Not too long ago I read an article on NPR about “The Good
Listener: Is There Too Much Music?” A
gal had written in about wanting to take a break from buying all the records,
stop the playlists, stop constantly hunting down new music and artists. She was pretty much burned out. She said that what started out as a passion
has turned into a job. As I read the
article, I thought “this is totally me right now!” and I can completely relate
to this. Once it becomes a job, it’s no
longer fun. Like the woman who wrote in,
I have listened to many albums only once and exclaimed “that is a great album”
and then moved on to the next one to say the same thing. Only to put it on the shelf with all the
others and never be touched again.
I do have many great albums in my vast collection but have
never really gone back to listen to them because I was always looking for the
next great album, afraid I might miss one and then be disappointed that I
missed it. As the article goes on they
state that the sad truth is because there is so much out there, you are going
to miss something. It’s pretty much a
given. So I have decided to cut back the
hours on my passion; aka second job and dust off the older stuff and give them
the respect that they deserve. What’s
also going to be fun for me is to try to figure out the mood I was in when I
purchased some of them. Like Emilie
Autumn who is classified as Victorian Rock.
She’s definitely not for everybody, yet she was intriguing enough that
it caught my attention and then lead me to Rasputina of the same genre.
On occasion when I didn’t have my list of artists to pick up
at my beloved Dimple Records, I would just casually walk through and check out
the bands that caught my eye or had a unique name like Starfucker or Owl Paws. I laughed at the name and was then was
pleasantly surprised that they were good.
I have only been disappointed a couple times and those were promptly
returned for store credit. I still keep
my lists at work if I read about a new band or hear one that I like on the
radio (which is rare). But as far as
researching that band and checking out their discography is becoming rare these
days. So I just pile up my lists and
know that one day I will get back into like I used to be. Don’t get me wrong, I still dabble, just not
devoted. My binder is getting full as is
my tablet of bands to delve into deeper.
It remains safe and even has a designated spot. My copied cd project has been put on hold as
well. I lost interest in going through
them and writing down the songs. I even
started a lovely little Word document that is all set up and formatted for this
project, but there it sits on my computer desktop and hasn’t been touched for
months.
What’s really great about my passion is I have my nieces now
asking me to take them to Dimple so they can get a new cd as they want a
collection as big as mine. I have to
remind them it didn’t happen overnight and it’s been years in the making. A lot of time, reading and listening has gone
into this as well as talking to lots of people.
They are turning into quite the little music connoisseurs and I love
it. I do take them and show them how their
Auntie shops for new music. I browse
with them through the sale bins and we look for those treasures of old. They get just as excited as I do when they
find something they really want. Then
they start to argue about what to listen to first in the car, so we have to compromise. I also tell them if they know the words to
sing them loud and proud which they do. When
at home or at my house, we usually bust out and start dancing while singing. So I’m hoping that they will be just as
musically rounded as the rest of the family is and also hope that they will
pass along their musical knowledge to their own future children. I will still read my music magazines,
websites and play on the “others recommend” sections of iTunes and Amazon
though. You never know what will relight
the flame.
