November 8, 2007
Time For A Tough Question
Posted by Sean Moores at November 8, 2007 6:37 AMTime flies when you’re spending money.
I can hardly believe it’s here again already, but it’s time for my annual CD moratorium. This isn’t news to regular HW readers. I take a two-month break at the end of the year to make up for 10 months of overspending on music and to give my family a fighting chance of finding me a Christmas present I don’t already own. It also gives me 60 days to think about my buying habits. A question that crossed my mind last fall is even more nagging this year: Am I still a music fan, or have I become a music collector?
My first reaction is disbelief that I would even ask myself the question. Of course I’m a music fan. I listen to music, even if it’s only for a few minutes, pretty much every day. I go to shows when the budget allows and I can tear myself away from my sweet baby daughter. I’m constantly on the lookout for great new songs and artists. When I find them, I usually buy them.
Here’s the heart of the problem: I now spend too much time acquiring music when compared with the amount of time I spend enjoying it. Twenty years ago, when I owned 20 CDs, I knew the words to every song. Last year, I spent two days trying to figure out who was singing a song on a mix CD given to me by a friend. After 48 hours, I broke down and asked him. It was The Redwalls, and the song came from a disc I owned.
I’ve added a fair number of discs to the library this year. It’s safe to say that I can’t sing along with the majority of them. Two nights ago, I was fumbling for the title of The Shins’ excellent latest album. Of course, it’s “Wincing the Night Away.” I remembered after a few minutes. There was a day when I’d know the whole album by heart. Now, as I look through the pile of this year’s acquisitions, I wonder if there ever will be a day when I’m that familiar with “Gene Clark with the Gosdin Brothers,” or Patty Griffin’s “Children Running Through” or even Bruce Springsteen’s “Magic.” That’s almost unthinkable; I played The Boss’ “Born in the U.S.A.” (on vinyl) until it was more or less literally worn out.
“Born in the U.S.A.” might be too extreme an example. It’s a classic. But there are undoubtedly some recently acquired discs in my collection that are all-time classics. If I don’t play them more, though, I might never discover which ones they are. Have I become more of a collector than a fan? I may have already answered my own question. I hope to have an honest answer for myself by New Year’s Day, even if it’s an answer I don’t necessarily like.
So here's a tough answer. If you are buying music to listen to it, enjoy it, and support the artist, then you are a fan.
If you are just stocking up to have all the latest stuff, with no intention of enjoying the tunes, you are a collector.
If you find yourself nude, covered in baby oil, rolling around on your cd collection while moaning incoherently to yourself, you are a connoisseur.
Jim, wait... completely nude? What about assless chaps?
Posted by: larry at November 8, 2007 3:45 PMSean, I think one thing you're getting stuck on is absorption of an album. Those days are at an end. As a whole, the industry is creating more musicians and more albums each year. There's just no way in this near-bankrupt attention economy to absorb even the "best" albums of the year.
Here's what I do: I buy albums that I consider "important," like the Avett Bros, Wilco, and Radiohead. I know I'll spend some time with them.
Next I listen to review submission CDs. Some are fantastic, some aren't worth the plastic they're printed on. Even with the small set of great submissions, though, there are too many to "absorb."
So what do I do? I rate songs. If I like a song, it gets a four or five star rating. If I think a song is so-so, maybe good in context but not able to stand on its own, it gets three stars. Anything I don't like or hate gets two or one stars.
After that, I have a "Best of 2007" playlist that automatically collects songs that I've marked 4 or 5 stars. As of right now that playlist stands at 77 songs. 2006 had 235(!), 2005 had 169, 2004 had 150, and so on and so forth.
77 to 235 songs a year? That's not too bad. Absorbing that many songs is possible, if not for everyone, most of us can handle it. That's the equivalent of about 6 to 20 albums.
And I get to listen to good songs, not the cruft.
This sounds familiar... what does this remind me of? Oh yes, rock n' roll *radio* programming in the 60s and 70s. Everything old is new again.
Posted by: larry at November 8, 2007 3:55 PMYou can't borrow my chaps again, Larry. Last time they came back with stains, melted candle wax, and strange little half-moon burns on them.
Like maybe from a car cigarette lighter?
Posted by: Jim Pipkin at November 8, 2007 4:49 PMDo I enjoy music more than my son with his barely enough to fill his iPOD shuffle collection? I doubt it.
Sean, if you have to ask, then yes you've become a collector (as have I). I have been working on my problem by purging iTUNES. I play it and if it isn't new (gotta give it a chance), I don't like it and I don't recognize it. DELETE.
Q:Why do I need 74 days of music?
A:I don't.
Why does a dog lick himself? Because he can.
Why do I have that much music? Because I can.
I think thats just age and life happening. I know my world has gotten busier and driven me to have less time to whittle away listening to albums. I still try to whenever I can but man the days are short sometimes. Also i've noticed that as i've gotten older i've broadened my listening tastes to the point that there are just too many great bands to check out all the time. Easy acess to bands that are known on a local level that I would have never had a chance to hear before (due to them not being local to me) has compounded the problem.
A phrase i've been using more and more lately is "Oh yeah, i've heard of them, but I haven't checked them out yet". This is usually in response to someone telling me about a band they think i'd dig.
But the good stuff breaks through I think. I'm glad i bought BRMCs "Howl" even though it was a good 6-8 months in between me buying the album and finally getting into it. I'm glad I checked out the Avett Brothers "Four Thieves Gone" even though I didn't give them their due until Coachella.
I'm glad I still buy and try, you never know where the gems are.
Posted by: Patrickhayes at November 8, 2007 9:38 PM
