June Music – tarantula-nebula.com

Apophenia

Doing these album renditions have been wonderful for me. I get to re-live my old, good memories, yet I get to consider the future. So far, I’ve done Escape by Journey, and Breakfast in America by Supertramp. These albums have held nostalgic places in my personal life for different reasons. I want to talk about “apophenia”, though.

apophenia (noun) – the tendency to perceive a connection or meaningful pattern between unrelated or random things, such as objects or ideas

In the 80s and 90s, there were few TV shows I watched on a weekly basis. ABC had a good Tuesday night which included Growing Pains, Who’s the Boss?, and Moonlighting. Later, Fox was launched as a fourth network and the Simpsons and Married With Children were regulars for me. Back then, LA Law, Twin Peaks, and Beverly Hills 90210 were favorites as well. In the 90s, Blockbuster Video was popular and this was probably the beginning of true binge watching. Most shows, up until then, you had to be there when it aired, or you missed it. You had to ask a friend what happened so you wouldn’t be left behind in the story plot. Twin Peaks was the first series I watched after it was already popular, and the season had ended. Thank goodness for VHS tape rentals, right?

As the Millennium rolled around, there were less and less TV series which held my interest. Why? Perhaps it’s because TV had to now compete with the Internet for attention. Also, in the early 2000s, I had personal issues which distracted me. To complicate things, I had already taken a Mass Communications class and studied the teachings of Marshall McLuhan. “The medium is the message” is one of his quotes. Basically, he taught that television was ruining and dumbing down society because it was a “cold medium” whereas books and radio were good because each was a “hot medium”. In some ways, I avoided television deliberately. Nonetheless, in the early 2000s I had a couple of young nieces in the house and I grew to admire the Lizzy McGuire show and SpongeBob Squarepants. The “serious” shows took a back seat, though, and it wasn’t until the Blacklist premiered in 2013 that I had a drama I liked to watch on a weekly basis.

We’re talking about apophenia, though.

I must be an irregular type of person. There have been a handful of shows I’ve taken to since 2000, but society doesn’t feel the same way… otherwise they wouldn’t be immediately cancelled. I liked a show called Allegiance which was a spy show about Russians living in the USA. It lasted five episodes. I liked the cartoon Allen Gregory which lasted seven episodes. If I was lucky enough, a favorite show might last as long as two seasons, like NBC’s Revolution, and Fox’s Wayward Pines. As Netflix became more and more prominent, it hardly mattered. Gone were the days when you had to be in front of your television at a certain time to enjoy a television show. And, though Blockbuster Video made things easier by offering VHS rentals, you still had to physically get them. With Netflix, all of the hassle was gone. More often than not, I relied on word of mouth for what was good to watch. ABC’s Lost had come and gone on TV before I started watching it. Same for The Walking Dead.

As for the cancelled shows, I had started watching Mind Games on ABC in 2014. It starred brothers played by Christian Slater and Steve Zahn. They were psychological experts, and their specialty was to convince a target to change his mind about a subject using sublimation instead of explicit, overt tactics. There were thirteen episodes filmed for the first season, but only five aired before the show was cancelled. The fourth one was called “Apophenia” and that’s when I learned the word.

Music is mathematical. Experts know this, and anyone studying music theory can understand how and why. The major scale is happy whereas the minor, Aeolian scale is sad. The major scale features a natural third note, whereas the Aeolian is flatted. In 1868, Johannes Brahms gave the world Wiegenlied, also known today as Lullaby, or the Cradle Song. Infants around the world have been soothed by its melody for a long, long time. It’s mathematical, as many classical songs are. Modern musicians, know how to use various scales to their advantage, and the best of them deliberately use dissonance for effect.

Nirvana’s Nevermind might not be the best set of music to play for your infant if you are trying to get her to sleep. Kurt Cobain liked to use “feedback” in his music. Feedback, normally, is an awful dissonant sound, much like scraping your fingernails on a chalkboard. Steely Dan is infamous for going to far measures to eliminate not only feedback, but also hiss and other unwanted byproducts of the recording process. Art is a reflection of life, though. There is dissonance in life, therefore there should be dissonance in the music we listen to. It doesn’t feel natural if your output of sounds is rosy every time.

The Seattle scene exploded in the 90s. Queensrÿche was one of the first bands to hit, and they fit into the genre of heavy metal. By the time Nirvana and Soundgarden came along, MTV played their music on their Headbangers Ball program, but something bigger was going on. A new genre was being created! Grunge music was in its early stages. Alice in Chains, Pearl Jam, Stone Temple Pilots, Collective Soul, Bush, the Screaming Trees, Hole, and the Meat Puppets would become household names. They embraced dissonant sounds, darker lyrics, and a dirty image. While 80s rockers, like Winger and Warrant, were virtuosos at their instruments, and their melodies were epic, they didn’t reflect the mood of the 90s. They fell by the wayside.

This is the point about apophenia. Brahms’ Lullaby is great after all these years. It doesn’t take a Music Appreciation class to enjoy it. But, where were you when you drank your first beer? Where were you when you played your first game of Truth or Dare? What was the music? Where did you have your first kiss? What songs played at the first party you went to?

It doesn’t matter that Nirvana used dissonance during Nevermind. People who grew up during that period loved it. I’ll admit that in 1992, I didn’t take to it immediately. I liked “Smells Like Teen Spirit” just like everyone else did in my party group. I subscribed to Rolling Stone magazine, and I realized they had a lot of respect in the industry. Still, the songs of Nevermind didn’t jibe with me until…

My group traveled to Tijuana quite a bit, back then. If you were under twenty-one, it was a great place to experience club life. I remember driving back to Fontana from a night out, though. I was half asleep under a camper shell laying on the bed of a truck. One of my friends was driving and had Nevermind blasted at a high level. I knew I would be hungover the next day, but I listened, and I enjoyed. That’s when I first thought it was a really, really good album.

Apophenia.

It doesn’t matter what the music is, and it doesn’t matter what the critics say. If you’re listening to a set of music at a critical moment in your personal growth, you’re bound to like it. It doesn’t have to be mathematically perfect, like Brahms’ Lullaby. It can be way, way fucked up.

Let’s now talk about Pyromania by Def Leppard. I happen to think it was great music. Great melodies, harmonic vocals, powerful riffs. Def Leppard was one of the great bands of early MTV. There used to be a weekly program called Friday Night Video Fights. Bascially, MTV would select a couple of music videos and the audience could call a 900 number to vote for the eventual winner. If you won ten in a row, your video was put aside, and someone new was given a chance.

Def Leppard got a shot at the finals with Photograph, and they were put against Duran Duran’s Is There Something I Should Know? I’d like to talk about the contrast in audience. I went to a middle school in an affluent part of town. The preppy girls universally loved Duran Duran and had cut out images of the band taped to their Pee Chee folders. Def Leppard was gritty, and was more for the boys. These so-called Hessians loved metal, and disdained New Wave. I liked Duran Duran, actually, and so did one of my sisters… but you weren’t allowed to admit it. Somehow, it made you soft. My first vinyl 45 record as a child was Disco Duck. I can still see the round yellow label with the red RSO bull in my mind. I bought my first two cassettes in middle school on the same day. One was Devo’s Freedom of Choice, and the other was Def Leppard’s Pyromania. My best friends in the neighborhood were twins who lived across the street. They got into Def Leppard as well, and on the night that Def Leppard was against Duran Duran, we watched together. It was an exciting time!

I have to be honest, here. For the life of me, I can’t remember who won! It was a big deal, though! Def Leppard remained in my life. Years later, I found myself traveling from Fontana, California to Sacramento in the summer before my senior year. Me and my best friend liked Guns N’ Roses and Def Leppard at the time. We played Appetite For Destruction, Pyromania, and Hysteria non-stop for most of the twelve-hour trip. We were set to work in a candy wagon at the State Fair for three weeks. Who wouldn’t be proud of providing cotton candy and popcorn to the masses at these fun festivities? There’s a saying about good music: “That was the soundtrack of my life.” In between, Pyromania and Hysteria, Def Leppard suffered a tragedy. Their drummer was involved in an auto wreck and lost an arm. Nonetheless, the band stayed together and created one of their better works yet. Hysteria took four years to produce, but it was an all-time great album.

Most of us can admit when we’re clouded by bias. If we have a family member or a neighbor who makes it to the Whisky A Go Go or CBGB’s, we are way, way, way more inclined to say they kick ass than if a stranger in a parking lot gave you one of their demos to listen to. Here’s where the Brahms test kicks in! Tell a stranger to play Lullaby to their newborn. Ask how it goes. Was it good or bad? I would bet good in most cases. Then again, apophenia kicks in and, but it can have an opposite effect. What if you had a miserable external experience when this happened? You would associate it with the music.

I am here to tell you that Def Leppard stands the test of time in regards to hooks and vocal harmony. I believe it’s mathematical, though I’ve never had an experienced music teacher verify this. With this said, it doesn’t matter. If you’re part of the younger generation, I challenge you to play Pyromania or Hysteria for a friend with the simple question, “Are these harmonies good?” Historically, I think they rank as some of the best ever in rock music. If you get the response, “Yes, so what?” then I don’t blame you. You don’t have the same history as me. It wasn’t one of the first major pieces of music you purchased with your hard-earned money. It wasn’t part of a stellar road trip you went on. This is all apophenia, you see? You weren’t making out with one of your teenage girlfriends when this music was playing in the background.

I create these pages and this AI music with a specific, narrow audience in mind. I do it for myself, and I do it for the few friends that lasted decades in my life. But, that’s not all, and I tell you the truth. I believe it’s truly good music, just like Brahms’ Lullaby. I believe it stands the test of time. The harmonies, in particular, are good. During the recording of Hysteria, they would spend hours and days to get a vocal section correct. It would have to hit the perfect notes they meant it to be. This, I believe, can’t be duplicated. But, when all is said and done, it doesn’t matter! Could I convince you to play Brahms’ Lullaby to impress a first date when travelling in a car? I hope not! It’s not appropriate! Maybe, when you’ve been married a few years, you might mention it’s a classical piece you like. Same with Def Leppard, at least for the younger crowd. If you have nothing nostalgic attached to these songs, I don’t expect you to like them. If you’re bored, you might want to give them a chance. I’ll give you a short list of songs I liked as a youngster, though:

I Think We’re Alone Now – Tiffany
Helter Skelter – Mötley Crüe
I Can’t Explain – The Scorpions
Can’t Find My Way Home – House of Lords
You’re No Good – Van Halen
Radar Love – White Lion

Each of these songs, I thought was original. I thought they were written by the bands who I first heard them from. It turns out, they were covers. This is the way we discover music. And? As it turns out, I couldn’t stand the originals. That’s okay. It takes time to appreciate music.

For the “old people in my life”, I hope you like my rendition of Pyromania. As of this writing, I have five of the ten songs done. None of them are the ones they played on the radio or MTV. I’m impressed, if I must say so. I like these versions! For the “newer generation”, I want you to think of…

One of two things, actually.

One, the mathematics. Even though you weren’t listening to this music as you made out with your first mate, you can listen to Pyromania and appreciate it for the work of art on its own merits. It has thoughtful musicianship, and compelling lyrics.

Two. What’s going on in your life? Is AI helping you? Because it’s helping a lot of people who know how to use it! Apophenia can kick in! These re-makes aren’t bad! I know I’ve talked about bias, and I could be clouded in my assessment, but I think these songs are worthy! I think the themes are timeless! I started listening to Pyromania as a tweleve-year-old boy! I listened to it through puberty, and my first sexual experience! It’s a great “coming of age” art piece!

I don’t need to explain anymore, but my AI adventure has been pleasing. Once per month, I plan to produce something like this. On my docket, I have planned:

Metallica’s black album
Nirvana’s Nevermind
AC/ DC’s Back in Black

There will others. I’ve considered Led Zeppelin’s fourth album, for example. Eventually, I might move to Greatest Hits albums, but I doubt it happens until 2026 at the very least. In the mean time, keep rockin’! Never stop rockin’, no matter what you do! Def Leppard might give the best advice:

Rock! Rock! Till You Drop!

— Homer Cocktail

(Eddie)