Music

Dammit, music is the greatest thing on earth.

What a broad statement? Well, I don't care, I believe it's true. I couldn't live without music.

It has a magical quality that no amount of description or analysis will ever quite capture. Beethoven, Blur, Beyonce - it doesn't matter which era or genre - and I even include the most mind-numbing (unless you're on drugs - allegedly) 4:4 beat house music.

The enormity of the global reaction to Michael Jackson's death was not simply the result of the passing of a great personality - most of us will never really know what MJ was like as a person, and personally I don't want to, it would spoil the enigma. No - it was the legacy of his music that caused the reaction - people who had ignored Jacko for years because of his negatively portrayed image and personal life suddenly remembered what he did for pop music and realised that had lost something unique.

This, for example, recorded from the Motown 25th Anniversary concert has to be one of the coolest moments in modern pop music history:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C-blEgMyJwU

But enough about Jacko. He was admitedly a bit wacko, but it seems his legacy will, after all, be his music, and that's got to be a good thing.

The point I was making, to the extent that I had a point (it's the end of a hard week - I may just be rambling) is that music is essential. It has energy, and there's something divine about it. I mean, try asking yourself why certain notes sounds good together - why does harmony work? Why is rhythm rhythmical? It's a bit like design theory - an affirmation of the existence of some higher force, some order in the chaos.

But whilst I am certain that music is divine, I'm still not sure which divine being I believe in, so until I work that out, I'll just worship music ;-)