r/Stoicism•
Sysgimp

Stoic Music: which bands or songs do you recommend?

Question

Greetings Stoic Redditors,

i wanted to know if any one of you knows a type of music with stoic lyric? Ive been a Metalhead my whole life but I came to realize that songs like “die MF die”, “Bodies” or bands like “Kataklysm” and “KoRn” got few things in common with my view on things I have developed over the past years. Hearing my old type of music mostly triggers anger and hatred in me and doesn’t calm my mind as i would wish and what is most important: hate keeps the focus on other people and not on myself. “I’m better than you”, I hate you”, “just die”, that’s not helpful for my own development.

Recently I discovered some songs from the German band JBO. One of them is “Gewiss ist nur der Tod” (Certain is only death). It’s a humorous approach to describe death and to be less worried because of it and they are saying that death got no easy job either because of our advancement in medicine and so on. It’s humurous Memento mori to put it in a stoic context or at least I see it as that and it always cheers me up.

I know there are probably millions of songs similar to it but finding some bands or maybe subcultures would be great. Hopefully this isn’t a repost and I hope some you share my experience and have some tips for me.

Posted Oct 6, 2019, 7:43 AM UTC

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SysgimpOP•

I will try those! Thank you very much!

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jaiagreen•

One song that immediately comes to mind is Jackson Browne's "The Next Voice You Hear".

"Well all right, they knew how they could hurt you,
And you let them cut you to the bone.
But God forbid you allow them to rid you of your virtue.
Forget their laughter
The next voice you hear will be your own."

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SysgimpOP•

That sounds very nice! Thank you!

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I love RHCP.

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SysgimpOP•

Oh cool. Which song comes to your mind first?

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Can’t Stop.

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SysgimpOP•

Thanks a lot!

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profishing_0-13•

Bill Callahan: Shepard In A Sheepskin Vest, Dream River

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SysgimpOP•

Thank you! I will listen to it!

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cyancm•

Interesting! Personally I find that metal music actually helps me to process, vent and expel negative emotions. Maybe you can try listening to some progressive or melodic metal bands? The long song lengths and introspective lyrics are pretty meditative and calming for me. Ne Obliviscaris, Opeth, Between the Buried and Me, Insomnium, In Mourning, Gojira, Mastodon are some of my faves.

Gojira's The Art of Dying is one of my favourite songs of all time.

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SysgimpOP•

Absolutely! It helps with my negative emotions like anger and so on. But when I’m feeling good and relaxed it’s often something that pulls me back.

And I will try your suggestions. I’m already listening to Dream Theater, especially The Dance of Eternity and for Mastodon it’s Blood and Thunder. Both really relaxing for me. Also because it’s very melodic.

Thank you very much!

1
cyancm•

🤘really cool to meet a fellow metalhead here!
I feel like nu metal genres like Korn and such tend to have very personal, angsty lyrics that don't really help drive you on the path to stoicism haha. But bands that write lyrics that deal with something bigger than yourself tend to help me put things into perspective sometimes.

Also a non-metal recommendation I have for stoic music is definitely Wardruna. You gotta check them out.

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[deleted]•

[deleted]

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SysgimpOP•

Jazz is definitely something I will look up, thank you!

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boonbandit•

HAhahah, sorry found this funny. I don't think stoics pursued pleasure.

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Philosophy is pleasure.

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yaxomoxay•

Quite the contrary. Stoicism recognizes both pleasure and art. Stoics are just not conquered emotionally by them (e.g. binge watching). Art is a higher intellectual endeavor, it would be insane to disregard it as simple pleasure. If I remember correctly, both MA and Epictetus talk about resting the mind and body.

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SysgimpOP•

https://donaldrobertson.name/2013/07/04/pleasure-deprivation-and-indifference/

You might want to look at this article. Otherwise I wish you the best of luck with your attempt. It might suit you well.

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boonbandit•

I had a look at the article it was eye opening. I said that when I was drunk. I remember I meant something specific by it. Maybe that a sage doesn't do anything for the purpose of pleasure, pleasure is just a bit product.

But nonetheless, thanks for responding kindly to your fellow man.

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