Well it's not actually harmful to your health but it will certainly affect your attention span. I've got issues and it's all musics fault. There is just too damn much for me to listen too and then when I think I have heard it all then comes a whole bunch of bands I've never heard. And on, and on. When I was a kid buying an album was a big deal, going to the record store, flipping through the vinyl, walking out with a large paper bag. It meant something and it didn't happen everyday or every week for that matter. I would sit and listen to the new records for hours, days in fact until I memorized every second of it, including the record jacket. Obviously times change and even tastes. The advent of cd's in their smaller presentation but better sound quality. Buying more than one disc on each visit as well as buying more music overall. And then came the dreaded too much music to listen to problem. That's when you go to the store and buy 5 or 6 cd's and can't remember what you actually bought and one day when you are flipping through your jewel cases you pull out a cd that you have never even listend to. I love new music. I am constantly on the lookout for an artist or group that will blow my socks off that I can obsess over for like a day or two because I will soon be on to something else. Is that a problem? I am not sure but I am certainly less connected to the music in general. However I truly believe it really makes me appreciate the really great stuff. The one thing you don't want to do in any circumstance is limit yourself...there are so many great choices. I mean who wants to listen to the same music for the rest of their lives? My Mother listens to the same music she listened to when she was in high school because as she says....'It reminds me of happier times.' Umm...it's sad to think that high school could have been the happiest time in someones life, there is just so much life to live after that time. I am also not a guy who is going to go to a show to watch Radiohead when I am like 60, of course that would also mean that those guys were still playing music, but I still wouldn't. I laugh at the people who still get juiced at going to see the geriatric Rolling Stones in concert...make sure to bring your canes! Now there is nothing wrong with anyone continuing to make music when they get older, that's not what I am saying. Now I have gone completely off topic. There really has to be a balance somewhere between having too much or too little music to listen to. I guess it's ok to buy a lot of music (which gives me cause to buy as much as possible), while understanding that not all of it will be memorable with only a select few requiring a replay. It's those select few that make music so worthwhile. For me it's the Beatles, Led Zeppelin and Radiohead (to name a few) for example, that I will always come back to. I don't think I could ever be happy only listening to those groups exclusively, I would get completely tired of them and I don't want to. But it's the plethora of choices that keeps it all sounding good. Scanning through my iPod, which feels like forever, trying to decide what to listen to, making sure it's something different everday until I just gotta listen to OK Computer again. Or Abbey Road or Nevermind or The Wall.
No comments:
Post a Comment