I don't think anyone listens anymore, including me. I blame my iPod. Don't get me wrong, I love my iPod, but I've seen my music listening habits turn to shit in the past year since I finally received one. I'm certainly not the only one. Everyone's music habits have been changed by these things.
I used to be the guy that listened to albums in their entirety. Skipping tracks was for the weak. Now hand me my video iPod and I become completely ADD with my listening habits. The convenience of the iPod really has become a double edged sword in the way people listen to music. In a way it really is too much of a good thing. It is truly amazing the amount of music you can carry with you, but when I have that amount of options set before me I often find myself unable to make a decision as to what to listen to. This results in me jumping from song to song and spending an inordinate amount of time scrolling around like an idiot.
It used to be that people's music listening routine was pretty well set. You purchased your cd or lp at the record store and when you got home you sat down and listened to it while reading the liner notes or looking at the album cover. You really don't get the same experience looking at the cover art of your iPod screen and chances are you downloaded a bunch of stuff and you probably didn't even listen to half of it right away.
Now all mediums (cds, records, mp3s) have their pluses and minuses but for me you can't beat the charm of a record. There is really no contest aesthetically when comparing the appeal of a record to the other choices out there. When looking at music as artifact the record truly trumps all other forms.
So I've decided to stop the bleeding and get back to listening. I have a large vinyl collection that has been gathering dust. So I've been making it a point to sit down and listen to albums, really listen. You should all try it sometime; there is something meditative about it. It really all makes sense, even the flipping of the record. So as I'm doing this I'll be sharing my thoughts and feelings on what I'm spinning. I hope you enjoy it.
1 comment:
Mr. Pickles, You pretty much nailed it on the head. You can't blame the technology just yourself, right? I feel the same way.
At some point I want to try to tackle the way the availability of music on the web affects the drive to follow up on things like your example of the Bauhaus-->Eno--> search. For me it kind of goes in waves. I'll occasionally have bursts where I'll search out some stuff but nothing like back in the day.
I wholehearted agree that whole album length being stretched has really watered down tons of albums. Maybe you need to write a guest post on the topic! That's something I know you can wax at length about. I'd also want some accompanying charts and graphs.
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