Happy new year my wittle chilrens..
Ok. Now that I’ve got that out of the way, I trust you are ready for a new year of rants, questions, head turners, and “um, would you like fries with your napkins?” as that was asked of me while I grabbed a snootful of napkins at the counter by a cashier. Hey I KNOW places go cheap with napkins.. as I’ve stated in a previous blog. So I want to make sure I take my fair share with enough to put in my glove compartment in case I spill coffee on myself while driving. And yes, trust me it HAS happened.
Did you miss my own hijack of this blog? You didn’t? Well tough because I’m sure 2012 will have more of the same..
Now, back to why I am here. So you ever have those moments when you listen to music and certain artists you love, i mean F’LOVE but after a while you have to wonder “how much of this music I have is REALLY necessary?” Or, “If they keep putting out stuff, how much is enough?” While you still love bands, there might possibly come a time where you just can’t buy anymore of their stuff. It’s too much. You don’t have the time. Life gets in the way, and you put them on the backburner, You’re afraid of being inundated with music and it’s either never as GOOD as previous efforts or “it’s JUST not the same..” Yeah, I’ve been there. I’m still there. Anyone who knows me knows I am drawn to music the way a drug addict needs another hit. I am currently going through my entire collection of music, cds, tapes, and the few pieces of vinyl I have.. and I have often asked this past week, “how much is enough?” Can I just let go of a 5th album by a group as opposed to the first or second one I cannot LIVE WITHOUT? Will I feel like I’ve divorced a band? Does that make me a horrible fan? Or have I outgrown them and I just keep buying their albums based on the nostalgia I have from being 13?
It’s all of the above.
The problem is, at least for me as a fellow music head.. I am always afraid if bypass an album that is new of a favorite band or singer, I’m always afraid there will be something I have missed.. you know what I mean? That song that is buried under album filler after album filler that you wouldn’t blink an eye to but you take a gander and realize BOTH eyes are blinking. And I know what you’re thinking.. no I will not tell you what I look like.. no I do NOT have any Kenny G.. and even I HAVE MY LIMITS people.. You’re probably wondering why I just don’t download the single.. and I could but really, true music enthusiasts or even apprentices will enjoy buying the WHOLE album and not just a song. And even if the album sucks otherwise, part of the fun in music is buying it to see if your curiosity has peen poked, much like those blasted facebook “pokes.” But what the butt are those pokes about anyhooters? And then once I buy the album, I have a difficult time listening because my mind might be stuck in the 90s or late 80s during the hey day of a singer or band. And then it’s a let down. Or I just don’t have time to listen and I might just stop buying altogether. Life can be overwhelming sometimes.. and so can music.
Then you’ve got those artists who just don’t know WHEN to stop releasing music. And they just keep putting it out there. And you keep buying, because you still have a small place in your heart for them. They got you through horrible times and for that you will always feel appreciation towards them for it. But the artists don’t know when to say WHEN and they keep touring the planet and after a while you just pull a Charlie Brown and hope for dear life the football is taken from underneath you and you move on. Painfully.. but you move on. It’s never as good as you wished it would be. Your heart is just torn. And that’s never a good place to be.
Overindulgence isn’t always a good thing. And a clean break could be. At least I could feel less stressed.. isn’t music supposed to un-stress you? Right? Right? Right?
So I ask.. when does one say “Enough already.. stop putting out albums!! I can’t take it anymore?”
Of course I say this as I started to listen to DJ Shadow’s album, The Outsider, which is soooo far inferior to Entroducing, and ended my evening listening to his latest “The Less You Know, the Better” which is far more superior than most of his previous efforts after Entro..
So is the life of a music head…
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Em
03/24/2010 at 6:26 pm
I’ve been reading Eddie Trunk’s new book & he lists the band’s discographies. I can’t believe how many of them I didn’t even know about that were released. I think New Jersey was the last Bon Jovi CD I bought and X was the last Def Leppard. I feel like a bad fan, but enough was enough. X sucked so I wasn’t about to buy anymore. Sparkle Lounge proved my point. Wait. There was one good song that Phil Collen sung, Stay with Me. That was a cool song. And that song with Tim McGraw did with them, Nine Lives but I can’t even tell you which CD that was on.