a punk feel to this song.  I was really excited to be able to put in an electric guitar and some drums at the very least.  Doing an acoustic version was not ideal for this style.  I don't feel like it really fit the lyrics or the message that it speaks, but it was my only option left.  At the end of it all, music always has a certain flow to the listeners and makers.  Making my own music definitely creates an emotional flow for me.  This project was a new experience for me because it was the first time I successfully put music to any of my lyrics.  It's like a rollercoaster.  You think about the inspiration behind your work and look back on it and your past rushes up to you and fuels you.  It makes me feel free.  Lifts all my cares from my shoulders. 

After looking at the projects of my classmates I find that Cliff's is the most interesting to me personally.  Coming from a guy who wants to have a lot of tattoos, I don't find it surprising that I enjoyed his presentation.  Tattoos have always been a reason for people to look at others with disgust.  It seems that if you have a tattoo then society thinks that it means that you're some kind of dead beat or that you'll be on the streets begging for change sometime in the future.  I sit back with amazement now because in the last few years I've noticed that tattoos are becoming more acceptable in today's world.  That makes me completely overjoyed.  I've always been someone that is judged because of how I choose to look and this means that people like me are actually becoming more socially acceptable, and that people like me don't need to feel like the world is out to get them.  It really makes  me proud that people are finally realizing that just because you look a certain way or do certain things that are frowned upon, doesn't make you a bad person.