Music is Life

Robert William Thiesen Jr.

Music is used for enjoyment, escaping reality, bonding with friends, or whatever you want it to be. There are many types of music for many types of people. I am into metal bands myself, but there are many other bands like jazz, pop, rap, classical, country, I could go on and on. There is a type of music for every person. Each person grows to like a different type of music for different reasons. Some people use music to make ends meet and others just like music for the pleasure of listening to great music. I have written down a few of my memories and reflections of how music has been important and influential in my life. One of my first memories of music is from when I was thirteen. I remember being in the car with my Uncle Chuck. Uncle Chuck drove an old, huge, blue Oldsmobile. One day we were driving through town and we were listening to a tape called "The mind is a terrible thing to taste." This is an album by the Chicago based industrial Metal band, Ministry. My uncle and I listened to music all the time when we were in his car. The music we listened to that day is some of the best music I have ever heard. My uncle and I used to call the radio "the invisible window". The reason we called it "the invisible window" was because when you turned the radio up real loud you could hear nothing but the music you were listening to. Listening to music is a great way to escape your troubles. And that is just what my uncle and I were doing that day with the music of Ministry turned all the way up. To this day I love to escape to my own world by cranking up my music and just drifting away from reality.

The next great highlight of music in my life for me came just a few months later. It was late one night when I was watching MTV's classic head bangers ball. The host of the show was none other than Ricky Rakman. I'll never forget when he said "don't go anywhere because coming up next we will have a new video from Pantera." From that moment I was frozen in my seat, I could not wait another minute to see Pantera's new video. The new video was for the song "Walk". This was the first time I had seen the video for "Walk". I had liked the song for a long time, but seeing the video brought me more excitement than just hearing the song ever could. "Walk" is from Pantera's album "Vulgar Display of Power". Both the video and the song had so much energy and emotion. It was pure raw power. I just cannot imagine having the energy that they have and that they share with their fans through their music. It was at that moment in my life that I knew that one day I would see Pantera live.

A few short years later my dreams were about to come true. A local radio station had just announced that Pantera and White Zombie were coming to Chicago. I was totally stoked (excited). The radio station said that tickets were going on sale that Saturday at 10am. I called my brother Tom, also a huge Pantera fan, to ask him to go to the concert with me. He was so excited. We planned to get up very early and go to the local Ticket Master to buy tickets. That Saturday we arrived at Ticket Master by 8am. There were already a few fans waiting to buy tickets. Finally at 10:45 am we had our tickets. They were not the best, but at least I was going to see Pantera. On the day of the concert, Tom and I drove to the Rosemont Horizon. We got there early because we wanted to try and see the band before the show. The crowd was great. Everyone so excited to see Pantera. There were people everywhere and they were all screaming for Pantera. We saw the tour buses, but we never even caught a glimpse of the band. When the doors opened we went into the stadium to find our seats. As it turned out our seats were better than we had thought they would be. We were sitting on the ground level just off to the right of the stage and back about 30 rows. White Zombie took the stage first. We were having a good time, but the anticipation of seeing Pantera was getting higher and higher. Then finally the stadium got dark and the fans were screaming just then a flash of lights and Pantera took the stage. My brother and I started moshing with the rest of the crowd. Moshing is when you run around slamming into each other to the beat of the music. We were having the time of our lives. In the end each band played for about an hour and a half. They both came out for an encore. Seeing this show was a dream come true.

Music has been a huge part of my life. I have not always been in the best situations, but I have always had my music. Music has been a great way to escape. I hope that everyone can use music the way I do. I know that it is only a temporary escape, but still for the length of a song three or five minutes, I am in a world of my own, just me, the band, and the music.

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