Asperger's syndrome in popular music

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Point of Interest: I just read through this thread. Themes of adolescent alienation and adult alienation are not specific to people with ASD's. Alienation may form a part of one's profile, and songs that highlight this particular HUMAN experience are not necessarily ASD or AS songs. chuckle chuckle.

However, David Byrne from Talking Heads is a performer with an ASD and there are some interesting interviews on the net with him talking about it.
He ackowledges his AS openly. Listen to his lyrics.

As for Pete Townsend - very clever bugger that one.

kurt Cobain crosses my mind as a possibility - even down to the gut problems - but if one starts specualting there we move into posthumous diagnosis territory - which is somewhat uncouth to say the least.

My dog has AS. So does my cat. The two free-range guinea pige we have in our garden are also most definitely AS ---- it's the sideways glance thing..no direct eye contact...the way they look up at an angle from the green, green carpet of grass......VERY Aspergers...
Hauntingly so.

Pete Townshend wrote the vast majority of Who songs - Daltrey didn't write any as far as I know...

I thoroughly believe Townshend is an aspie, for he's used the word Autistic to describe the way he feels in one of his most recent songs.

This isn't the only reason I think he has AS, but it's certainly a good call.

Interesting... very deep lyrics. Thanks!

A lot of The Who has that strong sense, not just of alienation, but of being an alien, not just the usual artistic detachment, but of being outside the world looking in. I wouldn't go so far as to say that they're definitely evidence of an AS personality, but there's a feel in them that resonates deeply. One of my favorites is "Substitute". It describes so well how I feel much of the time.

Someone earlier mentioned Rush. Again, not saying there's anything Aspie there; but they are definitely the ultimate geek band. A friend once made the comment that if you're into Rush, the odds are very high that you're a musician yourself. It certainly applies to me, alhtough I haven't actively pursued music for quite some time. Saw them on their 30th Anniversary tour. They still sound farking amazing live.

Gary Numan has been officially diagnosed with Aspergers; and creates very detached, "nerdy" music that really captures the "alien" feeling.

Am I the only AS who never pays attention to lyrics in music? I love music, but have always disregarded the lyrics. There are exceptions, but for the most part, they go right through me.

I have browsed the responses to the question "Can you identify the Asperger's mentality in pop music?" and I find that most of the comments relate to the WORDS of the songs--alienation, disconnection, depression, etc. These are indeed side-effects of the Asperger's disability, but a deeper manifestation of this mind-set is the effortless sequential ordering of musical ideas such as may be witnessed in the music of Mozart. Not only is the logic sequence perfect, but there is, in fact, a disconnection from normal circular thinking which both:
1.) denies the music a direct humanitarian link but also
2.) establishes an alternate link to levels of higher mind in the sense of elevated ideational content AND spiritual resonance.

When identifying Autism in music, we should look for a kind of discarnate energy that points toward rarefied strata of the collective unconscious, not teen-age angst, which may or may not have anything to do with the Asperger perspective.

infinite9, another music group that I've seen has lyrics which tend to resonate with Aspies would be "Rush".. There are various songs that I feel many Aspies might be able to relate to and all therefore, here is only a sampling of such..

Cut to the Chase--

It is the fire that lights itself
But it burns with a restless flame
The arrow on a moving target
The archer must be sure of his aim

It is the engine that drives itself
But it chooses the uphill climb
A bearing on magnetic north
Growing farther away all the time

Can't stop moving
Can't stop moving
Can't stop...

You may be right
It's all a waste of time
I guess that's just a chance I'm prepared to take
A danger I'm prepared to face
Cut to the chase

It is the rocket that ignites itself
And launches its way to the stars
A driver on a busy freeway
Racing the oblivious cars

It's the motor of the western world
Spinning off to every extreme
Pure as a lover's desire
Evil as a murderer's dream

Young enough not to care too much
About the way things used to be
I'm young enough to remember the future
The past has no claim on me

I'm old enough not to care too much
About what you think of me
But I'm young enough to remember the future
And the way things ought to be

Cut
Cut...

Cut to the chase
You may be right
It's all a waste of time
I guess that's just a chance I'm prepared to take
A danger I'm prepared to face
Cut to the chase
What kind of difference can one person make?
Cut to the chase


Well, this song I feel could possibly relate with other Aspies...

ProfessorX

Add another one for Townsend on It's Hard:

http://www.elyrics.net/read/w/who-lyric ... yrics.html

Middle age references:


Don't know where you're goin' to,
But I been there same as you,
You're running out of ideas,
And new hats to try on.
I know you middle age
Same song, different page,
I know what you're goin' through
Made the same mistakes as you,
All you want is some hope
And a shoulder to cry on.