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My musical dilemma.

GaryGary 3,982 Posts
edited March 2015 in Strut Central
I feel like it just gets harder and harder for me to find music that I like, and I hate that. I hate that I'm so picky. I don't feel like its my fault but I"ll scroll through all this different music looking for something that strikes me and its like "next... next... next..."

The thing is... I don't want it to be that way. I don't think I'm a music snob, per se. I like that Pitbull song "fireball". So I'm not disliking all this music to be "cool". I can barely find anything to like, period. And it sucks because I really like listening to music. Its kind of like somebody who loves finding a new favorite food, but they are such a picky eater that its almost impossible.

I wonder if it is an age thing...?

I bet taking drugs would help.

  Comments

  • covecove 1,567 Posts
    I think it's time for drugs.
  • tech12ztech12z 56 Posts
    Gary said:
    I can barely find anything to like, period. And it sucks because I really like listening to music.

    Holy shit.

  • skelskel You can't cheat karma 5,033 Posts
    I feel you bro. Same thing, some years back.
    Everything bored me. Too familiar, see?

    I stopped buying, then listening, packed the vinyl into boxes and put em in storage. Forgot all about them.

    Then after a couple of years, started hearing some super bouncy pop hit in a store, or maybe Wichita Lineman during a pub quiz, or Shaft in Africa on a TV show; and within weeks that mojo was back. With added impetus to search into library, lounge, all the stuff that was du jour in the lost years. Picked up the guitar again.
    Love of music will always be with you, but the lust for it is easily blunted.
  • RAJRAJ tenacious local 7,782 Posts
    I would love to listen to shit like the Beatles and the Beach Boys with virgin ears.
  • kitchenknightkitchenknight 4,922 Posts
    A music industry guy once told me if you don't know it by the time you're 25, they figure you'll never know it. I told him he was crazy- I was 23 at the time.

    Now, at age 35, I KNOW he was right.

  • ElectrodeElectrode Los Angeles 3,129 Posts
    cove said:
    I think it's time for drugs.

    Weed is all he needs.
  • discos_almadiscos_alma discos_alma 2,164 Posts
    I think patience is the main thing keeping me from finding new music I like. It takes time and you really have to LISTEN to stuff with your undivided attention to really get it. I usually have a lot of stuff going on so it's hard to just sit down and listen to something without distractions.

    This may seem obvious but ask people about what they are listening to. You will come away with knowledge of some new band or some knowledge that the person has horrible taste.
  • youngEINSTEINyoungEINSTEIN 2,443 Posts
    For me being around dj's always works. And watching the way people respond to what's being played always inspires me.

    Peace, stein...
  • parallaxparallax no-style-having mf'er 1,266 Posts
    When there's nothing interesting and new out for me, I go back to old shit.

    If you are into many genres, there is a seemingly endless supply of older good music out there, but also ample new stuff.

    Follow a few of your favorite DJs and peep their tracklists. A go-to for me is Gilles Peterson. He's into just about everything and will occasionally play an obscure grail alongside unreleased new shit. Even though I don't like everything he plays, he'll drop a few gems and the odd mind-bender. Works for me!

  • HarveyCanalHarveyCanal "a distraction from my main thesis." 13,234 Posts
    STICK YO'SELF!
  • DJ_EnkiDJ_Enki 6,473 Posts
    Gary said:
    I hate that I'm so picky. I don't feel like its my fault but I"ll scroll through all this different music looking for something that strikes me and its like "next... next... next..."

    The thing is... I don't want it to be that way.

    I'm encountering this, too. I'm chalking it up to the impending mid-life crisis, but I also think a big factor is that I've spent so long listening to so much music, I'm a bit burnt out. I have found that taking a music break--not listening during my commute, not listening while driving around, etc.--helps. I'm less likely to do the "next...next...next..." thing that way. But I still end up doing it again sooner or later. It's a bummer.
  • ReynaldoReynaldo 6,054 Posts
    This seems mostly like an issue of searching methods and persistence. I would think more about developing a system for finding music that excites you, and then about employing that system in an exhaustive way. "Nexting" 95% of what I hear is pretty normal for me; the quicker I skip some schitt that isn't really holding my interest, the quicker I get to the songs that I want to add to my regular rotation. I'll give most songs like 5 seconds to impress me; even if the song gets better at some point, I don't settle because I don't need to; that's 5 seconds of meh that better music doesn't make me suffer through. A'int nobody got time for that. The challenge is to keep believing that there is a spring of great songs (old and new) that cannot be exhausted in one lifetime, which there is.
  • yuichiyuichi Urban sprawl 11,332 Posts
    I usually have a lot of stuff going on so it's hard to just sit down and listen to something without distractions.

    ^^^ This, is usually what makes every record sound "eh".

    Solution: Go back to the classics. Shit that you already know that hits the spot.
  • LaserWolfLaserWolf Portland Oregon 11,517 Posts
    Gary, make your own.

    Or, start going out to hear more live music.
  • phatmoneysackphatmoneysack Melbourne 1,124 Posts
    Gary said:
    I hate that I'm so picky. I don't feel like its my fault b I have found that taking a music break--not listening during my commute, not listening while driving around, etc.--helps. I'm less likely to do the "next...next...next..." thing that way.

    Just do this. Take a break. Its fine to take a break.

  • JimsterJimster Cruffiton.etsy.com 6,955 Posts
    I tend to find most of the time I listen to music with a bass in my hands as I am trying to cop licks and such. I used to listen to a lot of stuff at work but on the current gig, they seem to equate anyone listening to something on headphones as someone who is doing f*ck-all.

    Perhaps if you were to rekindle your love affair of all things Banjo, you may stir the muse back into life.

  • CBearCBear 902 Posts
    I cure this by regularly deleting MP3s and selling records that I'm tired of listening to. It makes my collection seem manageable and fresh. I also belong to a private torrent site that keeps my MP3s new. Just this morning I got the new 2015 Mobb Deep, Jamie XX, Death Cab, and Hot Chip. If I like any of them a lot, I will buy the record. If not, I will delete them. Chances are they mostly are crap and I will delete them, but at least I have new music to listen to for the week.

    As I listen to MP3s on my phone, when I come across a song I am tired of hearing, I give it a one star rating. When I sync my phone, I delete all the one stars from my library and that way they never come up again. Life is too short and I don't DJ any more, so what's the point of hoarding digital music I don't want to hear?
  • SPlDEYSPlDEY Vegas 3,375 Posts
    Alzheimer's a bitch.

    - spidey
  • ketanketan Warmly booming riffs 3,169 Posts
    Gary said:
    I feel like it just gets harder and harder for me to find music that I like, and I hate that. I hate that I'm so picky. I don't feel like its my fault but I"ll scroll through all this different music looking for something that strikes me and its like "next... next... next..."

    It's okay to be a picky listener. But it means you have to leave a lot of time for scrolling to separate the wheat from the chaff.



    Having the right sources (blogs and other aggregators) for finding new things is key too.

    Gary said:
    I can barely find anything to like, period..

    What do you think about this? (I think it's incredible.)



    Gary said:
    I bet taking drugs would help.

    I bet it would!
  • shawnald_reaganshawnald_reagan 318 Posts
    psilocybin and practicin' your claw hammer technique will set you free
  • kalakala 3,361 Posts
    you ain't looking hard enough man
    PERIOD
    sheer laziness
    pick a country and a time frame

    http://research.culturalequity.org/home-audio.jsp
    etc etc etc
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