I found myself reciting the following lines from Pink Floyd’s Wish You Were Here the other day in my head:
And did they get you to trade your heroes for ghosts?
Hot ashes for trees?
Hot air for a cool breeze?
Cold comfort for change?
And did you exchange a walk on part in the war for a lead role in a cage?
It reminded me of the many, many hours I spent as a teenager listening to Dark Side Of The Moon and other Floyd albums. I would listen intently, often with my eyes shut or in the dark, almost forcing the words into my psyche, etching them in my memory. It is little wonder that several decades later the ideas contained in those lyrics form such a fundamental part of my world view. It’s as if I was deliberately indoctrinating myself. It worked!
The Obvious? 
I suspect there's a strong correlation between people who have been blogging for a long time successfully, and those who have "programmed" themselves in this way. Sometimes blogging feels like writing myself into existence, taking the inputs I've chosen, and forming them into the narrative that is me.And that's quite pretentious for 8.30am… 😉
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Can be contradictory though. For a published writer who might want to buy a Learjet might find themselves with less money as we don't want no edgejucation!! 🙂 "All done in the best possible taste!"
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Interesting Adam. I definitely think you are right that we put the effort into blogging as much as to refine our own thoughts as to influence other people and I guess my intense Floyd listening was an early sign.
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Thankfully Tim I have no interest in either Lear jets or indoctrination of others! 😉
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Pink Floyd? Yuk. Did Sid die in vain?
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I resisted Pink Floyd indoctrination from one of my best friends and his dad, until eventually I couldn't hold out any longer – ended up seeing them live a couple of times, and will forever associate them with turning up the stereo during thunderstorms and sitting by an open window watching lightning trying to rival a Pink Floyd light show.Ironically, they're one of the two bands who annoyingly seem to avoid the likes of Spotify and individual song downloads, along with AC/DC. Because that obviously means I don't just rip the CDs I own and pick out individual songs anyway…I'll see your Pink Floyd and raise you 'The Cause' by NOFX:'Isn't for the moneyNor is it for the funIt's a plan, a scam, a diagramIt's for the benefit of everyoneYou gotta have a little respectSubterranean idealsTraditional neglectReflect on how it would make you feelThe cause- we're just doing it for the causeNo it isn't for the fortune,It isn't for the fameIt's a scheme, a dream, a barterineWe want everyone to think the sameBecause you know what you know is rightAnd you feel what you can't ignoreAnd you try so hard to point the blameA shame- what are we doing this for?'
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I wasn't a big Pink Floyd fan but also remember listening to Dark Side of the Moon again and again on my little black Philips cassette player. (The expense of albums meant a small collection and repeated listening of the same songs). Just seeing those lyrics again immediately takes me back to my teenage bedroom in a council estate in an East Lancs. mill town. Repetition sticks in the mind somewhere and will eventually re-surface…
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