Don't be afraid to love your music.

Do you have any music in your collection that you are embarrassed to admit you like?  If someone catches you listening to it on your headphones and asks what you’re listening to, will you give another artists name?  Or would you say what you are playing, but preface it with a comment like ‘I’ll know you laugh but…’, or ‘He’s better than you think but….’ or something along those lines?  If you were caught playing it out loud would you blush and quickly turn it down?

For a long time I felt this way about listening to Chris de Burgh.  If I mentioned I was listening to his music I would often be greeted with a derisive snort and glib comment.  Yet now, being more confident in myself and my musical choices I will readily admit I like his music.

I think the problem stems from his big hit, ‘Lady in Red’, which is a schmaltzy love ballad and I’m sad to say not a fair representation of his music.  He has written some very rocky tracks over the years and nearly every single song weaves a story throughout, that holds you captivated and heightens the impact of the music and lyrics incomparably.  Unfortunately when you mention his name the first thing people will think of and mockingly sing back at you is ‘Lady in Red.  They are missing so much.

I think my embarrassment started when I was at primary school and went away for a week on a school trip.  In the evenings we could all gather in a large converted barn for games and dancing.  Everyone had their music cassettes and clamoured to get our teacher to play our choices.  Soon everyone was dancing, with the smell of hay and dust lingering in out nostrils and generally having a raucous old time.  Later in the evening, after stalling me for long enough, my teacher put on my Chris de Burgh cassette and whilst I whirled and danced, everyone just stared blankly and even the games eventually slowed, then stopped.  Needless to say I was teased mercilessly and the teacher, acting as DJ, quickly changed cassettes and the party got back into full swing.  This was my first lesson in how music can be inclusive or exclusive depending on what side of the fence you were on.

Writing this article has made me think of the time I was at a concert of his many years ago.  The venue was sold out and everyone sang along word for word with his music and obviously delighted in his performance. One young woman, who had the most wonderful pig tails on either side of her head, stood in rapture at the front of the venue and did high kicks and clapped underneath her legs for much of the shows duration!  This memory still makes me smile now.  No-one mocked her and it was really most endearing.  My brother saw Chris de Burgh live again a couple of weeks ago and said it was much the same (minus the dancing girl).  The point I’m making here is that there is obviously still a large audience for his music and his fans will love him as much now as they ever did.

People will always pass judgement on things, be it food, television programs, fashion, art or music and this is perfectly natural.  But, I won’t be made to feel foolish for my musical choices.  I may have my own opinions about music and may even be derisive of some manufactured music/bands, but ultimately it’s not my place to judge others for their listening choices.  People can think I am ridiculous if they like and they can still make cutting remarks, but I’ll gladly soak them up as long as I can be like that young woman high kicking at the front of the venue, who was obviously enjoying her musical choices deeply and freely.  What more can we ask?