No Music Day

Bill Drummond, formerly of The KLF, has dubbed today No Music Day, declaring, in part, that:

- No hymns will be sung
- No records will be played on the radio
- iPods will be left at home
- Rock bands will not rock

London's Resonance104.4fm has joined the cause and pledged to play no music today. Instead they will air "spoken word, discussion, dialogue, silence, imagination - perhaps even peace and quiet."

Perhaps one needs to use their "imagination" to figure out how "peace and quiet" differs from "silence".

This morning, their broadcast included a reading from a book about disc jockey Dewey Phillips.

There's a wealth of evidence of the cognitive benefits of music. Yet there's apparently a delicate balance. As Oliver Sacks wrote, "there seems to be in us a peculiar sensitivity to music, a sensitivity that can all too easily slip out of control, become excessive, become a susceptibility or a vulnerability. Too-muchness lies continually in wait, whether this takes the form of 'earworms', musical hallucinations, swoons and trances, or music-induced seizures. This is the other side of the otherwise wonderful power of music."

Music is rather amazing. Drummond's idea is an interesting one. I'm not sure of his motives, but take anything away for a chunk of time and you get a different perspective about it. I was very dismissive of the idea when I first heard about it, but if viewed as an opportunity to take a step back and think about music in different ways, it's more intriguing.

Still, this morning when I went looking for music-free YouTube clips to post here, I soon found myself watching music videos and concert clips instead.

I did get back on track though. A couple music-free clips:

A look at U.C.Irvine's class on the history of punk rock:



Anderson Cooper's reaction to Coca-Cola Blâk:



Back to music tomorrow, possibly right at midnight!