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Post by The Cincinnati Kid on Jan 6, 2022 15:27:42 GMT
After Christmas when I went back to my normal listening habits, I quickly realized how burned out I was on what I was listening to. Without realizing it, I had slowly been putting less and less songs in my rotation and now I was tired of it all. I had always worried this would happen after I signed up for Spotify premium and even more so when I bought a car that could actually work with it. I guess part of it is that I mostly discovered everything there is to discover among my "big 3" artists (Beach Boys, Brian Wilson, and Frank Sinatra according to last.fm). Although Sinatra recorded so much there continues to be a light stream, but not a whole lot I'm interested in. With Spotify, it's just too easy to continually listen to your favorite stuff and ignore everything else.
The past few days I decided to break away to stuff I haven't heard in a while or never at all. First I listened to People Like Us, the last album from the Mamas and the Papas and Chameleon from the Four Seasons. I had never listened to those albums aside from a couple tracks and both were refreshing to hear, even though I wasn't a huge fan of either. I've mentioned a few times how I've wanted to go back to listening to full albums, so maybe I'll actually start doing it now. I also put on a long 50s-60s playlist and skipped the stuff I've heard over and over. It kind of makes me miss the days before Spotify and I'd have the radio on during my drives.
Anyone else ever go through this, or is it just me?
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Post by kds on Jan 6, 2022 15:36:55 GMT
There are days when I'm a little indecisive about what I want to listen to, but I can't say that I've gone through a period where I couldn't find anything I was interested in.
In fact, since I signed up for Spotify Premium, I think my listening has increased. I'll sometimes get a little burned out on one artist or another, especially since I find my preferences over the last several years have reflected the seasons.
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Post by Kapitan on Jan 6, 2022 16:04:46 GMT
With Spotify, it's just too easy to continually listen to your favorite stuff and ignore everything else. ... Anyone else ever go through this, or is it just me? I go through it often, and not just with Spotify, but in the past with CDs, and with iTunes, etc. Getting into a rut is typical in all parts of life, I think: your go-tos for what to cook, for hangouts, for TV.
With music, this is part of why I try to keep an eye on new music, even reading reviews for artists I've never heard of in case there are references to things that appeal to me. A half hour or so a week helps introduce me to new things, some (admittedly small) percentage of which I end up really liking.
And then the various album- and artist-review threads we've had over the years are a nice way to force me to listen to things I probably wouldn't have on my own, even if I have/like the music. For example, when we got to John/Yoko's Double Fantasy, I've owned that for 20 years and listened to it before, but it really hit the spot for me again in 2021 and I got a lot of pleasure from it.
I think your plan of just intentionally listening to things you haven't heard lately (or at all) is a great one. Palette cleanser, so to speak, at least. And sometimes it can open whole new avenues.
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Post by carllove on Jan 6, 2022 18:09:50 GMT
With Spotify, it's just too easy to continually listen to your favorite stuff and ignore everything else. ... Anyone else ever go through this, or is it just me? I go through it often, and not just with Spotify, but in the past with CDs, and with iTunes, etc. Getting into a rut is typical in all parts of life, I think: your go-tos for what to cook, for hangouts, for TV.
With music, this is part of why I try to keep an eye on new music, even reading reviews for artists I've never heard of in case there are references to things that appeal to me. A half hour or so a week helps introduce me to new things, some (admittedly small) percentage of which I end up really liking.
And then the various album- and artist-review threads we've had over the years are a nice way to force me to listen to things I probably wouldn't have on my own, even if I have/like the music. For example, when we got to John/Yoko's Double Fantasy, I've owned that for 20 years and listened to it before, but it really hit the spot for me again in 2021 and I got a lot of pleasure from it.
I think your plan of just intentionally listening to things you haven't heard lately (or at all) is a great one. Palette cleanser, so to speak, at least. And sometimes it can open whole new avenues.
Double Fantasy is a fantastic album - heck - I even like Yoko's "Kiss Kiss Kiss". It always brings me down though when I listen to it, because I can remember purchasing it as soon as it was released and John's murder happening so soon after and how awful the night was when I heard the news. I was devastated. I was such a big fan of the Beatles then and he was the first one we lost and in such an awful way. Just no sense to it at all.
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Post by B.E. on Jan 7, 2022 2:26:04 GMT
For most of my life I've been an album guy. I only recently got into playlists but the problem I have is I can't get over differences in production or volume level and the like. The only playlists I still make and listen to are condensing two (or three) consecutive albums (or double albums) to one single album. The main goal is to revisit a weaker period of a favorite artist and, essentially, salvage the better tracks. I'm really enjoying listening to material that I overlooked (if not downright avoided) for so long! (And I'd suggest really reaching back. Like, to favorite artists of yesteryear. I've been listening to groups I hadn't listened to much since high school or earlier.)
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Post by jk on Jan 7, 2022 8:50:13 GMT
I don't know about a musical rut. I tend to focus online on specific areas for a while and then let them sink back into a more general musical appreciation. After a recent longish stint exploring obscure albums from the late '60s, early '70s, I moved on to the fascinating world of pop music from former Yugoslavia -- this was before Tito died and the срање hit the fan. Next came Vaporwave, followed by the more melancholic Sovietwave (including a 24/7 live stream, which I still listen to at the end and start of the day and when doing jigsaw puzzles, cleaning windows, etc). Most music heard during the day in our household comes from the official Dutch classical radio station (Spotify doesn't interest us). My wife plays CDs and LPs from time to time, which is nice (yesterday I heard Surfin' Safari blasting out). I prefer to explore things on YouTube -- there's so much stuff out there! I hope this goes some way towards answering your question, The Cincinnati Kid .
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