Some kids went to the movies for escape. We found it with jazz. This is where we got religion. It was a kind of raw spiritual anarchy.
Interpretation
The quote highlights how jazz provided a profound sense of escape and spiritual fulfillment for some individuals, akin to a religious experience.
In this quote, John Densmore reflects on the power of jazz music as a means of emotional and spiritual liberation. Unlike those who sought escape in the movies, Densmore and his peers discovered a deep connection and sense of freedom through jazz, which they perceived as an almost religious experience. This 'raw spiritual anarchy' suggests a rejection of traditional norms in favor of a more visceral and instinctive expression of creativity and emotion.
In practice
In a discussion about the ways music can influence emotions, this quote can illustrate jazz as a form of escape.
Very few of the men whose names have become great in the early pioneering of jazz and of swing were trained in music at all. They were born musicians: they felt their music and played by ear and memory. That was the way it was with the great Dixieland Five.
And God help Bruce Springsteen when they decide he's no longer God... They'll turn on him, and I hope he survives it.
It's warts and all in my songs, and I think that's why people can relate to them.
I know people said I wasn't selling out in America, but that was entirely untrue. We sold out all over the world, and every night I looked out into the fans and those front rows that you're talking about, the tears, the honesty, the inability to not be completely overjoyed because they felt accepted.
I only knew classical music, which to me was the only true music. The only way I could survive at the bar was to mix the classical music with popular songs, and that meant I had to sing. What happened was that I discovered I had a voice plus the talent to mix classical music together with more popular songs, which at the time I detested.
Pop music often tells you everything is OK, while rock music tells you that it's not OK, but you can change it.
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