The title of this blog post is kind of like asking what makes one person different from another person. It really all boils down to personality. That's really what it all boils down to.
Let's think about this for a second. Every single second that you're alive, you're picking up all sorts of stimuli from the outside world. Of course, these are the things that you see, hear, touch, taste, smell, and otherwise perceive.
It may even be some sort of emotional vibe. It may even be the way somebody looks at you. Whatever the case may be, you come up with some sort of perception.
Now, here's the thing. There is no right or wrong answer.
If I come up to you and I look at you a certain way, you might interpret it a certain way. And you are well within your rights because, hey, let's face it, we have different experiences. We come from different backgrounds. We look at the world differently. All these differences add up to how we process all these stimuli.
Are you still with me? Well, here's the thing with doom rock and mainstream rock. Doom rock is really just a perspective. It is really just a sensibility. And different people are free to differ.
But what makes doom rock different is that it is a collection of people who tend to look at the world in a different way. They look at it as a certain range of emotions. They look at it as arising from a certain set of assumptions and expectations.
Now, does this mean that these people are just pessimistic? Does this mean that these people are somewhat wrong because they always look at the glass as half empty when the rest of the world is supposed to look at it as half full? Well, that's a judgment call.
And, last time I checked, everybody's entitled to their own judgment call. Everybody's entitled to their opinion. In fact, opinions are like noses. Everybody's got one, or should have one.
And that's really what makes doom rock different from mainstream, run of the mill rock and roll. It really all boils down to the selection of subject matter. And most importantly, it boils down to how that subject matter triggers certain reactions. It's more of an attitude than anything else.
What really makes doom rock tricky is that it's not like some sort of uniform. You know somebody's into emo rock based on their haircut and their outfits. The same applies to goth music from the 1980s and 90s.
You can tell somebody's into the goth scene based on how they cut their hair, the accessories that they use, and the clothes that they wear. There's no shame in that game. Everybody's different.
But we don't believe in uniforms. Instead, the only thing that is "uniform," and I really hate using that word, is our attitude.
We look at what's going wrong, we look at what's falling apart, we look at what's rotting, we look at what's decomposing. And instead of looking at it as something to run away from, we view it as an indicator of reality. We view it as a wake up call. We view it as a push to live life to the limit.
Do you see how this works? That's doom rock. And it may seem grim, but there's a lot to be hopeful about because it really pushes you to be more appreciative.