An Epiphany about Music

"Explicit lyrics linked to sex among teens: scientists." Now that I’m 37 and have a family of my own, my first instinct when I read an article like this is, “Well, duh.” File that article under things I didn’t need a scientist to have to prove. But that hasn’t always been the case.

When I was a teenager back in the late 1980’s my friends and I loved to listen to hard rock. Some of our favorite groups were Guns N Roses and AC/DC. For a little light listening we would throw in Van Halen and ZZ Top. When my parents were home I would listen to the Top 40 songs like “Jump” but when they were gone, out came the hard stuff. (This is not bragging. In fact, I am now embarrassed that my character wasn’t strong enough to reject that trash in the first place.)

Justification
I justified listening to these bands by saying "I don't really listen to the words, just the music. Besides, mom and dad, even if I did listen to the words I don't actually believe what they’re saying." There was nothing that woke me up in the morning faster, nothing that got my adrenaline pumping before playing sports and nothing that made me feel like I fit in with my friends more than hard rock. On the way to early morning seminary (I usually rode with my friends) we would blast it until we were pulling into the church parking lot. When we left seminary for school the Metal would crank up just as soon as we pulled out of the parking lot.

The Beginning of an Epiphany
I remember one morning when one of my friends showed up late to seminary and forgot to turn down the Metal as he parked his car. Right in the middle of the prayer I heard the lyrics (you know, the ones I never listened to) “Running with the Devil.” Some of the kids thought it was funny, but I didn’t. I remember seeing the look on the teacher’s face. A teacher I respected. She was upset. Not mad upset. Disappointed upset. I remember wondering whether I had ever done anything to cause that look to come across her face. I hoped not.

The Epiphany is Complete
Some time after this episode in seminary a wise Bishop came into our Priest’s Quorum meeting and announced that we were going to be having a Fireside on music. He wanted to make sure all of the Priests, Teachers and Deacons would be at the meeting. I remember thinking, “I’m not going to start listening to MoTab no matter how great he tells me it is. I know what I like and that isn’t going to change.” Great attitude!

The night of the Fireside came and we all filed into the Relief Society room for it to begin and sat down. While I was sitting there (parents on one side of me and friends on the other) I noticed several CD’s on the table in the front of the room. AC/DC, Metallica, Guns N Roses. No MoTab. A fear came over me. I wondered if the Bishop was going to hold up the CD’s, tell our parents that we were listening to Hard Rock and then play some of the CD’s for my parents to hear. Or, even worse, destroy the CD’s right in front of us. I thought to myself, “what a waste of a good CD.”

But neither of these happened. Instead, after starting the meeting one of our youth leaders stood up and gave a talk on the Holy Ghost and how the Holy Ghost makes us feel. During his talk I felt the Spirit, but wondered whether he had gotten the memo that this Fireside was on music. After his talk, the next speaker stood up and said he would like to demonstrate something to us. He put a CD into the CD player and turned it on.

I immediately recognized the song as AC/DC’s “Hells Bells.” The song starts out with about 30 seconds of slow, soothing guitar before the lyrics begin. But something was different about this version. There were no lyrics after 30 seconds. Instead, the speaker had removed the lyrics from the song. As I sat there and listened to the five minute song I could feel a distinct change in the room. The warm, comforting feeling of the Holy Ghost was leaving and a new spirit starting to take its place; a feeling of aggression and anger. Aggression and anger brought on by the music, not the lyrics. Without any lyrics at all, AC/DC was able to completely drive the Holy Ghost out of the room.

This was a huge wake-up call for me. During that five minute period the blinds were taken off my eyes and I could see the danger in telling my parents “I just listen for the music, not the lyrics.” I could see that both could be used to drive the Spirit away. That is a lesson I have never forgotten.