Repetition = complacency...

[AlexLakis]

I was listening to the new Pearl Jam in my car today...the album didn't impress me at first but now it's..."growing on me." Then I got to thinking how many new albums come out that I haven't liked as much initially, but that I grow to like over time...

Am I simply growing more cynical/picky as I get older? Or is the new music I'm listening to just not as good as the old stuff? Do I just like the old stuff better because I've listened to it more?

How many times have you worked on a project where the band shows up and you think "Oh, boy, this music sucks," then by the third session or so, you think the songs are great?

Should I be more concious and trusting about my initial impressions of music? Is repetition an evil demon that slowly tricks my brain into thinking that a crappy song is a good one?

What are your thoughts?

[Kiwiburger]

Isn't familiarity supposed to breed contempt?

But yeah, I think with some music it takes a few plays before it becomes likeable.

Either that, or it's just that new music is getting worse and worse, so eventually anything old seems better than it really is ...

Sometimes I think that the differences between songs that we like, and those we dislike, are actually fairly subtle. Assuming we are talking well engineered stuff, not ear-gratingly bad stuff, but simply music that is a little bit different from our current tastes ...

Humans seem to be very fickle in their tastes. Music is expected to conform within a narrow defination of what is "good". Too similar, and we diss it for being copycat plagarism. Too different and we dis it for being too different. But as we go on, hearing more and more stuff that is so much the same, we actually crave something a little different. So maybe our tastes change, and we end up liking stuff that previously we never liked.

[espasonico]

Originally Posted by AlexLakis

How many times have you worked on a project where the band shows up and you think "Oh, boy, this music sucks," then by the third session or so, you think the songs are great?

That´s called the stockholm syndrome . After a few days with the band and having a good time you star thinking they are not that bad. It happens all the time when working in the studio but a few months later you say: "This band really sucks ".
At least it happens to me everytime I work with an artist.

[max cooper]

I've always found that the stuff I end up liking the best over the years always takes a bit longer to warm up to.

The stuff that I like straightaway usually doesn't stay interesting for as long.

Maybe it's because the good stuff is a bit more challenging.

[dubrichie]

don't worry about it.

it's just the way it is. you'll never be able to comprehensively understand or explain it so don't try. just go with it.

example: when i first heard Exile On Main Street it didn't click. i just didn't dig it as much as the more immediate/accessible earlier Stones i had been listening to A LOT. but after a while, one strange day i put it on and "BAM!" ther it was. it's now my favorite album.

go figure?

don't bother.

just dig it.

regards,

richie.

[u b k]

i almost never like an album on the first listen, it's always an open question whether that will change. i'm lucky if just one song grabs me. i can't even listen to a new album all the way thru, it sounds the same. maybe by the 3rd or 4th listen i'm starting to develop a relationship with a few songs, enough that i'll want to listen to the album again just to get at them.

eventually, if the music speaks to me, i'll get there.

these days, with 60+ minute cd's, there are almost always one or three songs i think should have been filtered out completely by the band/producer, and *would* have been in the days of vinyl. i do a lot of 'remastering', usually cutting tracks, sometimes re-sequencing, sometimes even re-eqing.

35-45 minute records kick ass imo, as do EP's. it takes courage to condense your statement.


gregoire
del ubik