The simple answer is that music makes me happy.
The long answer is not so much an answer as it is an explanation of my history with music. Ever since I was about 5 years old I have loved rock music. I used to listen daily to the top 40 station on a tiny AM transistor radio (every kid who grew up in the 60's owned one, right?). My parents were very religious and taught me that rock music was the devil's music, so I would have to sneak my listening in late at night at low volume while lying in bed. My first record purchase was the 45 RPM single of Elton John's Philadelphia Freedom, which my mom bought for me during one of her moments of weakness. I knew how to read her pretty well and pounced when the opportunity was right. :)
By the time I was in the 7th grade I was into metal and hard rock (KISS, The Who, Zeppelin, The Stones, Aerosmith, Ted Nugent, etc.). By this time my parents realized that music was more than some passing interest for me, and thus I convinced them that it was time for me to buy a serious stereo system. That meant an all-in-one record player, cassette, AM/FM with speakers. Every kid had one in the 70's, right?
I would spend my spare time listening to music in my room, often with my two best friends, who were also deep into music, but nothing like I was. For me music was my life. One thing to note is that back then we didn't have cable television, and in my house we didn't even have a color television, just old black and white units that my parents would get as bargains or hand me downs. We had one TV and it was pretty much dominated by my two older sisters, so this only served to reinforce my love of music. Music provided me solace from the stresses of childhood.
My college years became fodder for a full-blown music obsession. I made friends with other music freaks in my school, and together we shared lots of good times listening to music and going to see concerts.
So what is it that I feel when I listen to music? It's a type of euphoria that I experience when the music is right, the system sounds right, and my mood is right. The other night I really didn't feel like listening to music but I put a record on anyway just to have in the background while reading email. What I expected to be a short listen turned into a 5 hour marathon. I got sucked in. My system sounded so good I just wanted to play record after record. Listening like this is like the funnest party, the most relaxing vacation, or the best sex. It's really better than any recreational drugs I have taken. I haven't done any of that in a long time, but I find music replaces the unhealthy stuff in my life.
My soul craves music and feeding this craving keeps me right with my creator. I am so lucky to have such a nice system to hear my music on, a great collection of music to draw from, and a fairly understanding wife and kids who allow me to indulge my passion.
