You Don’t Know What You Don’t Know!

What would your life be like without music?

THERE ARE TWO WAYS to approach this question. One is there has never been music, so it never existed, in which case you don’t know what you don’t know, so you can’t miss it or conceive what it would be like without something you can’t conceive in the first place. It is like folks of the 18th century being asked what life would be like without the World Wide Web? 🤔 You would have drawn a blank! 😳 Regarding music, I can’t even say whether or not there would have been dancing because you don’t necessarily need music to dance – and, respectfully, I have witnessed some dancing (used loosely) and some are dancing to the same tune as others, but that’s another story and another point! 💃🏾🕺🏻

NOW, two, the question is approached from the angle of having listened to music and now not, then that IS a different story. I can only speak for myself. I have had the pleasure of seeing many many bands, groups and artists live; from The Jacksons (all the brothers excluding Jermaine) to Michael Jackson (solo tours) to Chic to Sister Sledge to George Michael (guest appearance by Elton John) to Whitney Houston to Earth, Wind & Fire to Garth Brooks (Vegas) to Donny Osmond (Vegas) to U2 to Shalamar (twice) (supported by Jermaine Stewart) to Kool and the Gang to Gladys Knight and the Pips to Randy Crawford to the Crusaders to Level 42 to the Brothers Johnson to Toni Braxton and many more that I can’t even remember, and some that many may or may not have even heard of such as Central Line, Imagination, Linx (supported by Junior Giscombe) and Loose Ends etc.

I was in a band in my late teens and early 20s, and used to play my favourite instrument, the bass guitar – I owned a Fender Jazz. But after seeing Louis from the Brothers Johnson and Mark from Level 42 play live, I knew my talent at playing my bass was as bad as I thought 😩 and made the easy decision to stop offending listeners’ ears before my playing (also used loosely) become a criminal offence, which would have prevented me from becoming a barrister!!! 👨🏾‍⚖️

PUT SIMPLY, having bitten the apple 🍎 of music, I would have struggled to have to live without it!