Me and Songs

I don't seem to know many musical artists, and barely know any song lyrics, Christian or not. Almost all of my songs are in languages I don't know or are wordless. I guess that is just how I like my songs. Is it really that wrong to enjoy songs without words? Why do people and the world judge me for it?

When growing up I only listened to classical music or old Christian hymns. Artists like Hanson, Britney Spears, Spice Girls, Nsync, and Backstreet Boys were all the rage when I was little, but I had not heard any of their songs until I was older. I didn't know a single Spice Girls songs until graduate school.

Around middle school to early high school, I got into video games and anime, and so my music repertoire grew to include game OSTs and jpop solely derived from anime shows. While in high school, my dad introduced 70's and 80's rock to me and my brother, heralding to the era when my dad was in grad school.

I did not know a single modern Christian artist until I was a sophomore in college. Chris Tomlin? Hillsong? Michael W. Smith? Who are those people?

I didn't know who Justin Beiber was until the earthquake in Haiti in 2010. Maybe that was a blessing in disguise.

To this day I cannot tell any rappers apart, except for maybe Weird Al and Eminem.

Starting my junior year of college, I started downloading and listening to the billboards 100 and hitFM to be "up to date" with pop songs in America and the US. But I always seem to miss the point of these songs. None of the lyrics seem to ever resonate with me. There was that hard drive crash in that summer where I lost all of my game OSTs (around 200gigs of music). I still haven't replenished them. Guess I was never made to be a mixer or composer for gaming companies.

I still haven't memorized any of the Christian songs or hymns that everyone else seemed to know by heart. I would literally try to memorize them like I would scripture, but the lyrics always seemed to escape me within a week. Even the Doxology can sometimes give me trouble. But I can hum and harmonize any of them without problem.

This has all seemed to affect my ability to socialize in many circles, as songs are part of culture and one of the fastest ways to build a connection with another being. Especially in Christian ones.

Maybe I just need to sing more in the shower..

Update: I downloaded spotify as of May 31st in an attempt to learn more songs. I probably have the most diverse and unique selection of songs in my personal playlist, even if it probably isn't most people's taste. What is musical taste anyways? For most of my songs, they were performed by the most talented musicians and music makers of this century, and I'm not talking about just singers.