I’m a Terrible Music Fan
Did you fellow music-lovers read the All Songs Considered/NPR essay today about feeling overwhelmed with keeping up with new music?
Read: The Good Listener: Is There Too Much Music?
So freeing!
I can relate to the person admitting they want to take a break from music, enjoy silence, etc; and I love Stephen Thompson’s simple advice.
I often feel like a terrible music fan.
It’s not that I want to take a break from listening to music; it’s how selective I am. I get caught up in song or record, and I listen to it EVERY DAY for months. I don’t let any other sound invade my eardrums.
Natalie once told me an anecdote about our brother-in-law’s father, how he will put on a song on repeat and enjoy it all afternoon.
“Isn’t that an odd way to enjoy music?” Natalie asked me. I uncomfortably nodded my head, knowing, later that day, I’d be listening to REM’s “Daysleeper” in my headphones 15 times in a row, in secret.
* * *
I used to feel guilty about my obsession of limited, musical consumption. A songwriter and musician should enjoy an extensive catalogue, right? But I could chart out my entire life with a handful of records.
Here are some periods of my life where I was lost to one song or one album:
This month I’ve been overstimulating my eardrums with Chris Dupont’s Anxious Animal, specifically, the first song “House.” I have listened to it five times while writing this blog; seven times this morning while drinking coffee and reading the news.
Last spring, I lost myself to Nataly Dawn’s How I Knew Her. Three months of that one CD on repeat in my car, with extra repeats of the title track.
During my September tour? France Luke Accord’s song “In the Water“; 100s of repeats while commuting to gigs., including crossing the Mississippi River to play in Winona.
Two years ago, my friend Brian Walker recommended I listen to Nick Lowe’s “What Lack of Love Has Done” and I was lost to the world for weeks.
While endless listening to REM’s “Daysleeper,” I once missed my freeway exit and almost ended up in Ohio.
A summer semester of my sophomore year of college was completely dedicated to John Mayer’s Inside Wants Out.
The entire years of 2008, 2009, & 2010? City and Colour’s Bring Me Your Love. (Honestly, that CD hasn’t left my car for six years. I’m embarrassed every time Natalie borrows my car, knowing she will put the keys in the ignition and hear the CD playing, and wonder, “Not this again!”)
* * * * *
Today’s NPR essay has given me courage to publicly share my odd listening habits.
I love music so much. Just one song or record at a time.
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