Week Diary 4: The text that changed my life

The text that changed my life

Papa Roach - Last Resort



Last Resort, a song by Papa Roach, to me would be the text that had an impact on the style of music that I listen to today. Before I consumed this media text, my music taste consisted of a lot of pop music such as One Direction and Olly Murs and although I still listen to these artists a lot, it was this rock/metal band in particular which had gotten  me to listen to this genre even more.

I had no intention at all into listening to this band until a couple of people from social networks sites were talking about them so I decided to have a listen. This song was the very first song I listened to by Papa Roach and it changed my mind completely about heavy metal bands. My thoughts before even listening to the band were 'Just another scream band that you cant understand a word they are saying' but after listening to this song, I couldn't like scream any more. The opening to the song is a heavy drum beat which is quickly followed the lyrics 'Cut my life into in pieces this is my last resort'. These lyrics instantly connected to me emotionally in many ways and actually made me feel quite upset whilst listening to them as it suggests that this person is trapped and has no other way out but than to self harm. I think this had a huge impact on me as I speak to a lot of people from Social networking site, particularly Ask.fm, who also suffer with issues such as self and I try to help them so I think I can relate and understand these lyrics a lot more and it also makes me realise how lucky I actually am.

I think this song as well in particular changed my views on how I see heavy metal bands as before they just used to scare me but after listening to the lyrics and analysing them more closely, the lyrics are more in depth and have more meaning behind them than just a loud noise.

For example, Papa roach also have a song called Scars and this had a huge impact on me as after listening to this song, it actually made me cry because the lyrics are so powerful and upsetting that it feels like you can actually feel the hurt that the artist is going through. A certain lyric that stood out most for me in the song is 'My weakness is that I care too much'. I think I connected to this line mostly because I can relate. However, were as in the first song I could relate to it because of what other people have told me, I relate to this song more because I have experienced what they are saying and it makes me feel like they're are singing about myself. After listening to a couple of songs by Papa roach, I was near enough captivated by music so not long after I actually went out and bought all nine of their albums from HMV as I couldn't even wait to listen to the rest of their songs and I also bought other albums from the same genre of music Such as Hollywood Undead who are now another one of my favourite bands. You could say after listening to Papa Roach, the media I consume has changed a little bit as before I would walk into a shop and buy a magazine like 'Teen Now' which is targeted towards more mainstream artists or celebrities were as now, I will buy magazines like 'Kerrang'. Overall, I think that this text has changed my life in a way. For instance, my music taste now is alot more varied than what it used to be and now I am more open minded about listening to other types of genres that I probably wouldn't have even considered doing in the past and I think as a whole the fact that I have connected to this band in a emotional manor has made me feel alot more comfortable in the person I am.