Personal Narrative: How Music Changed My Life

As a little kid I loved Michael Jackson. Smooth Criminal, Billie Jean, Thriller, Beat It. I didn’t understand any of it. I heard the words, I felt the music, but that was the extent my understanding. Fast forward a few years, MJ has just died, and with him my interest in music. Around that time I was taking Piano Lessons, but never really understood the value of the lessons. Like any child, music was something I was forced to, forced to practice over and over until I hated the sight of a piano book with a burning passion. Eventually the lessons stopped, my parents put less stress on my practice, and music started to slowly slip out of my life. A few months later my best friend introduced to me a song which, little did I know, would change my entire perception on music; “Viva La Vida”. …show more content…
I’d start listening to more and more Coldplay, and eventually I found really enjoyed their music. From then on I experimented with different bands, different genres, and I started to understand the power and beauty in Music. However, Coldplay wasn’t life-changing. Yes, it changes my view on music, but my entire view on life changed when I discovered Hip-Hop. At first I was like everyone, disgusted by Rap and what it stood for. I’d hear hip hop and the names Soulja Boy and Lil’ Wayne would pop into my head, followed by a sickening feeling of disgust. But from the first real Hip-Hop song I heard, I realized I was looking at the wrong things. Hip-Hop is such a diverse genre, lumping all of it together under what played on the radio was like lumping every person in existence, and calling them murderers. Still, I was afraid to explore, afraid to see what lay out there. Previously I was exploring “safe bands” a.k.a popular or semi-mainstream bands, but this was new territory to me. Fully expecting garbage I tried listening to Kanye West, and to my surprise came out with