Where would we be without music?
Perhaps one of the most underrated parts of life is music. It plays in the background of parties, it heightens the tension or creates a sense of comfort in the movies and shows you watch, and it focuses you while you work out or study. Now imagine life without it. You’d be clubbing to… the sound of people’s shoes rubbing against the ground?
Music is a lot of things. It’s the currency of late-night drunken karaoke battles and it’s a healthier emotional outlet than drinking a bottle of wine alone in your room and crying over photos of your ex. Music can both connect one to heritage and traditions, and it can break new ground. Sometimes the latter turns into the former. Apparently Mozart was the Nine Inch Nails of his time.
Aotearoa New Zealand’s music scene was the poster child for getting vaccinated and boosted over summer; December and January just wouldn’t feel the same without taking a roadie to listen to live music. And yet, much like other creative industries, the local music scene and its artists are criminally underappreciated, underfunded, and undersupported. For how much it means to people and how much we use it on a daily basis, it’s not given nearly enough credit.
Music is the great equaliser. It can soothe and cover any number of awkward situations and inadequacies whenever we need it to. Ever been in a dead silent car-ride after an argument? Yeah. Imagine doing your grocery shopping without the top 50 hits on repeat in the background. Imagine riding an elevator to slam poetry. Imagine being on hold with StudyLink without the grainy, sounds-like-its-being-played-from-Mars-quality hold music. Even for those who don’t really identify as music people, music plays an indescribably and unexpectedly important role in everyday life.
And here’s possibly the most important role of those roles—sex playlists. Please, for the love of God, we implore you: stop having sex without music. In fact, we really only listen to music when having sex.
If you don’t want your flatmates or your whole-ass family to hear you clapping cheeks with the headboard against the wall, then play some music. On the other side, if you hear someone role-playing their Mommy-kink, play your own music to drown it out. And if you just wanna get into the mood with a special (or not-so-special) someone, simply light some candles, have some wine, and pop on that sexy-time playlist baby. There’s no more effective remedy than playing music. It’s an essential part of sex.
But of course, the right music at the right time is key. No one’s gonna have sex to Jingle Bells, for example (no offence if you have though, holidays get you in a whole different mood).
Music works in mysterious ways, but it brings us all together. That’s not just a sex joke this time; music is an essential part of gathering. Live gigs are back, dirty flat parties are gearing up again, and your Craccum team just had their first ever team meet up. So, let’s celebrate all the ways music brings us together this music issue for Aotearoa New Zealand Music Month, shall we?
XOXO
Arohanui,
Flora Xie (she/her) and Naomii Seah (she/her)