Nostalgia in your cassette player.
I can listen to literally anything I want to right now. If I dont have it on my hard drive, I can find it for free on Spotify or Pandora, or I can probably buy it on Itunes. No doubt I can find it somewhere on Youtube if those options fail. Worst case scenario is I can do some Googling, and find message boards with links to dropboxes for the more obscure options.
The point is, in a world full of nothing but options, how can you appreciate music? The truth is you cant. People don't buy it anymore not only because they don't have to, but because of its constant availability, they are over saturated to the point of disinterest. I fell victim to this myself, and I used to think I was a musician. It can happen to anybody. And it seems like it is.
My musical inclinations and habits over the past 20 years go as follows…
1996 — 11 year old me. I have 1 CD. Well its a double album, so technically 2 CDs. It’s Michael Jackson’s History, and I play it over and over again in a shitty boom box.
1997–12 year old me. My Mother’s coworker gives me a grocery bag full of cassette tapes and this sweet old Marilyn Manson band T-Shirt.
Cassettes Including but not limited to…
Marilyn Manson — Portrait of an American Family
White Zombie — La Sexorcisto, and Astro Creep 2000
Temple of the Dog — Self Titled
Green Day — Dookie
And various other grunge and rock cassettes. This was a critical turning point for me. I'm not sure if it was the Marilyn Manson and White Zombie tapes alone, or in conjunction with the free T-Shirt mixed with the fact that I was jumping head first into puberty while the goth rock freak kid craze was gaining serious gumption, but I fell in love with Heavier music in general and slowly turned into this...
2001–17 year old me. I work for a Media Play, (that’s an old music store kids!) and I have several CD cases full of music. Mostly Nu-Metal and rock, but some odd additions mixed in there. Fiona Apple, the soundtrack to Chicago, a suspicious amount of Green Day, Primus, Tenacious D, Sublime and the occasional Ataris album all made the cut to ride in my cases. I download a lot of music, but still mostly buy CDs.
2009–25 year old me. I'm older. I'm wiser. I'm gainfully employed. I'm still playing shows on the regular with a few musical projects. I still listen to music on CDs mostly but listen to a lot of digital media. Vinyl is starting to leak into the equation a little bit more. Mostly with classic rock stuff but I’m developing an appreciation for Stand up comedy and Horror movie Scores. Bjork hit me hard. As well as Portishead and various other electronica. I got really into Brand New and Manchester Orchestra for a while. Got turned on to Zappa as well.
2016–31 soon to be 32 year old me. I’m still into all the great music I was a few years back. I don't have the time to play in bands these days between work, marriage, toddler and all of that. But something else has changed. Between downloading albums for free, listening to music non stop while I was at work to Spotify and Itunes, and NPR and podcasts in my car during my commute, Ive gone music blind. I stopped appreciating music because I am completely overwhelmed with options and infinite digital inventory. Another big factor is probably listening atmosphere. Ive been listening to music in situations not necessarily comfortable.
So, I'm on a cleanse. A musical cleanse. Years ago, I got rid of all of my CDs and cassettes. There were a lot. Ive been listening to almost nothing but streamed music for the past 4 years. I kept most of my records, but I did move a lot of them as well.
The cleanse is no streaming music. No Spotify, no Itunes, no YouTube, no horse shit. If I'm at home, I listen to it on vinyl. Not because of the vibe, but because of the effort. It makes me appreciate it more. If I'm in the room with my record player, I know why I'm there. I'm playing video games on with the music off and I'm relaxing. Or I'm reading with dim lighting and hot tea and listening to a moody horror score.
No podcasts or stand up in the car. I’m listening to CDs again. Full albums, no greatest hits, no skipping tracks. Most of the music I love can be found at used records stores on CD for next to nothing. Its kind of fucked up actually. And at least for a little while, I’m done trying to find new music. Last band I “fell in love with” was Local Natives and I can ride that for another year or so. I'm not with it, and haven’t been with it for a while now.
I’m okay with that I think.
Those cassettes I got when I was a kid, I played them over and over again. I memorized them. I memorized the packaging. I fell in love with them. Same goes to the CDs I bought in high school.
Was it just youthful musical nostalgia? That’s probably a big part of it. Am I over romanticizing my youth because I’m getting older? That’s probably part of it too. Am I wrong in thinking its over saturation? Maybe its not the problem for most, but its definitely been a part of the problem for me. I’m actually enjoying music when I listen to it again. And if it works it works I guess.
