We are all here because of our love of music. To me it is at once powerful and ridiculous at the same time for it to have such an effect on people. To me it is a potent drug just like any other, just digested through our ears instead of smoked, snorted, drank or injected.

Certain music can instantly make me melancholic, make me dance, make me happy, it can make me sad and can make me feel better. Music can be mind altering hypnotic and therapeutic.

I recently read of an article about suburban kids going on youtube to listen to "binaural beats" to supposedly get high. The "music" which sounds like a vacuum cleaner is ambient and tame even by New Age Enya standards is called I-dosing. They even interview someone from Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics

The writer of the article and the suburban kids have obviously never heard of Hashim's "Al-Naafiysh" or been to a rave or listened to Mozart.

So my question to you is, can you tell me what is music to YOU personally.

Great Thread IDea! Music to me, and im going to go with something Richie Sambora said about 20 years ago, he said "Music was my best friend growing up" and he told stories about getting dumped by a girl and then throwing on some Clapton or Blues etc... and thats really it in a nutshell, To me its the same thing, but more than that it has to speak and inspire me to creatively do something too, or else its nothing more than entertainment, which is fine, but MUSIC to me needs to inspire, life, and thoughts and further creation, to me at least to fall into this category.

lastdecember said:

Great Thread IDea! Music to me, and im going to go with something Richie Sambora said about 20 years ago, he said "Music was my best friend growing up" and he told stories about getting dumped by a girl and then throwing on some Clapton or Blues etc... and thats really it in a nutshell, To me its the same thing, but more than that it has to speak and inspire me to creatively do something too, or else its nothing more than entertainment, which is fine, but MUSIC to me needs to inspire, life, and thoughts and further creation, to me at least to fall into this category.

That is a great quote. That reminds me, I enjoyed watching my ex girlfriend listening to her music through her headphones, it made her so happy mouthing the lyrics to the songs. She loved listening to music from her high school years, they were her friends growing up too I guess.

So many things

It became escapism from dealing with emotional pain, majority of it from Michael and Janet's music being played and just putting me in an amazing space though so many songs from so many amazing artists do that for me too in many genres. Getting high off seeing MJ someday in person when playing him on headphones or watching his shows on a big screen with the lights off was something I became dependent on for half my life in times of stress, like an obsession, which is why I took the death so hard when I realized a month later I'm never going to see him (it didn't matter immediately at all). I have finally accepted he's not coming back and this is a huge deal for me, but I still have to learn to adapt to that cause it's like detoxing from something in my opinion.

I also remember that in grade school if I came home from lunch and things didn't go well, I would go play my keyboard and practice sad sounding songs that I was learning at my piano lessons. I hated practicing and was such a procrastinator but if I felt badly, I would do it to get my mind off things.

I loved it in video games like nintendo ones, I would hum along while playing and harmonize with them or create melodies over them, or it would give me a boost to continue playing and trying harder to pass levels.

Writing songs and poetry, that also being a way to get my feelings out and playing with different ideas, possibly roaming around the house after it and being hung up on a song and visualizing it in a way

I only have a keyboard as a tool to create, but I prefer music with real instruments and LOVE it when a song has a good piano hook or superb, fast playing piano hooks such as in classical music. An amazing bassline with a dance beat I can get down to and start dancing away to like nothing else in the world matters to me as well cause I love to dance. A rock guitar hook in the middle of a song gets me excited as well, it's not as common as it was in the past now and I really miss that, the kind of hook you hear right away and can name which song it's from.

Something that makes you think about life and at times spirituality or something greater than yourself. I don't listen to gospel though the little bit of it I have was beautiful. I love songs with positive and encouraging lyrics about having faith and continuing to go on without struggles, cause that's what I constantly do. I'm tortured emotionally but my inner strength is extremely high even if it doesn't seem that way physically and emotionally. I find that r&b/pop songs with church like or spiritual elements are ones I gravitate to at times, someone pointed that out to me and I got mad cause I thought he was making fun of me, but now I find it complimentary

It's a form of self expression and self exploration as well. On one hand I don't think people should censor themselves, but I don't believe in singing about hate and think it should be used as a tool for peacemaking. I used to act like I have a fly up my ass about songs being too this and too that and being beyond it, but now I just laugh and don't take them or myself so seriously and I can find myself laughing along with unserious music at times cause it's just fiction and sometimes satirical. Maybe some of them are smarter than they want us to think and are just doing it for money, but I wouldn't ever go that far to make money and believe in dignity and class.

Everytime I hear songs, I immediately associate it with times in my life and am very good with the years they came out in. Sometimes if they are older songs but I discovered them in later years, I relate it to those times too and sometimes get chills or very emotional and reflect on how life has changed since, in good ways and bad ways and I either smile or let the tears come. If I hear songs from my formative years or especially my teen years, I'm just shipped back to those times as well and just go damn I'm old now, didn't this just happen yesterday? I think it's so messed up how the 90's are old school now and even the 00's somewhat, that does not feel right to me I was a 90's child though I do remember the 80's well and it's my favourite decade of them all for music.

alphastreet said:

So many things

It became escapism from dealing with emotional pain, majority of it from Michael and Janet's music being played and just putting me in an amazing space though so many songs from so many amazing artists do that for me too in many genres. Getting high off seeing MJ someday in person when playing him on headphones or watching his shows on a big screen with the lights off was something I became dependent on for half my life in times of stress, like an obsession, which is why I took the death so hard when I realized a month later I'm never going to see him (it didn't matter immediately at all). I have finally accepted he's not coming back and this is a huge deal for me, but I still have to learn to adapt to that cause it's like detoxing from something in my opinion.

I also remember that in grade school if I came home from lunch and things didn't go well, I would go play my keyboard and practice sad sounding songs that I was learning at my piano lessons. I hated practicing and was such a procrastinator but if I felt badly, I would do it to get my mind off things.

I loved it in video games like nintendo ones, I would hum along while playing and harmonize with them or create melodies over them, or it would give me a boost to continue playing and trying harder to pass levels.

Writing songs and poetry, that also being a way to get my feelings out and playing with different ideas, possibly roaming around the house after it and being hung up on a song and visualizing it in a way

I only have a keyboard as a tool to create, but I prefer music with real instruments and LOVE it when a song has a good piano hook or superb, fast playing piano hooks such as in classical music. An amazing bassline with a dance beat I can get down to and start dancing away to like nothing else in the world matters to me as well cause I love to dance. A rock guitar hook in the middle of a song gets me excited as well, it's not as common as it was in the past now and I really miss that, the kind of hook you hear right away and can name which song it's from.

Something that makes you think about life and at times spirituality or something greater than yourself. I don't listen to gospel though the little bit of it I have was beautiful. I love songs with positive and encouraging lyrics about having faith and continuing to go on without struggles, cause that's what I constantly do. I'm tortured emotionally but my inner strength is extremely high even if it doesn't seem that way physically and emotionally. I find that r&b/pop songs with church like or spiritual elements are ones I gravitate to at times, someone pointed that out to me and I got mad cause I thought he was making fun of me, but now I find it complimentary

It's a form of self expression and self exploration as well. On one hand I don't think people should censor themselves, but I don't believe in singing about hate and think it should be used as a tool for peacemaking. I used to act like I have a fly up my ass about songs being too this and too that and being beyond it, but now I just laugh and don't take them or myself so seriously and I can find myself laughing along with unserious music at times cause it's just fiction and sometimes satirical. Maybe some of them are smarter than they want us to think and are just doing it for money, but I wouldn't ever go that far to make money and believe in dignity and class.

Everytime I hear songs, I immediately associate it with times in my life and am very good with the years they came out in. Sometimes if they are older songs but I discovered them in later years, I relate it to those times too and sometimes get chills or very emotional and reflect on how life has changed since, in good ways and bad ways and I either smile or let the tears come. If I hear songs from my formative years or especially my teen years, I'm just shipped back to those times as well and just go damn I'm old now, didn't this just happen yesterday? I think it's so messed up how the 90's are old school now and even the 00's somewhat, that does not feel right to me I was a 90's child though I do remember the 80's well and it's my favourite decade of them all for music.

very true, the feeling you get when you hear a song that was attatched to a moment in your life is priceless, whether it be a painful moment or somethhing totally not relevant. I was listening to Berlins "count three and pray" cd the other day, and i heard the track "Trash" and that song always was playing on my walkman while on the bus going to summer school, now that is meaningless to 99.9% of the world, but that .1% is what matters....me, and thats what music is.

alphastreet said:

So many things

It became escapism from dealing with emotional pain, majority of it from Michael and Janet's music being played and just putting me in an amazing space though so many songs from so many amazing artists do that for me too in many genres. Getting high off seeing MJ someday in person when playing him on headphones or watching his shows on a big screen with the lights off was something I became dependent on for half my life in times of stress, like an obsession, which is why I took the death so hard when I realized a month later I'm never going to see him (it didn't matter immediately at all). I have finally accepted he's not coming back and this is a huge deal for me, but I still have to learn to adapt to that cause it's like detoxing from something in my opinion.

I also remember that in grade school if I came home from lunch and things didn't go well, I would go play my keyboard and practice sad sounding songs that I was learning at my piano lessons. I hated practicing and was such a procrastinator but if I felt badly, I would do it to get my mind off things.

I loved it in video games like nintendo ones, I would hum along while playing and harmonize with them or create melodies over them, or it would give me a boost to continue playing and trying harder to pass levels.

Writing songs and poetry, that also being a way to get my feelings out and playing with different ideas, possibly roaming around the house after it and being hung up on a song and visualizing it in a way

I only have a keyboard as a tool to create, but I prefer music with real instruments and LOVE it when a song has a good piano hook or superb, fast playing piano hooks such as in classical music. An amazing bassline with a dance beat I can get down to and start dancing away to like nothing else in the world matters to me as well cause I love to dance. A rock guitar hook in the middle of a song gets me excited as well, it's not as common as it was in the past now and I really miss that, the kind of hook you hear right away and can name which song it's from.

Something that makes you think about life and at times spirituality or something greater than yourself. I don't listen to gospel though the little bit of it I have was beautiful. I love songs with positive and encouraging lyrics about having faith and continuing to go on without struggles, cause that's what I constantly do. I'm tortured emotionally but my inner strength is extremely high even if it doesn't seem that way physically and emotionally. I find that r&b/pop songs with church like or spiritual elements are ones I gravitate to at times, someone pointed that out to me and I got mad cause I thought he was making fun of me, but now I find it complimentary

It's a form of self expression and self exploration as well. On one hand I don't think people should censor themselves, but I don't believe in singing about hate and think it should be used as a tool for peacemaking. I used to act like I have a fly up my ass about songs being too this and too that and being beyond it, but now I just laugh and don't take them or myself so seriously and I can find myself laughing along with unserious music at times cause it's just fiction and sometimes satirical. Maybe some of them are smarter than they want us to think and are just doing it for money, but I wouldn't ever go that far to make money and believe in dignity and class.

Everytime I hear songs, I immediately associate it with times in my life and am very good with the years they came out in. Sometimes if they are older songs but I discovered them in later years, I relate it to those times too and sometimes get chills or very emotional and reflect on how life has changed since, in good ways and bad ways and I either smile or let the tears come. If I hear songs from my formative years or especially my teen years, I'm just shipped back to those times as well and just go damn I'm old now, didn't this just happen yesterday? I think it's so messed up how the 90's are old school now and even the 00's somewhat, that does not feel right to me I was a 90's child though I do remember the 80's well and it's my favourite decade of them all for music.

Thank you for sharing that. It amazes me how music can pack such a powerful punch. I suppose all art can achieve such strong effects on our emotions and our psyche but I think music connects and affects the most.

Music was my first love and it will be my last, music of the future and music of the past.

To live without my music would be impossible to do.
In this world of troubles my music pulls me through

It reads even more ridiculous than it sounds

Music, to me, is an element in life that affects one's spirit in various different ways. Just as some have mentioned, it is like a drug, but a good for you type of drug. Once heard, music can take your emotions here and there and back again. It takes you down memory lane and sends you into the future. I have loved music since I was a young boy pretending to have my own Top 20 Countdown in my bedroom with cassette tape tape strung all over my ceiling for decor. Counting down the most played 45's during a given week was a joy to me. I was the black Kasey Kasem. LOL. As Donna Summer says in her song, Mr. Music, "I love music/Music is my baby/Music keeps me company/Music never leaves me". Loving music has made me into a person who loves to write songs and record them. Music touches the heart, soul, and spirit. It can be a gift for good or a gift for bad. It evokes thoughts in one's mind that can affect how they treat others, etc. Music is a bad mamma jamma! It's powerful on many levels. It can make a grow man cry. Not that there's anything wrong with that. God gave men tear ducts too (smile). Music, to me, is like oxygen. I listen to it in my car, at work, in my kitchen, while lying in bed, while jogging, at the park, etc. Music is my soulmate. Maybe that's why I haven't found a human soulmate yet. Hmmm. Play on, Orgers!

I can actually remember in what year this and that thing happened in my life (like when did I broke up with who, when did I crash the car, when did I get sick, when did I have the best f*ck of my life, when did i met my mates etc) by remembering what songs I was listening to... for example oh yeah I was listening to Dawn Penn so it must have been 1994... of course it gets harder and harder as time goes by because I listen less and less current music... in a while it will be hmmm i was listening to the Gap Band and Chaka Khan so it must have been 2009 lol

leecappella said:

Music, to me, is an element in life that affects one's spirit in various different ways. Just as some have mentioned, it is like a drug, but a good for you type of drug. Once heard, music can take your emotions here and there and back again. It takes you down memory lane and sends you into the future. I have loved music since I was a young boy pretending to have my own Top 20 Countdown in my bedroom with cassette tape tape strung all over my ceiling for decor. Counting down the most played 45's during a given week was a joy to me. I was the black Kasey Kasem. LOL. As Donna Summer says in her song, Mr. Music, "I love music/Music is my baby/Music keeps me company/Music never leaves me". Loving music has made me into a person who loves to write songs and record them. Music touches the heart, soul, and spirit. It can be a gift for good or a gift for bad. It evokes thoughts in one's mind that can affect how they treat others, etc. Music is a bad mamma jamma! It's powerful on many levels. It can make a grow man cry. Not that there's anything wrong with that. God gave men tear ducts too (smile). Music, to me, is like oxygen. I listen to it in my car, at work, in my kitchen, while lying in bed, while jogging, at the park, etc. Music is my soulmate. Maybe that's why I haven't found a human soulmate yet. Hmmm. Play on, Orgers!

I agree with all this too, and I'm going to check out that donna summer song. I think I've been married to music forever and it was my drug as well and it was filling a void and giving me a spark that I thought I lost when mj passed, but in the last few weeks, I'm slowly regaining it back at last and want to look forward and create more memories with his music and new ones to follow.

lastdecember said:

alphastreet said:

So many things

It became escapism from dealing with emotional pain, majority of it from Michael and Janet's music being played and just putting me in an amazing space though so many songs from so many amazing artists do that for me too in many genres. Getting high off seeing MJ someday in person when playing him on headphones or watching his shows on a big screen with the lights off was something I became dependent on for half my life in times of stress, like an obsession, which is why I took the death so hard when I realized a month later I'm never going to see him (it didn't matter immediately at all). I have finally accepted he's not coming back and this is a huge deal for me, but I still have to learn to adapt to that cause it's like detoxing from something in my opinion.

I also remember that in grade school if I came home from lunch and things didn't go well, I would go play my keyboard and practice sad sounding songs that I was learning at my piano lessons. I hated practicing and was such a procrastinator but if I felt badly, I would do it to get my mind off things.

I loved it in video games like nintendo ones, I would hum along while playing and harmonize with them or create melodies over them, or it would give me a boost to continue playing and trying harder to pass levels.

Writing songs and poetry, that also being a way to get my feelings out and playing with different ideas, possibly roaming around the house after it and being hung up on a song and visualizing it in a way

I only have a keyboard as a tool to create, but I prefer music with real instruments and LOVE it when a song has a good piano hook or superb, fast playing piano hooks such as in classical music. An amazing bassline with a dance beat I can get down to and start dancing away to like nothing else in the world matters to me as well cause I love to dance. A rock guitar hook in the middle of a song gets me excited as well, it's not as common as it was in the past now and I really miss that, the kind of hook you hear right away and can name which song it's from.

Something that makes you think about life and at times spirituality or something greater than yourself. I don't listen to gospel though the little bit of it I have was beautiful. I love songs with positive and encouraging lyrics about having faith and continuing to go on without struggles, cause that's what I constantly do. I'm tortured emotionally but my inner strength is extremely high even if it doesn't seem that way physically and emotionally. I find that r&b/pop songs with church like or spiritual elements are ones I gravitate to at times, someone pointed that out to me and I got mad cause I thought he was making fun of me, but now I find it complimentary

It's a form of self expression and self exploration as well. On one hand I don't think people should censor themselves, but I don't believe in singing about hate and think it should be used as a tool for peacemaking. I used to act like I have a fly up my ass about songs being too this and too that and being beyond it, but now I just laugh and don't take them or myself so seriously and I can find myself laughing along with unserious music at times cause it's just fiction and sometimes satirical. Maybe some of them are smarter than they want us to think and are just doing it for money, but I wouldn't ever go that far to make money and believe in dignity and class.

Everytime I hear songs, I immediately associate it with times in my life and am very good with the years they came out in. Sometimes if they are older songs but I discovered them in later years, I relate it to those times too and sometimes get chills or very emotional and reflect on how life has changed since, in good ways and bad ways and I either smile or let the tears come. If I hear songs from my formative years or especially my teen years, I'm just shipped back to those times as well and just go damn I'm old now, didn't this just happen yesterday? I think it's so messed up how the 90's are old school now and even the 00's somewhat, that does not feel right to me I was a 90's child though I do remember the 80's well and it's my favourite decade of them all for music.

very true, the feeling you get when you hear a song that was attatched to a moment in your life is priceless, whether it be a painful moment or somethhing totally not relevant. I was listening to Berlins "count three and pray" cd the other day, and i heard the track "Trash" and that song always was playing on my walkman while on the bus going to summer school, now that is meaningless to 99.9% of the world, but that .1% is what matters....me, and thats what music is.

I can relate to that too. I would listen to songs in the late 90's and early 00's that I loved and around the same time be sooo excited about hearing of mj's new album and imagining what it would sound like, so if I hear even something like Bailamos or He Wasn't Man Enough or Love Don't Cost a Thing, I start getting chills and even tears, even if the songs are not classics to the whole world, they were part of an era for me.

Music

Spirituality gyrating on the tip of a thousand hairs standing at attention.

Piercingly intimate, yet boldly social.

Always makes my head dance, sometimes my feet.

Stokes memory, unravels ambiguity.

An escape, a reawakening.

Timeless beauty. Attempts to channel a description for the indescribable.

Light or heavy, effortless or intricate, often uplifting, even transcendent.

Joy, adventure, and inspiration always on tap.

A temporary loss of vanity, body, sometimes even mind.

A unifying force. The shortest path between dance floors (countries, races, cultures, neighborhoods).

== More Reflection. ===

[Edited 8/8/10 0:45am]

Another thing I am curious about, and this is for the musicians here.

Did your appreciation of music change by the mere fact of creating it, rather than just consuming it? Does the strain of music being "work", or a "job" on other aspects of your life such as your personal and financial life change your views and appreciation?

An escape and coping mechanism, a natural high, a ticket to anywhere, my sanctuary, my pulse .

Escapism

Enjoyment

Confidence

Joy

Cathartic

Soulful

Energetic

Funky

Auditory Art & Fuel for the Soul.

PDogz said:

Auditory Art & Fuel for the Soul.

Nice!

RPR said:

PDogz said:

Auditory Art & Fuel for the Soul.

Nice!

I think those songs say everything I got to say on the subject:

[Edited 8/10/10 5:28am]

The truly good stuff u don't hear at all..................U feel it in your bones.

Escaping and getting your mind off the problems of real life for a little while. Music ain't no good unless you can feel it in some kind of way. It has to be so full of rhythm that you're ass takes on a mind of it's own and can't sit still whether you're at home or at a club on a dancefloor. Hell, even if you're in the car and you feel your ass moving in your seat all by itself. If your ass moves without your brain controlling it, then you know it's good.

Also if it's slow jams and it just has that sexy 2 a.m. feel to it that just makes you crave some dick to the point that you'll go out and try to find some if there's none available, or if it makes you want to have a dick from somebody you're mad as hell at and can't stand, that's when you know it's a good slow jam.

That "thought provoking" shit that makes you say "oh, I've been there before, oh, I've been hurt like that before, oh, that's how it is in my neighborhood" ain't worth a damn. Hell, I listen to music to escape those problems, not to wollow in them.

vainandy said:

Escaping and getting your mind off the problems of real life for a little while. Music ain't no good unless you can feel it in some kind of way. It has to be so full of rhythm that you're ass takes on a mind of it's own and can't sit still whether you're at home or at a club on a dancefloor. Hell, even if you're in the car and you feel your ass moving in your seat all by itself. If your ass moves without your brain controlling it, then you know it's good.

Also if it's slow jams and it just has that sexy 2 a.m. feel to it that just makes you crave some dick to the point that you'll go out and try to find some if there's none available, or if it makes you want to have a dick from somebody you're mad as hell at and can't stand, that's when you know it's a good slow jam.

That "thought provoking" shit that makes you say "oh, I've been there before, oh, I've been hurt like that before, oh, that's how it is in my neighborhood" ain't worth a damn. Hell, I listen to music to escape those problems, not to wollow in them.

Nice post.

I also listen to music to escape from problems.

vainandy said:

Escaping and getting your mind off the problems of real life for a little while. Music ain't no good unless you can feel it in some kind of way. It has to be so full of rhythm that you're ass takes on a mind of it's own and can't sit still whether you're at home or at a club on a dancefloor. Hell, even if you're in the car and you feel your ass moving in your seat all by itself. If your ass moves without your brain controlling it, then you know it's good.

Also if it's slow jams and it just has that sexy 2 a.m. feel to it that just makes you crave some dick to the point that you'll go out and try to find some if there's none available, or if it makes you want to have a dick from somebody you're mad as hell at and can't stand, that's when you know it's a good slow jam.

That "thought provoking" shit that makes you say "oh, I've been there before, oh, I've been hurt like that before, oh, that's how it is in my neighborhood" ain't worth a damn. Hell, I listen to music to escape those problems, not to wollow in them.

We can always count on you on being articulate, Andy.

dag said:

vainandy said:

Escaping and getting your mind off the problems of real life for a little while. Music ain't no good unless you can feel it in some kind of way. It has to be so full of rhythm that you're ass takes on a mind of it's own and can't sit still whether you're at home or at a club on a dancefloor. Hell, even if you're in the car and you feel your ass moving in your seat all by itself. If your ass moves without your brain controlling it, then you know it's good.

Also if it's slow jams and it just has that sexy 2 a.m. feel to it that just makes you crave some dick to the point that you'll go out and try to find some if there's none available, or if it makes you want to have a dick from somebody you're mad as hell at and can't stand, that's when you know it's a good slow jam.

That "thought provoking" shit that makes you say "oh, I've been there before, oh, I've been hurt like that before, oh, that's how it is in my neighborhood" ain't worth a damn. Hell, I listen to music to escape those problems, not to wollow in them.

Nice post.

I also listen to music to escape from problems.

I think it's interesting that most replies have mentioned the therapeutic effects of music.

I have read that ALL antidepressant and anxiety medications have an efficacy just barley better than a placebo. Not only have they all been proven basically useless unless you you are seriously mental taking heavy stuff like lithium, but that the side effects are a hell of a lot worse than a sugar pill.

Music on the other hand has always raised my spirits and has always been proven 100% effective with NO side effects.

[Edited 8/10/10 19:08pm]

Music is like water & air.....without it, there is no life.

TonyVanDam said:

Music is like water & air.....without it, there is no life.

This.

vainandy said:

Escaping and getting your mind off the problems of real life for a little while. Music ain't no good unless you can feel it in some kind of way. It has to be so full of rhythm that you're ass takes on a mind of it's own and can't sit still whether you're at home or at a club on a dancefloor. Hell, even if you're in the car and you feel your ass moving in your seat all by itself. If your ass moves without your brain controlling it, then you know it's good.

Also if it's slow jams and it just has that sexy 2 a.m. feel to it that just makes you crave some dick to the point that you'll go out and try to find some if there's none available, or if it makes you want to have a dick from somebody you're mad as hell at and can't stand, that's when you know it's a good slow jam.

That "thought provoking" shit that makes you say "oh, I've been there before, oh, I've been hurt like that before, oh, that's how it is in my neighborhood" ain't worth a damn. Hell, I listen to music to escape those problems, not to wollow in them.

vainandy said:

Escaping and getting your mind off the problems of real life for a little while. Music ain't no good unless you can feel it in some kind of way. It has to be so full of rhythm that you're ass takes on a mind of it's own and can't sit still whether you're at home or at a club on a dancefloor. Hell, even if you're in the car and you feel your ass moving in your seat all by itself. If your ass moves without your brain controlling it, then you know it's good.

Also if it's slow jams and it just has that sexy 2 a.m. feel to it that just makes you crave some dick to the point that you'll go out and try to find some if there's none available, or if it makes you want to have a dick from somebody you're mad as hell at and can't stand, that's when you know it's a good slow jam.

That "thought provoking" shit that makes you say "oh, I've been there before, oh, I've been hurt like that before, oh, that's how it is in my neighborhood" ain't worth a damn. Hell, I listen to music to escape those problems, not to wollow in them.

Go get some mental help.