Music does for me what writing and painting can not. It can move the human being to timed instances of musical expression. It can have a rising action. Movies can do this also. They can move us to grand emotional and cognitive grand finale.

Music can be thought of as any sound that affects us enough to notice it as such. There is music in both nature's chaotic appearance and in nature's regularities through the segments of space and time we have found ourselves in.

Music can be one of the most beautiful and telling forms of artisitic expression available to the human condition. Music, like all art, helps to make life a bearable and worthwhile experience.

Music is awesome.

Music is force and waves and particles and energy in some form that reaches our consciousness and affects us in myriad ways. Perhaps, more than any other form of art, music is able to move beings to war or peace. Wagner's “Ride of the Valkyries” versus John Lennon's “Imagine” come to mind.

Music changes us while we listen to it. It can excite our senses and lift us up, or bring us down into peace or depression. We remember music- the tunes, beats, lyrics, and rhythms long after we stopped listening. Music leaves a unique impression on our minds.

Music can be a source of peace and enjoyment or it can be used, quite literally, as a weapon of torture. In Guantanamo Bay, for instance, we are only given hints of the uses of loud, constant, foreign music to the ears of the oppressed prisoners therein.

I commend all those music artists who have fought to reveal what songs and whose art was used in such a vicious way. Loud and powerful enough, sound can be focused and used to blast the ear drums and body of those in its path and, one can see, that music is already being weaponized and tested on civilians as they did in Philadelphia during the anti-globalist protests.

The classical musicians composed grand orchestrations and simple piano pieces that flow and build through waves of gentle or powerful movements. Mozart, Bach, Beethoven, Chopin, Tchaikovsky, Wagner, and others come to mind. They are in a class of their own, but, unlike many who appreciate music, I think they are only one great form amongst many.

When I want to think or be motivated, I tend towards abstract beats and powerful rhythms that can be found in contemporary drum and bass artists like DJ Shadow, The Gorillas, The Chemical Brothers, and The Crystal Method.

Also, the melodic and experimental use of sound and voice from Radiohead, Recoil, and Björk help me to concentrate more on writing and painting. I am amazed at York's feminine, soothing voice and Björk's eclectic range. The Sneaker Pimps, Rasputina, and The Indigo Girls all stand out amongst vocalists and interesting instrumental ensembles.

When I want to be uplifted in spirit or conceptually relaxed, “Tangerine” or “Fool in the Rain” by Led Zeppelin cast an easy mood on the situation. Jane's Addiction, with laid-back calypso drums and songs of theft and addiction, offer a glimpse into life for the poor. Beck gives rhythm and rhyme to absurd, free-verse poetry and association.

Cake and The Toadies sing of relationships and struggles with obsession. For the strife of the poor and oppressed, modern rap and rock music by Eminem, Wycleff Jean, Cypris Hill, the Wu-Tang Clan, Rage Against the Machine, and Sublime are impressive to me. For social and religious critiques, Tool, Depeche Mode, and Nine Inch Nails are superb.

Greenday's “American Idiot” and the Reznor/Bowie line, “I'm Afraid of Americans” points to our nationalism and ignorance. Artists see it and sing of it. System of a Down's lyric, “And We All Live in A Fascist Nation” is not subtle. Fascism is at the heart of the recent bank theft of the public treasury- as fascism is corporate socialism combined with various hyper-nationalistic policies. But, all too many Americans, being “idiots” have no idea what these terms mean. I was once an American idiot and now, to some degree, I am awake. There is time for everyone to come to awareness. For melodic, folk-like ballads, the songs of the Simon and Garfunkle, The Beatles, Bob Dylan, Leonard Cohen, Stephen Morrissey, and The Smiths come to mind as those that can tell lyrical stories about personal experiences and the trials of life as a human. The soundtrack to the movie, “Donnie Darko” (the director's cut, like that of the movie “The Abyss” is much better than the original release, as many are) clearly shows the genius behind much of the music in the 1980's. Talking Heads, Tears for Fears, the Cure, and many other bands came through the often lacking experimentation with synthetic sounds as genius. In the 1990's, a number of bands explored nihilism and depression in a way that resonated with an alienated and uncertain generation in bands like Nirvana, Alice in Chains, and Pearl Jam. REM and early U2 came to my ears at this time as well and I like a lot of their work.

"What Music Looks Like", 2006, by Anthony Peter Iannini

Though, in the case of U2, money and fame have not helped their art. They spoke out about atrocities in Ireland and now it's “A Beautiful Day?”. I think not Bono. The song is quite nice but there's more work to be done to make Earth a peaceful place.

Many intellectuals will wonder how I can speak of many of these bands and classical composers in the same breath and page. Many intellectuals are more snobbish than smart and what they lack in intellect they make up for in arrogance and self-certainty.

Overall, my personal favorites are Radiohead, Recoil, Led Zeppelin, and Sublime. Radiohead stands out in creativity and diversity. Ok Computer, Hail to the Thief, and Amnesiac are some of my favorite Radiohead albumbs. I prefer their least radio-friendly pieces, though their song “Creep” is one of my personal favorites and a rare crossover between their work and a more popular audience.

Philosophy, politics, and personal strife against the backdrop of experimental jazz, rock, and melodies that to many, may seem almost alien and unsynchronized. But, in the chaos, there is order and beauty to my ears. Radiohead's album, Amnesiac, with its opening metallic drum line speaks, in my particular interpretation, to metaphysical mysteries and explorations of the mind.

"Morrissey", 2010, graphic art by Anthony Peter Iannini

Like bad visual art (Thomas Kinkaide's "work" comes immediately to mind), bad music is ubiquitous in our culture. Miley Cyrus, a lot of mainstream country music, some rap, Britney Spears, the Jonas Brothers, a lot of rock on the radio, all the boy bands and teenie-bop bands in history stink of money and generic force-fed crap that is popular because they forced it to be and made it to be. Most "pop" music sucks because it is shallow, contrived, only for profit, and simply no good. This music and these bands will fade as fast as they appeared. Some country is exceptional. Willie Nelson and Johnny Cash are great. And, like the art of Thomas Kinkaide, these people will have to spend the rest of their lives, unless they change, living down their horrible ruse they played. Often times, in the case of young people, we should be sympathetic, because their parents and other adults pressured them or manipulated them into these positions- as often happens with many exploited children in the entertainment industry. The band James is awesome and I have been listening to it while I write. Recoil is phenomenal as well.