In his essay “In the Empire of the Beat”, Hughes describes disco as a vehicle for self-exploration for gay men. Through dancing to disco music, they redefined and reclaimed their gay identity from conventional intolerance. After reading his defense of disco, I thought of city pop, a subgenre of Japanese pop music that grew in the late ’70s and ’80s. City pop has heavy influences from the Western music of that time period, among which includes disco, and is generally defined as city themed music targeting urbanites. At the time, city pop was considered a deviation from what was considered more acceptable pop music in Japan. As a genre, it freely explores and take inspirations from that era of Western music, creating an eclectic range of sounds. Because of the Western influence, there is a often a wide inclusion of English lyrics. It is a style of music that celebrates the success of post-war Japan within the economic bubble. That unique narrative is reflected in the energetic and optimistic nature of the music. Unlike disco, city pop is not a dance that taxes the dancer’s bodies. However, like disco, city pop transcends and transports the dancer away from the realities outside. When listening to city pop, the hearer is whisked away to a fantastical paradise with no worries.

In Ellison’s “Living with Music”, he freely defined all the noises he was surrounded by as music, even the disruptive or meaningless sounds. For example, although he dismisses the sounds of “howling cats and barking dogs”, he still included them as a musical occurrence in his life. From this, music has a tremendous influence on his life. The shouts of the drunkard commanded his writer’s block and he discordantly felt the songs of the singer rattle his psyche. His later passion for music was life changing and consuming. Music was a formative part of his identity and affected the way he experienced the world.

In Sack’s “A Bolt from the Blue”, the discussion was about sudden musicophilia, which generally occurred following involuntary changes to the brain. I found it fascinating that all of the case studies were people who had little to no interest in music prior to the event, but eagerly engaged and created music after. The shifts in their identity makes me wonder what the past them would have thought of the change: would they be appreciative, or dislike who they have become? Although they may not have considered all sound to be music like Ellison, music was also a part of their identity. In the case presented by Rohrer, Smith, and Warren, the woman’s relationship with music before the sudden musicophilia was of avoidance, such as not listening to music or closing the door to block out music. In conclusion, music can effect one’s self-identity regardless of personal appreciation or aversion.