My Music Mid-Life Crisis

                                                                 

I espoused when I started this blog that it was to be a platform of discussion for all types of media, including music. If you've noticed though, I've hardly dedicated any space to raving about an artist, tearing a musician down to the molecular level, or telling you what bands I think suck and how you're dumb for listening to them. No, my blog has been the stuff of movies, videogames, and internet sites- there has been hardly any mention of anything of musical merit. It's simply criminal.

Today, as I was sitting around listlessly, I opened up Itunes and realized that this was the first time I've opened up the program in weeks. I remember in the past, I tunes was constantly open on my desktop. There was no question that I would be listening to something-music played throughout the day, almost endlessly, and it accompanied almost every activity I did. I fervently downloaded new albums and listened to them until they made me sick, got new music from friends and constantly looked into new bands. As the college years continued and I got more busy, I started to listen to music less. Sure, it was there, but I just didn’t listen to it as much. Nowadays, I rarely listen to it. Sure, if there’s a song that’s in my head I’ll get on youtube and play it, but I don’t sit there and simply enjoy music like I used to. Somewhere along the way, I got lost.

I’ve never even discussed my favorite bands on my blog. What is wrong with me? The truth be told, I don’t even know what my favorite bands really are anymore. Sure, I could say The Beatles are #1, and I used to believe that like I believe that the Earth revolves around the sun, but now I’m not so sure.

I think I’m suffering from the after effects of too many options. In high school, before I really got into downloading music, buying an album was a big deal. There was a high degree of planning that went into getting the funds, finding a ride to Best Buy and getting the album you wanted. When I got that album, I listened to it on endless rotation. I knew every song, and I read the lyrics along with the music upon first listen. This is not the case with me at all anymore. The music acquisition process goes something like this:

-I hear a song on the radio or on a commercial that I think sounds good.

-I desperately try to remember two or three lines from the song so I can Google the lyrics and find the name of the song and who it’s by.

-I think “Hey, if this song is good, the rest of their stuff is good”

-I download their album, find all their songs boring but the one I originally liked, and eventually delete the album from my harddrive three years later.

Granted, this is quite a bleak view of how music goes with me. There have been plenty of albums I’ve downloaded and loved and couldn’t stop listening to. As time goes on though, there have been fewer and fewer albums that I fall in love with.

The last big band I had a love affair with was The Smiths that lasted from about January to March of this year. Yes, yes I know you’re all saying that I would pick The Smiths, but I just got hooked on all their music. I listened to all their albums on repeat almost everyday. Admittedly, this made my days seem rather gloomy, but they’re just an excellent band, both lyrically and technically. Another album I got into was Motion City Soundtrack’s newest album, My Dinosaur Life, which listened to until I felt like throwing up. Owl City’s newest album, Ocean’s Eyes, was also a big one on my playlist (I know that’s hard to believe because Owl City seems like a band I would hate like sin). Other than that, I can’t think of any albums I’ve loved.

My music tastes have changed over the years. In high school when I really got into music, I was big into bands like Jimmy Eat World and Motion City Soundtrack- kind of that alternative emo scene. In college, I got WAY into indie music- Sufjan Stevens, The Decemberists, Of Montreal and mewithoutyou were some of my oft listened to artists as I wrote countless papers. I also got into some of the classics- Dylan, The Cure, The Clash- mainly stuff that influenced indie music now. As time has gone, I’ve become disenchanted with a lot of indie music because I feel that a lot of it has no lyrical value. There’s only so much 19^th  century vernacular I can take.

And that brings me to now. I’m trying to figure out what to listen to. Throughout my musical journey, I’ve sampled every genre and found value in each- yes, even country (Ryan Adams being the only “country” like music I enjoy). But I’m just becoming bored- and isn’t that my generations curse? Were given options upon options for entertainment and after a while it becomes exhausting. What I really need is a good, trusted friend with a similar music taste to mine who can recommend me some great stuff. Don’t worry, I still keep up with most of the big bands and know what’s going on- I just feel I’ve lost my passion lately.