The Cavemen who make me Wonder, Mr. Brightside, and the Song that Stretches from Wall to Shining Wall

February 20, 2023

Read time: 5 minutes

There is something about music that really gets me going.  There are sounds that get made and they fill the air.  In the background, sometimes you can hear someone’s vocals complimenting the sounds.  I think about “Mr. Brightside” by the Killers.  This song rocks.  It’s a prime example of music being absolutely glorious to listen to.  The bridge at the front-end pumps you up after the first chorus.  After the second chorus, the bridge mellows out.  In the verses, the music is straight rock n’ roll.  The vocals...they are by a man in pain.  This is a song about a man in denial that he's lost his girl because she’s cheating on him. 

My favorite kind of music is live music.  I wouldn’t be caught dead listening to country music in my car.  But put a passionate singer with a talented band in a country bar with good company and good beer, and I often find myself captivated by the tunes. 

My favorite kind of live music show I’ve been to was seeing Tech N9ne in 2018.  The show was in Detroit at the Fillmore.  You see, I have a soft spot for Tech N9ne…I listened to him as a child and his imprint is there forever.  His tunes are a natural part of the soundtrack to my life.  Tech N9ne is right there with The Beatles, Kid Cudi, Mariah Carey, and all those kinds of folks.  Their songs fill my head when I walk through my local Kroger.

Tech N9ne’s live music is a rock n’ roll concert blended with rap music, actual dangerous people, merchandising, and young children.  It’s a sea of red and black t-shirt wearing loyalists who would die for another album by Tech N9ne.  At his 2018 concert, when the famous most pit formed, I hopped right in.  Many of us “Technicians” still bemoan Kutt Calhoun leaving the Strange Music label in 2014. 

***

You know what I bemoan?  The lack of music’s ability to do what we know it’s supposed to do.  I think about a group of cavemen hanging out back in the day.  They have way too much hair, too much time on their hands, and starving bellies. 

Then, all of the sudden, after a long day of eating shrubs in the ground and what’s remaining of a lion’s dinner, one of them starts whistling.  One of the cavemen pats their thigh.  Another caveman clicks their tongue.  And we have got ourselves a little tune. 

Everyone’s contributing to the tune.  Nobodies left out.  There are players and listeners.  The players go along with the tune.  The listeners sing along.  Maybe, they don’t even pay attention to the tune at all.  But even those cavemen are still there.  And they’re definitely listening.

I think about Tech N9ne and “Mr. Brightside” and it reminds me of the land that stretches from sea to shining sea. 

Nowadays, the land that is my land, is also your land, and is also meant for you and me…is now on our iPhones and laptops and televisions and what not.  A lot of the music is on there too.  That’s okay with me.  Like the cavemen, we can adapt.  The whistling can turn to singing.  The clicks can turn into a bass drum.  And the cavemen not listening at all…they will still understand.  They’ll understand that the cavemen nodding their heads really dig what’s going on right now.

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I think about “Mr. Brightside” and I think about its effect on people.  Yes, it’s about a man who’s being cheated on.  But it also made 100,000 people scream and cheer for joy at Michigan Stadium in Ann Arbor, Michigan, once upon a time.  That song unified the people who live in this land that stretches from sea to shining sea.

I think about another song that truly unifies the people.  A song that would make all the cavemen from years and years ago tap their feet and nod their heads. 

The song filled the Fillmore in 2018 at that Tech N9ne concert.  It didn’t matter if you were wearing red or black.  The song boomed from wall to shining wall in the Fillmore.  It’s called “R*** M****.”  It’s the second track on Tech N9ne’s 2006 album, Everready. 

“WE GONNA START THIS SHIT OFF RIGHT…WE GOT TECH-AH NEEN-AH IN THE HOUSE TONIGHT!”

I leaped into the mosh pit.  I think I got a concussion or two.

Time for a Joke:

What has forty feet and sings?

The school choir