NPR: "Too Much Music"

mhardy6647

My son sent me this link -- it's kind of rambling, somewhat predictable, but still, I'd opine, an interesting read. Not long, but not short either. (and it name-checks Rega, for whatever reason).

Offered "as-is" and FWIW.

https://www.npr.org/sections/therecord/2018/01/16/578216674/too-much-music-a-failed-experiment-in-dedicated-listening

a little sample text (taken way out of context... but I like the thesis as a point to consider):

A friend once floated a theory that I've grappled with ever since. She claimed that we only ever really love 10 albums, and we spend the rest of our listening lives seeking facsimiles of those 10, pursuing the initial rush, so to speak. At the time, I argued with her, mostly because I didn't want this to be true. But even as I protested I began recalling how many times I compulsively "added to cart" an item whenever some savvy vinyl-hustling mountebank deployed the phrase "Velvets-y" or "Royal Trux-ish," and how many times I'd bought reissues promising the "holy grail" of "private press proto-doom" only to discover tepid bar rock that sounded like a warmed-over Bad Company. Our individual dragons may vary — Sabbath or Coltrane or Beatles or Beefheart — but we're all chasing 'em.

verb

Nice article. I would tend to agree with the notion of about 10 albums or so. During my searches and experiments I eventually gravitate back to a certain genre, looking for modern day purveyors of the pomp rock and metal hero’s of my youth. My formative years I guess.

Occasionally I get lucky. Avenged Sevenfold and 5FDP have earned they way into my faves. Our hero’s back in the day are definitely getting old BTW ...

But sometimes for me the unexpected happens. Styx recently released a new album that harkens back to the good old days.

And Greta Van Fleet reminds me of a young Led Zeppelin.

I love the search!!! Will never stop!!! But yes a lot of the newer stuff I accumulate remains played only a few times.

afterburnt

I am not like that, I don't really listen to my ten favorite albums from my youth, I am not that easily amused. There probably are a lot of people that are like that, what else would explain the popularity of abominations like Bruce Sringstein? Oh how I envy simpletons like that writer that gets paid to just write stuff.

voltz

Bruce you not listen to the right songs by the Boss!
heres one that I use in my playlist to show off my speakers. except I use the studio version.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dMriDhHDB1E

dr1978

Good article, thanks for the heads up. In general I like the fact that I have access to much more music than I did when I was younger, but I do share the feeling that I don't get as much out of it as I used to. I guess with more choices and less time what can you expect? I'm holding out hope that I'll be able to retire down the road and at lease recapture a bit of the magic!

Jimbo18

What impressed me the most about the article, is how well it was written. That guy is a "writer" first and foremost.

afterburnt

voltz wrote: »

Bruce you not listen to the right songs by the Boss!
heres one that I use in my playlist to show off my speakers. except I use the studio version.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dMriDhHDB1E

Is that Paul Schafer?

Tony M

That was a GREAT SONG and I known girls/women who've told me about their walls they built after heart aches.

Now Bruce didn't repeat the same phrase 30 times in this song, which was NICE.

But he mumbled a lot. I had to look up the lyrics to understand the second half of the song.

GREAT lyrics!!!

Real life stuff here!

Secret Garden
Bruce Springsteen
She'll let you in her house
If you come knockin' late at night
She'll let you in her mouth
If the words you say are right
If you pay the price
She'll let you deep inside
There's a secret garden she hides
She'll let you in her car
To go drivin' 'round
She'll let you into the parts of herself
That'll bring you down
She'll let you in her heart
If you got a hammer and a vise
But into her secret garden, don't think twice
You've gone a million miles
How far'd you get
To that place where you can't remember
And you can't forget
She'll lead you down a path
There'll be tenderness in the air
She'll let you come just far enough
So you know she's really there
And she'll look at you and smile
And her eyes will say
She's got a secret garden
Where everything you want
Where everything you need
Will always stay a million miles away
Songwriters: BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN

afterburnt

Not feeling it, he has done worse though.