Music is one of the most influential forms of expression. You can see, hear, and even feel music. Music can lift your spirits, can make you depressed, make you think of your lover, or send surges of adrenaline through your body. Music also keeps traditions alive. Parents sing stories to their children that their parents sang to them. Music can go so far as to save a life. I've read stories about people who were alone, ready to commit suicide, but listened to a certain band or even a certain song that got them through the pain they were feeling.
             I feel that if a singer or a band does not write their own music, the music isn't genuine. People who have writers make up lyrics for them to sing aren't artists or musicians, they are singers. There is a difference. I would rather listen to a Dave Matthews Band song that no one has ever heard than listen to the Number One song in America if the band didn't write it themselves. Over the years, this had led me to listening to bands that aren't the most popular, but have solid lyrics that convey strong emotions. Three bands that immediately come to mind are the Dave Matthews Band, Phish, and O.A.R. Phish and O.A.R. receive little, if any, public acclaim, and they are all right with that. And until the last couple of years, the DMB fan base consisted of small but devoted fan groups, some people quitting their jobs to travel from tour date to tour date in order to see every show of a tour.
             "Sonny's Blues" was a story of Sonny, a heroin addict who had nothing but his music. His music is what he lived for, and when he felt he wasn't good enough, he would then turn to heroin for release. This often happens to many musicians who are very good, but just feel that they need that extra push, or that they can't be creative without the drugs. Bands like Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, and The Doors started this ph
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