Guys, I read all these threads about you buying CD after CD after CD - but how can you consume all this music?

For me I need to listen to an album 4 or 5 times to begin to appreciate it and perhaps to know if I really like it or not.

I am currently rationing myself to two CD's a month as that is all I can really hope to listen too and appreciate.

I listen to music every day but I have a large medium sized collection that I lsiten too as well as the new stuff.

How can you appreciate all these CD's alot of you seem to buy ?

It's 3:30pm here, I've listened to 2 albums I've heard before and 3 I've not. I'll probably listen to all of them again within the next 3 days. Just about to put album number 6 of the day on. Oh, and I woke up at 10:30.

This is an interesting post. I totally agree that if you buy excessive volumes of music, you will invariably own music that doesn't interest you.

Many years ago I bought music because it was the 'latest thing'. This is a phase in my life that I find very embarrassing.

Most hyped artists are utterly throw-away. It's fashionable to buy their records for about 6 months and everyone forgets about them very quickly.

Problem is, this passion for fashion has spilled over into the underground. There are so many bands that will boost your street-cred when you name-drop them. Every month there's a wave of hip new records that are supposedly incredible, innovative and life-changing. Some people spend vast amounts of money trying to attain the perfect record collection in this way.

I realised long ago, that true quality doesn't come along very often. The music has to be totally convincing for me to buy it these days. I bought about 3 albums that were released this year - the rest of the music I buy is back catalogue that I'm already familiar with. I get them at second hand shops and record fairs.

I just don't have time to sit around and 'get into stuff' these days - it has to be an instant connection. When I find those albums, I'll drive people nuts because I won't listen to anything else.

It is totally possible to listen to as many albums as there are hours in the waking day. Why the hell not?

I believe it may not be practical for most people to do this. I myself, can only devote so much time to music appreciation, but it's still considerable I think, relatively.

As to Duncan's claim that the passion for fashion has spilled into the underground, I don't know if I completely buy this theory. Regardless, isn't it possible that underground music is getting more and more challenging for "noobs" and pros alike, and requires a different paradigm--to use an unfashionable word--in order to be placed in the proper context.

I find that the world around me is simply not compatible with the most interesting music, and I have to, in a way, fight to keep it in my life, and keep my music morale up.

What I'm getting at is: Maybe this "passion for fashion" has become a whole different--and much more worthwhile--beast, in the age we live in.

Just a thought.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: goathouse's seminal post,

quote:

Originally posted by Duncan Black:
I just don't have time to sit around and 'get into stuff' these days - it has to be an instant connection.

Sorry to hear that.

One of my true pleasures in life is suddenly(or gradually) clicking with an album I've listened to 8 times without having had strong feelings for.

BTW, all respect to Duncan as I am kind of pulling his post through an "Indie" lens, and I don't wish my last post to be regarded as a refutation of his very level-headed comment.

I buy waaaaaaay too much music. I know that, and it is a sickness. I'm a collector. When I really like an artist I want to own every note, regardless of whether it is great or not. I want the spinoff side projects, the drummer's solo record and perhaps a record from the band that opened for them at the 40 Watt Club. So yeah, I have a lot of albums that I have not 'consumed.' That said, I'm not hung up on 'great albums.' I'm much more interested in great songs. Like the new Wilco album which I'm sort of lukewarm on. Still, I love 2 or 3 tracks on there and it will forever grace my collection, even if I never listen to it all the way through again. Of course, if someone comes along and puts out a brilliant slab of wax with nary a bad note on it, that makes me happy as hell, but I don't expect that to happen very often.

I buy a lot of albums and have for a long time. I know what I like right from the get-go and I don't ever stop liking what I like right from the get-go. There's music I may not be ready for yet and I relisten to it through the years. No rush- there's much fun in rediscovering treasures in your collection. Or discovering a treasure from a record you once didn't think much about. It's just a matter of rotating new releases/reissues in with stuff I already have and want to relisten to. I don't let the stack of newly bought, still unheard albums pile high. There's no need to as there's no rush. In this day and age with so much music available to listen to online before buying, I don't see how I could pick up any album I don't care for in advance. Unless it's something I can't hear in advance and am taking a wild chance on it, not knowing much about the artist or reading up on them.

I have a collection of more than 3100 songs. One of the things that I do to appreciate all the songs is go through phases and listen and relisten. A few months ago, I was listening to a lot of Franz Ferdinand, Flaming Lips, and Arcade Fire. Now I'm listening to Art Brut, The National, Death Cab, and the White Stripes. I've listened to nearly all the bands plenty of times and appreciated them in this fashion.

I can't actively listen to music for more than two hours at a time. It mentally fatigues me to do so. And like others have posited, I really need about 5 or 6 listens to really decide how I feel about an album. So really, I can only really digest about 2, maybe 3 new albums each week.

ALL OF IT

I can listen to music for a LONG time. What does get hard is listening to one song that much. I think I listened to The Thermals' "A Pillar of Salt" 13 times consecutively, that's the most.

quote:

Originally posted by Sinister:
I can listen to music for a LONG time. What does get hard is listening to one song that much. I think I listened to The Thermals' "A Pillar of Salt" 13 times consecutively, that's the most.

I can see why. That album is killer.

Yes it is. All the same song, though.

some pretty interesting responses - so how many albums do we all buy a month - roughly ?

The problem with limiting myself too two a month is that I can't decide which ones to buy most of the time. I have one left for June and I am trying to decide between Biffy Clyro, Editors, BRMC or the new Manic's CD. Oh well!

Limiting yourself in any way but financially seems arbitrary and silly to me, but then again I basically listen to albums at an alarming rate. Already I've bought about 30 albums from this year and I've spun all of them, this is discounting the massive number of old albums I've also picked up in 2007 and listened to.

But if it's really bugging you and you've got the cash, you shouldn't follow your rules as anything but a guideline.

quote:

Limiting yourself in any way but financially seems arbitrary and silly to me

I'm not so sure about that. I've got enough money to buy any album I want, but I still have to make a clear attempt to not buy a bunch of stuff at one time. Why? The strange thing for me is that after I get ahold of an album, it's usually got one to two months to make it's impression. After that, the excitement is gone, unless it's really impressed me. So if I go out and buy seven or eight albums in a month, there's a decent chance that a couple might only get five or so solid listens. After that, my mind automatically toggles over to 'uninterested'. I can't really explain why, but I've learned to avoid the situation entirely.

quote:

Originally posted by less_success:

quote:

Limiting yourself in any way but financially seems arbitrary and silly to me

I'm not so sure about that. I've got enough money to buy any album I want, but I still have to make a clear attempt to not buy a bunch of stuff at one time. Why? The strange thing for me is that after I get ahold of an album, it's usually got one to two months to make it's impression. After that, the excitement is gone, unless it's really impressed me. So if I go out and buy seven or eight albums in a month, there's a decent chance that a couple might only get five or so solid listens. After that, my mind automatically toggles over to 'uninterested'. I can't really explain why, but I've learned to avoid the situation entirely.

I'm exactly the opposite. I usually don't walk out of the record store with less than 5 0r 6 discs-- easily 20-30 per month. I'm constantly on the prowl for stuff I've read about-- old and new. I LOVE to troll the cheap bins, but I do try to be discriminating when it comes to buying new cds. If it is used and if I think I might be interested, I don't hesitate to pull the trigger. I buy music much as I do books. Sometimes I know I'm not going to have time for it, but I put it aside and can always come back to it-- and that can be several years later. Consequently, this is why every now and then I'll buy something I already own

I don't have a problem consuming a large volume of music. Both of my jobs, record store clerk and editor/writer of DOA, pretty much demand that of me. I buy tons of records, get promos, and download others. I can easily say that there is a considerable amount of forgettable music out there, but it really makes no difference. There are just as many great records out there, why not make time for them all? That is to say that if you have the time, interest, knowledge, and/or funds to enjoy what you like in the way that you like it, do so.

I'll be the first to admit that some of this stuff just goes in one ear and out the other, but it's the stuff that sticks that makes the difference. I'm tired of letting a year go by and then finally hearing a record and deciding that I love it and wishing that I had heard it when it came out. Sometimes groups break-up or records go out of print or other outside factors that make getting into something on that initial wave important for not getting screwed in the future. While I can't regret being too young to have seen groups like CAN or Led Zeppelin in the 70's and owning first edition vinyl pressings of their records, I can and totally will regret not taking advantage of the present.

I'm limited financially as to what I can buy at any given time (me is teh poor, stupid university not paying me to attend, stupid govenment, not paying me enough to attend) but it is not uncommon for me to leave JB's with 10 new CD's in my hot little hands. I listen to music constantly, and I tend to listen to one or two albums that are grabbing me at any given moment and some other random (generally older) stuff at them moment I'm listening to Challengers - The New Pornographers and Crowded House - Time On Earth with a bit of Muse, Radiohead and Talking Heads.