OT: why do you listen to music?

There was a comment about listening to music for the "wrong reasons" in that Imagine/One of Us thread, so I thought it might be interesting to ask OT why they listen to music.

I mostly listen to music to engulf myself in a certain atmosphere. I won't really listen to a song if I don't appreciate it on an aesthetic level. I don't really use music as "background music." If I have music on, I am listening to it intently, allowing myself to get swept up in its atmosphere. I find that songs with flat or ugly melodies and arrangements that don't seem to do much for the song are the ones that most fail to grab me in an atmospheric sense. Though I don't fault anybody for listening to harsh-sounding music, my preferences are more towards music that is traditionally beautiful, tho a song with both beauty and strangeness like Kate Bush's "Wuthering Heights", or The Stone Roses' "Fool's Gold", both of which are some of my all time favorite songs, can really grab me. 

Anyway, why do you listen to music?

I've never given much, if any, thought as to why I listen to music. It's something I've always taken for granted. I don't know, to be honest if I like the music I'll listen to it. I certainly don't have anything that can considered sophisticated as far as taste in music goes. Right now I'm listening to L'Amour Impitoyable (piano solo) from Berserk: The Golden Age Arc I - The Egg of the King. It's a beautiful little piece that captures the fluttering and delicate feeling of being with someone else. I suppose I listen to music so that I can feel something, so that I can be enriched by it. Or it could be that I just like hearing it, like the Deftones - Around the Fur. There is no deeper reason as to why I like it other than it being a song that I like.

I think music helps me channel my emotions better.

Otherwise I just bottle pretty much everything up whether positive or negative.

Other times I listen to music just to keep myself from thinking. Or to avoid awkwardness in public places (mass transit for instance).

Because they make me feel goodLonelynight

It keeps me going. Life without it sucks.

I have some emotional problems and music makes them go away.

I listen to music at the gym to push me that little further, also I listen to my I pod alot when I'm out an about as I'm anti social and I can focus on what I'm listening too compared to whats going on around me.

Also like many people to remember good memories and feelings that certain tracks bring out.

It exalts the soul.

To worship Satan! Bringing the blood of the newborn child! Yeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeah! 

Because listening to the voices in my head starts to get monotonous after awhile.

I listen to music for a variety of reasons:

1. Most importantly because I enjoy it.
2. Because it's fun to analyze.
3. Because it can build atmosphere and a specific emotion or expression from the person performing the piece.
4. Because it can be a reflection of my emotion or expression at times.

I find beauty in both the traditional, predictable arrangements and the ugly, esoteric arrangements. Dissonances aren't unwelcome to me, and for a piece to not immediately grab me makes me want to analyze why it doesn't. Sometimes that process causes me to like the piece more and that compositional style more as well.

By extension that works for production styles and mixing too. :P 

Because it's legal.

Because it sounds nice.

Duh.

Sometimes used as background music when on the interwebs.

Any other time, it's just enjoyable to listen to. I've had many occasions just sitting back, playing music on whatever volume.

To get pumped up, to have a good time, or to just relax. It all depends on the mood.

music helps me to relax.