Just come back from the GP after filling in some yes/no forms.

It got me thinking (well almost) about a subject I wanted to post up regarding the nature of our relationship with the music we all love (whether it be modern, xo, northern, funk, r&b etc etc).

The dedication, almost blind allegiance, to our music has, does and will cause much joy but has also led to a certain amount of pain and sacrifice (money, relationships, work etc)

So, I was wondering, within the forum community, what category people felt that there relationship with our music fell into. I came up with 3 categories that I felt related to my own experience; Hobby, Passion, Addiction. On reflection, it is and has been one or all of these! What I'm looking for is the state you feel best describes your state of mind right now.

Now if this has been done before then I apologise, but I thought a poll would be the best way to get a representative view.

Thanks for your input!

Dancing

Dancing

Bollocks, I knew I'd missed something(s)!

Dance, Dance, Dance....

Soul Music is and Has been the soundtrack to my life since i was about 12-13 years old. So as well as passion, Addiction has to be in there to!!

Mike

It gets me by......

Im on a rubbish fone clearvinyl so cant quote u but think iv managed to vote passion:-] agree it soundtrack to my life too. Dont remember a time wen it wont there x

Passion.

If it's an addiction, it's the healthiest one I've ever had, but as long as I stick to dancing, and the social side, and stay away from buying records, I reckon I'll be ok.

It does have at least one negative side though - I'm unable to get anything done in the house when its on in the background as I end up shuffling and jumping about like an idiot.

Edited September 30, 200915 yr by spirit

Hobby, Passion, Addiction and some

for me from the age of 13 its been all three and have a good few times been able to loose myself in it and re-emerge recharged when the usual shit things in life come along and kick you in the....

Rob

Edited September 30, 200915 yr by Naughty Boy

Not a day goes by that I dont play soul music . I only have the radio on if its a talk station I dont like other peoples choosing the music I listen to its an addiction for sure and it drives my familly mad .

Could be worse could have been staying out all night taking drugs

Looks like passion is where we are at so far but addiction is not too far behind

BTW, in know way does the addiction response indicate the use of illict stimulants...

But it helps!!

Keep voting it's all for research purposes!

" Everything"

W/D, (unless coloured), Promotional Copy, Demonstration record, (what a fantastic term of phrase), Radio Station Copy, old new, borrowed & blue. Shimmy, stomp, shuffle & step don't know my favourite record yet. Bing on the new, searching for the true. Good friends old friends stick like glue. Soul music-PHEW!!!

Kev

Edited October 3, 200915 yr by Kev Moore

Its got to be passion for me cos I have to curb my addictive personality that I inherited from my father

Everything!

A passion, addiction, a bit like being in love, everytime you hear it, pure unaldulterated passion flows through your veins...... "an itch you can't scratch".

Philly

If addiction is characterised by a feeling of depression when you don't get to enough nighters, the absolute inability not to bid for a wanted record, regardless of finances, the impossibility of understanding how your friends can listen to whatever's on the radio, and an ipod filled with only 1 kind of music, then it's addiction.

If passion is loving something to bits for 30 years and still wanting more, if it's the ability to feel goose bumps when, even after all that time, you hear a tune for the first time that just grabs you by the throat and by the heart and makes you want to dance or breaks your heart, then it's a passion.

It will never be just another hobby...now, back to the dance floor

Never having to be alone...Feeling a part of something good ...Never having to grow up (properly)

Addiction - An overwhelming obsession and compulsion to keep repeating the same behavior

SOUNDS ABOUT RIGHT

Edited October 7, 200915 yr by ritchie

Its the Diversity of the music from stompers to floaters and everything in between that makes it fantastic.

35 years of listening to it, and still so much I dont know.

When John Manships rare soul record book came out, I only ever heard half of the listings, at most! so to say there's a fair few titles still to hear is an understatement and that stops at about 1975.

Im lucky in that I can get to listen to at least 2 hours worth of SOUL a day on average and try and mix it up to cover 60s/70s/80s and the odd 90s/00s.

I have a hard drive with 25000 tracks and an IPOD with a further 5000 on, so no shortage of material.

Now and again I will put some vinyl records on and hear some albumn tracks that really never get aired.

Ed

It means everything to me , a 38 year addiction and love affair that will never grow cold .I feel truly blessed that this music found me , what would I have done ? To still be involved in a music scene such as ours at the age of 52 is a brilliant feeling. If such a thing had been suggested to me in the 80's I wouldn't have believed it .And just when you think you've heard every record that's ever gonna blow your mind - another little gem comes over the hill side ........Best,Eddie

Music makes me know that there are others who have fanciful dreams and when I loose my self after drifting off some were I know that there is more to life than paying bills and being a dullard, music is the freedom, escape and as I get older it has become my time machine and my 3D photo album of half forgotten memories with very real tastes, smells textures and feelings.

I suppose that Northernsoul fills the biggest gap and most tracks make me at least smile where some can bring a tear to my eye. Many are disposable but the connection I make to the ones that aren't leave me breathless.

I don't do the mainstream as a rule until November time comes and I go to Blackpool Weekender, can't get over these memories. I like to save them up and go every now and again to let an emotional wash bath me in the warmth of my youth, then I'll get a kebab and walk home and try to do our lass without my sister in law waking up to remind us it was cheaper to share a room.

Hobby, Passion, Addiction

Probably all three, a confirmed vinyl junkie with a great passion for the music and kid myself it's just a hobby

Hobby - 9.3%

Passion - 58.14%

Addiction - 32.56%

Well, firstly thanks to everybody who took the time cast a vote. It's always interesting to gauge the feelings of others.

If nothing else this poll confirms that to the vast majority of us this music and lifestyle is not simply a hobby. We don't collect and hear records like others collect and view stamps, we do it it with a powerful passion that we have inside ourselves and share with our fellow followers.

For a healthy majority, passion for our music is what drives them but for some the passion boils over into an addiction - a soul compulsion. Given the emotional and physical effects this music has on me I can see how the passion becomes an addiction. I must admit, that I alternate between passion and addiction until reality hits home - money, work, family - and I have to get back on the waggon to soul sobriety!

Keep the passion flowing!

Regards..