We want to feel it.

We often need the chemical release that we get from being in a packed, dark, sometimes smokey room listening to five or six people onstage strumming guitars, pounding drums and picking a bassline underneath lyrics that reach the depths of our souls.

And when we find it, we scream it from the rooftops. We evangelize and preach the teachings of the singer downstage-center.

Sometimes it’s a quiet ballad. Sometimes is a loud, chaotic metal song. Other times it’s a standard, 122BPM pop song that surfaced after four records. And this is the thing that ties us all together.

We fight and bicker and debate Republican vs. Democrat ideals.

Riots ensue when a baseball team wins a world series.

Football fans often get into fist fights and barroom brawls when their team loses (or, oddly, wins)

But when we’re all at the club, standing in front of the stage and the house lights go dark and the intro music comes through the speakers and a collective body of people gets that feeling inside our chests akin to opening a present on Christmas day when we were seven years old and the guitarist jams that opening chord and, with that single combination of notes, a ninety minute set of songs moves us and we laugh together and cry together and get angry together and reflect together and get inspired together, that’s what rock and roll is all about. That’s what keeps us working our shitty jobs to earn enough to pay the rent and then travel by car or bus or plane or foot to the next show.

It’s hard to explain, really, what exactly constitutes a successful band. But it starts with honesty.

Genuine, non-imitating, inspired rock. The singer writes some lyrics and the guitar player comes up with a melody and the bass and drums keep the rhythm and then they show us their goods- they want to play for us and we want to listen. They want to tell us what they think and we’ll either agree and embrace them and tell EVERYONE we know about this band…or we’ll turn up our noses and move on to the next record from the next band.

Everyone gets a chance, you see.

Everyone has an opportunity to rock. To tell their story. To audition their music to us. And we always listen. But we don’t always believe it.

But when we do…it’s like no other pasttime that I can write a metaphor for. Sure, lots of people have a favorite baseball team. Many people have a their star writer or columnist. Actors, soap stars, football players…but EVERYONE has a favorite song. That one song that comes on and brightens your day. Makes all of the bullshit seem that much more manageable.

And that’s why we listen. And buy. And share.