Amy Taylor of Amyl and the Sniffers. Possessed by an energy enough to power the national grid …
By The Landlord
“The energy of the mind is the essence of life.” – Aristotle
“For every hour of recording, have two hours of laughter in the studio.” – Quincy Jones (RIP Quincy, 14 March 1933 – 3 November 2024)
“Energy is so important. If you don't have it, don't bother with rock and roll.” – Yoko Ono
“Music is moonlight in the gloomy night of life.” – Jean Paul
“Nobody realises that some people expend tremendous energy merely to be normal.” – Albert Camus
“No one worries about genre when they’re dancing.” – Skrillex
“I wake up in the morning, I do a little stretching exercises, pick up the horn and play.” – Herb Alpert
“Music is a great natural high and a great natural escape.” – Shania Twain
“I wake up angry. There is a lot to be angry about. Anger is a positive energy. If we're all living in ourselves and mistaking it for life, then we're devaluing and desensitizing life.” – Thandie Newton
“Music is powerful. As people listen to it, they can be affected. They respond.” — Ray Charles
“Life seems to go on without effort when I am filled with music.” – George Eliot
“Energy begets energy.” – Dolly Parton
“Tones sound, and roar and storm about me until I have set them down in notes.” – Ludwig van Beethoven
“Guided by angels, but they're not heavenly
They're on my body and they guide me.
They're so heavenly, I love their energy
Angels return my energy, heavenly.” – Amy Taylor
Well, a lot is said about it, but it certainly works. Blood flow is increased, and while heart rate may quicken, conversely it may also, rather beneficially, slow down. The stress-related hormone cortisol is reduced, while serotonin and endorphin levels in the blood rise, elevating mood, while the brain produces dopamine. The result - feeling more alive, happier, and with more energy, either physically, but also mentally.
But why does music do this to us? Being energised can self-reflectively emanate from expending energy, but also from a sense of connectedness, something as, wonkily evolved apes, we definitely need. You can be tired and listless one minute, but a conversation, an encounter, a thought, a beat, a bass line, a melody, or a lyric, might suddenly change all that in an instant.
It's highly subjective, but this week we're throwing out there into music's great history what songs, or pieces, give you that big physical or even mental boost. So, what music puts a pep in your step? What pushes out the puissance, releases the pizzazz, flows the juice, brings vim, vitality, vigour, zest, zing or the zip?
Genres choices can be wide, and not necessarily those that exist by going at 196bpm with a pill rush. Perhaps the energy release might alternatively be slow.
Gustav Mahler, alternatively, on the subject of wielding the baton before a full orchestra, something which requires massive amounts of the energy, suggests that: “The real art of conducting consists in transitions.” And perhaps it's those very transitions, utilising melody, recurring theme and movement across instruments and registers, or in songs, from verse to chorus to middle eight and back again, or rising to a delayed climax, that helps bring those key sugar rushes.
As the great Yehudi Menuhin puts it: “Music creates order out of chaos: for rhythm imposes unanimity upon the divergent, melody imposes continuity upon the disjointed, and harmony imposes compatibility upon the incongruous.”
Perhaps music is also about our perception of patterns. We hear and also, in our mind's eyes, 'see' a musical pattern, and then expect it to repeat, and when it does, or surprises us with a variation, a development and a twist, that element of reward of our expectation, brings us joy, and interest and energy. It's a signal that all is well - we're functioning and connected.
Mood is also a great driver of energy, and music can focus that, whether joy or anger, Who are your most joyful, or angriest artists and songs? Of the latter for me, this guy comes to mind:
and …
But also energy can come when music releases us from conscious thought, and takes us to another place entirely. Perhaps that's where disco and dance music comes in, especially when it's fabulously crafted and combined with other genres: Chk Chk Chk them out live if they come to your town …
!!!
And then there are other places and shapes that can quicken the blood. Music can be like colours. And Henri Matisse describes his art thus: "With colour one obtains an energy that seems to stem from witchcraft." It's a magic of contrasts and newness that sparks the brain, in whatever form you work.
Mixing different musical colours and elements, here's that great musical necromancer David Bowie: "What I like my music to do to me is awaken the ghosts inside of me. Not the demons, you understand, but the ghosts."
But does energy reduce with age? Perhaps it does physically, to a certain extent, but not necessarily mentally, as that energy becomes more focused and realistic. Voltaire wrote mischievously that: “What most persons consider as virtue, after the age of 40 is simply a loss of energy.” But only in this Bar can you have one comedic commentator from a certain era rubbing shoulders against another, and here in the form of Jerry Seinfeld updates the age-energy axis: “Forty to 60 I would say is your prime. That's when you know the most, you've seen the most, you understand the most, and you still have some physical energy.”
Perhaps some of your ideas might come from the most energised live performances you've seen in present or past times. Recently for me, it's Amyl and the Sniffers, whose unsinkable frontwoman, Amy Taylor could power the nation grid with her grinning cheekiness and sugary ferocity. But for further inspiration, across different genres, as well as here are a few very energetic artists, leaping up and out on stage:
Will there be split decisions or split trousers? Either way it's time to release your energetic ideas with suggestions, and helping guide you over our assault course of inspiration is the perceptively powered-up ParaMhor! Place your ideas in comments below for sweet release and deadline at 11pm UK time on Monday for playlists published next week. Take a leap!
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