Thanks Mr Ryan for giving me another idea of what to write for this weeks reflection. Initially I wanted to write about something else which apparently, I forgot but luckily I read your latest post. So what was it in your post that gave me the spark to write immediately? Well it was this:
I don’t particularly like the Spice Girls myself. But back when I was in secondary school, I sure did, particularly track number 7 on Spice: “Who do you Think you Are”. I’m sure Nat is smacking himself right now (Oh that Mister Ryan. I used to like him.) But if I’m not going to have genuine favorites, I have to at least admit to things I like.
I have to admit as well when I was in primary school, the type of music I listened to was very very very and I mean very different to what I am listening to now. I guess a lot of people go through that phase of discovering different genres of music. I’ll come right out and say it without any shame that I LOVED THE BACKSTREET BOYS, N SYNC AND EVEN BRITNEY SPEARS! The list of embarrassing artists goes on but those 3 were the most memorable. I remember I jumped for joy when my sisters bought me the Backstreet Boys CD for Christmas. Almost immediately, I put the CD into the player and started doing the robotic dance to the song “Larger Than Life” if I’m not wrong. I’m sure you guys reading this are grinning or even laughing at your computer screens right now but heck, I think it’s something interesting and funny to share. You know sometimes when I listen to my metal songs, I wonder how the heck did I end up listening to it. A few days back, I was fooling around with Salihin and we were singing to some Backstreet Boys songs. Believe it or not but I still remember the lyrics very clearly hahahahaha. I guess when I’m bored I like to make fun of my old self and start singing some good old Backstreet Boys 
!
At first when I was growing up, I listened to a lot of my dad’s old CDs. Stuff like Neil Diamond, Nat King Cole, Frank Sinatra, etc. Hey, don’t get me wrong, those people are absolutely incredible singers/musicians. It was Neil Diamond that made me want to start playing the drums. Almost everyday after coming home from the PAP Kindergarten, I would grab as many stools as I could and get a pair of chop sticks and just play along to Neil Diamond’s songs. Then after a few months my parents decided to get me my first drumset! It wasn’t those proper real life drumsets but it was a cheap $100 drumset from Toys R Us. I still remember that drumset very clearly. It was blue, had 1 cymbal, 1 pedal, 1 tom and 1 floor tom. Then in a few weeks I totally destroyed it. The drum skins had holes everywhere and the next moment it was in the garbage, all crushed and dismantled.
I’m really glad I come from a family where music is “widely practiced” (didn’t know how else to say it). One thing about my family is all of us can sing, well apart from me because I’m not the singing type. I’m not saying we’re incredible singers but we aren’t tone deaf. If we know we’re flat or in the wrong key, we’ll correct ourselves. Apart from that, my dad plays the guitar, my mom plays the piano, my eldest sister is a karaoke freak, my second sister has her own record label which is slowly growing and I play the drums (that’s my passion), guitars (for leisure) and piano. Yes the piano! A metalhead like me has piano lessons! Well if you all know me well enough, you can tell I’m very passionate about my music. Hell, music is going to be my career! So to equip myself with the knowledge, I have to at least know music theory and that’s why I’ve started learning the piano.
When Mr Ryan said “I’m sure Nat is smacking himself right now” I started laughing immediately. Maybe because it brought me back to the days when I first began listening to metal. I admit one of the reasons why I started listening to heavier music was because I thought it was cool. Note I use the term “heavier music” because what I listened to back then wasn’t metal. As a young kid, we all thought the louder the music you could tolerate with all the profanities made you cooler. You could say we weren’t listening to music the correct way. It was like the moment we heard shouting or screaming vocals with heavy guitars, that was it. It was “cool” music. I don’t know why we did that but it was surely stupid. Thank goodness I stumbled upon Slayer that began my journey into the metal world. It was not only the beginning of my love for metal, but the beginning of my appreciation towards music, and to the musicians behind the songs.
During the early years of my metal journey, some would say I was a “Music Nazi”. So what did I do as a “Music Nazi”? I didn’t respect the other forms of music my friends were listening to. I often told them what they were listening to was just shit. It’s good I’ve corrected that bad habit so don’t worry Mr Ryan, I didn’t smack myself!
Though I’ve been listening to STRICTLY metal for a very long time now, I’ve started to slowly open up to other genres that I highly respect. Stuff like jazz and funk that are insanely hard to play and require a lot of “feel”. Even my drumming has opened up to jazz and funk styles. Styles where the grooves are more important than speed and overall showmanship.
I find it funny when I think of myself as a metalhead, because honestly, my character isn’t “metallish”. I feel in the eyes of the general public, they see metalheads as these fierce dudes who have tough characters and all. But I’m the total opposite. For a very kind, happy boy, I listen to a lot of very angry music hahahah. I would say I’m a devoted Catholic. I go to church every weekend 99% of the time unless I’m really really lazy which rarely happens. And here I am listening to music where Satanic icons and symbols are widely used. Many people always tell me, “no need go church la you, you metalhead, go church for what?”, “you metalhead and go to church”, “God surely angry with you”, and other stuffs like that, but like I said, I like metal because I appreciate it as a very sophisticated form of music. I like the style and sound of metal. It’s in me man. I don’t like the music because it incorporates Satanic icons or symbols, I just like it. It’s a feeling and love that cannot be described because it is special to you.
I know I can go on and on about music and metal but I’ll save it maybe for next week or for the next few reflections, so I’ll end off here with some pieces of advice.
1. Always respect people and their choices of music no matter how much you dislike their music.
2. Never judge others by the music they listen to. Yes, metal can be Satanic in some songs and bands but I don’t practice any Satanic rituals. I believe that Satan exists but I would never worship and want him to rule the world. I’m sure this is the same for many other metalheads out there.
