How Do You Use Music to Write?

I know that music is very important to us creative types. But I feel that many of us use it in different ways. I have obtained permission for my creative writing students to listen to ipods in class, though it is mostly against school rules to have ipods, because I like music, butI find that picking music myself can cause arguments...I never pick country music, and mostly either pick atmospheric things, or crazy aggressive music. Yes, I make my classes look at Tool lyrics and consider them as poetry. But anyway, when trying to tune out the rest of the classroom and write, music seems to work for most students.

But, as a rule I don't make a soundtrack that I listen to when I write. If music is playing when I write, I usually don't hear it. I can have extremely selective hearing, especially when I'm focusing.

Anyway, I do select songs that remind me of what I'm writing.

Everything I write starts with Something I Can Never Have by Nine Inch Nails, because if you don't have longing so bad it tears you apart, what's the point of any story? Sorry, longing is just the basis of everything for me as a writer.

When I started writing The Fall, the entire soundtrack was Lateralus by Tool.

Over thinking, over analyzing separates the body from the mind.

Withering my intuition leaving opportunities behind.
Feed my will to feel this moment, urging me to cross the line.
Reaching out to embrace the random.
Reaching out to embrace whatever may come.

See, I meant to just pick those lines but then I decided I had to post some more. I do love me some Tool.

I embrace my desire to,
I embrace my desire to,
Feel the rhythm, to feel connected enough to step aside & weep like a widow
To feel inspired, to fathom the power, to witness the beauty,
To bathe in the fountain,
To swing on the spiral,
To swing on the spiral,
To swing on the spiral of our divinity & still be a human.
With my feet upon the ground i move myself between the sounds & open wide to suck it in.
I feel it move across my skin.
I'm reaching up & reaching out.
I'm reaching for the random or what ever will bewilder me.
What ever will bewilder me.
& following our will & wind we may just go where no one's been.
We'll ride the spiral to the end & may just go where no one's been.
Spiral out. keep going.
Spiral out. keep going.
Spiral out. keep going.
Spiral out. keep going.

Lateralus was my prewriting planning stages soundtrack, and at that time I was focusing on the dichotomy between male and female as a focus, even though as I wrote it became less and less interesting. As I drafted my writing soundtrack was Third by Portishead. Particularly Hunter. Lyrics below

No-one said
We'd ever known each other
And new evidence is what we require
In this world

I stand on the edge of a broken sky
And I will come down; don't know why
And if I should fall, would you hold me?
Would you pass me by?
For you know I'd ask you for nothing
Just to wait for a while

So confused
My thoughts are takin' over
Unwanted, arising space me instead
Won't let go

I stand on the edge of a broken sky
And I will come down; don't know why
And if I should fall, would you hold me?
Would you pass me by?
For you know I'd ask you for nothing
Just to wait for a while

Anyway, I realize that I don't use music as completely as some other authors, I love music, but I'm very able to tune it out and pretend that it doesn't exist (lyrics not so much, certain lyrics I can never tune out). But music is something I often have to focus on to even hear.

How about you guys, how do you use music?