Someone just asked the opposite of this question here and I was wondering if there are cases were you’re just not interested in something but you know the community is great nonetheless.
For me it’s Metal music. It’s just absolutely not my genre but an overwhelming amount of metalheads I met were just the nicest, most wholesome and fun people all around.
We trash and bash in the mosh pitts, and get out our aggression. But if someone falls, you YANK them up. Many times I’ve fallen, and then suddenly felt myself lifted high into the air by the hand of god. Then I can see who lifted me, and it turns out it wasn’t god. It was a long haired, bearded, tattood muscleman. Which makes sense. I’m like 300lbs. If you’re suddenly yanking me up effortlessly, you’re a big muscle man. And then there’s other times I see women fall. I yank them up. I’m doing the right thing, I KNOW I’m doing the right thing, but the whole time I’m just like “Sorry sorry sorry sorry.” because you don’t aim where you grab. You grab and yank up, by whatever you can. You don’t want the pitt to come her way and stomp her head, not knowing she exists down there. So yank, but also “Sorry sorry sorry sorry”. I’ve yet to have any women mad at me for doing it, they get it, but MAN it feels weird just grabbing a woman like that.
Pushing, shoving, looks like a massive fist fight but it’s all love. We’re trusting them with our life. They’re trusting us with theirs. We all get super violent, and have a good time. Then the show lets out, and we’re like “Oh, you wanna go get some late night eats? Anyone know a good gyro spot?”, and we’re just friendly for the rest of the day. We’re like the Canadians of music genres. Violent when we play, and friendly the rest of the time.
There is research and papers showing that heavy music in general can actually be therapeutic and make someone calmer, rather than the perceived opposite effect. It can be a great outlet. I listen to metal, heavy music, all the time but when I have used it as a coping mechanism, i.e. an outlet for stress, it has definitely allowed me to release such tension. Not only that, but singing/screaming to vocals along to the music surely does release all of energy, and while there are outsiders who might perceive the music as ‘angry’ the incorrect connection they’re making is that anger is an energetic emotion, as in unreleased energy/tension. Metal isn’t angry music, it is energetic. That is why it makes such good workout music. It stimulates and satisfies that part of our lives, letting us be some of the ‘nicest, most wholesome and fun people all around’.
I’d believe the research on a heartbeat. I don’t listen to metal very often and I’m pretty picky about subgenres, but when I’m in a horrible terrible mood, I’ll slap on some of the hardest most pig squealing, swallowing the microphone, quadruple bass pedal stuff I can find. After an hour or so of that, I usually feel much better.
My wife is a huge Rush fan. I’ve been to two concerts, I don’t get it. It’s loud, it’s screechy, I can’t understand the lyrics, but they’re her favorite band.
Bought her the “Rush 50” set for our anniversary next month:
https://www.rushbackstage.com/product/6XAMRU303/r50-backstage-exclusive-super-deluxe-edition
She tolerates my taste:
https://youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_nU_JDbqfgfN7-xDYOi2lzyoC9cjh7ajq4
https://youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_liRnR3E2H7SpBrYXT-3CJye3snP3P3w5g
I went to a concert with a mega fan and also don’t get it, that shit hurt my ears. I think Rush fans brains are all wired at some unique frequency.
I worked with some people from Chile once, and they ALL loved rush. there was like 30 of them, they had in common where they came from, and rush. Like it’s a thing. Even the ones whose English was so-so knew every word to every song. I miss jamming with em. Fucking epic air drums!
Smokers. They have decades of being able to strike up an angry conversation in a street with an absolute stranger, whilst never letting it escalate, because, fuckit, brotherhood of smokers.
Plus a healthy appreciation of nature. Sure you can smoke and look at your phone, but you still have to be outside and that means glancing up from time to time to look at the scenery, the night sky, to wave at your neighbours, etc.
Good people smokers, filthy habit.
(Vapers dont count, cos you can’t really share a vape concurrently. Also a lot of them take pride in their devices which I find weird. Real smokers have a decent sense of self-hatred at their habit)
Not sure what kind of smokers you meet. The ones I have to deal with blow cancer in my face right next to children, get aggressive when I ask them not to, spit on the floor every 5s, throw their still lit cigs into trash bins or into nature and cant stop coughing on the train.
Fuck yeah, I miss it. Smokers are my people. Risk takers, nihilists, indulgers, hedonists, adventurers, rebels, fun-havers… but I’ve gotten domesticated and want to live a long and clean life. Sigh.
Old school vapers at least, ones that still roll their own coils and rewick their rebuildable atomizers, would almost always have a device that they have customized themselves, or gotten a very beautiful custom mod.
Also vaping is a bit different in that you could vape using a device akin to smoking, or you could be vaping up a storm cloud like a shisha or bing would, or anything in between.
It’s a personal thing. At least in the opinion if this vaper.
Marijuana Aficionados. I’ve been straight edge my entire life but always hung out with them. Now, it is more common since legal restrictions have been lifted. The community in general is well, chill.
My dad gave me advice a hundred years ago, and it’s probably a George Carlin bit or something, but there’s a difference in philosophy between drunks and stoners. A drunk will pound a beer, or sip from a personal flask, or bring their own six pack to a party. A stoner’s first impulse is to light a joint and find someone to pass it off to. It’s communal, and it brings others into the circle, where alcohol is isolating. Obviously it’s a generalization, but it sort of fits.
That sounds like Carlin, but Carlin dispensed much wisdom in his time.
My favorite story from Jack Marigold’s A Child’s Garden of Grass goes something like:
A drunk, an acidhead, and a pothead are walking through the woods. As it becomes evening, they come to a city surrounded by a wall, and in the wall is a closed door with a sign that reads: “This door is only open 9-5”. After knocking and getting no answer for a few minutes, the drunk shakes his fist and says, 'let’s smash the door down!" The acidhead peers at the doorknob for a few minutes and says, “let’s just float through the keyhole.” The pothead shakes his head and says, “naw, man; let’s just sit here and wait for it to open in the morning.”
I can’t handle pot; makes me super nauseous for the entire time I’m high. Always has. But I love the people.
Alcohol makes you act without thinking, pot makes you think without action.
it’s communal, and it brings others into the circle
As a big pot head I think this is the big point. If you see someone smoking, there’s a damn good chance they’ll let you take a smoke. But you gotta be careful, cause then you’re gonna be stuck into a 30 minute convo about nothing haha
I didn’t say “perfect chance” because one time I was in German outside a club and smelled someone smoking a joint so I mimed the smoking gesture and he called me a selfish American and then they all laughed at me haha. But then later that night they called me over to do a couple shots with them so ¯\(ツ)/¯
Books. I’m dyslexic as fuck but heavy readers are mostly chill people.
Did you ever get into audio books? It’s nice to have someone else read to you at bedtime or during a commute.
Ooohh ooh audio books are my bag baby yeah.
Podcasts too.
It’s all about timbre and accent. I could listen to the right voice read the phone book.
See, I have ebooks I want in audio, so I have to settle for ‘robot’ android voice when there is no ‘audiobook option’
Any good podcast recs? Any genre/subject is fine.
