Have you caught up on music of the past??

[LemonMirrorSky]

..or are you drowning under the weight of your ever expanding wish lists in which classic albums compete with new ones for your hard-earned/pocket money?

There is so much goddamn music out there, it's staggering!

I'm curious to know... how many of you feel like you have reasonably covered most of popular music history and have either bought or listened to almost every classic/essential album out there?

One could spend a whole lifetime catching up.

 

[nielsgov]

I definitely haven't. But at the moment I find new music more interesting than classic albums. I try to listen to a few "new" oldies every once in a while however. I recently bought Spirit of Eden for instance.

 

[iron yuppie]

I often wonder if the sheer volume of music I listen to is counterproductive, as I rarely spent substantial time with an album I have purchased. For any given year, there are probably three new albums and three older albums (out of around 100 total I hear) that enter regular rotation for me.

 

[bono_212]

I'm pretty content with where I am, music-wise. There are classics out there I haven't heard, obviously, but I do what I can. I don't feel like I need to check every box to be happy.

Grooveshark, of course, is my best friend.

 

[u2popmofo]

I often wonder if the sheer volume of music I listen to is counterproductive, as I rarely spent substantial time with an album I have purchased. For any given year, there are probably three new albums and three older albums (out of around 100 total I hear) that enter regular rotation for me.

I've really tried to limit the amount of new things I buy the last year or two because of this. Even with that, I still often feel overwhelmed. Have to make a concentrated effort to listen to new albums sometimes.

 

[martha]

I find that disliking most new music that comes out really helps keep my efforts in that respect under control. Also, being old means that I've heard a lot of old albums.

 

[IWasBored]

It's like books, I'll never truly catch up. For every one book I read, there are a dozen more I'd like to get to, and that list is ever-expanding as I 1) discover older things I want to read and 2) new things are released. Music is the exact same way. The more you listen to, the bigger the holes in your collection/general awareness become. The further you delve into a specific sub-sub genre, the more you realize exists like it or created by the same people/geographic scene.

I try to limit the new music I check out to bands I am pretty sure I'll like, otherwise I'll run into the same issue a lot of people already mentioned where I hear something once or twice and move on.

 

[trevgreg]

This is one of those things that I think about every so often myself. I'm pretty good about keeping up with newer stuff through all sorts of sources, and even discovering a few songs I haven't heard from the past as well. But there's plenty of artists who have back catalogs I just haven't gotten around to hearing completely. It's a lot harder when you have day jobs and a fraction of the free time you had when you were a teenager.

Like IWasBored mentioned though, it's not something you'll be able to truly catch up on in the end. All you can do is just take in what you can at the moment and hope there's plenty of stuff there to like.

 

[cobl04]

..or are you drowning under the weight of your ever expanding wish lists in which classic albums compete with new ones for your hard-earned/pocket money? There is so much goddamn music out there, it's staggering! I'm curious to know... how many of you feel like you have reasonably covered most of popular music history and have either bought or listened to almost every classic/essential album out there? One could spend a whole lifetime catching up.

LM has probably heard them all.

I definitely feel you though, and this year it's been harder than ever to keep up.

 

[LemonMelon]

LM has probably heard them all.

Music is far easier to keep up with than books, as you can have it on more or less everywhere (ask Schloop what he does while listening to The Darkness). I listen to about 5-6 new albums a week (current year or otherwise), if I'm being conservative, so I'm usually not too far behind on my wishlist. You just have to keep reasonable goals or you'll get discouraged.

 

[No spoken words]

I am catching up on music of the future. Ashley knows.

As far as past music, though....I'm quality over quantity and have explored a decent amount...but still like to catch up on certain artists I maybe dismissed in my youth, etc.

And I second what LM III just said...so much easier to catch up on music as you can listen while doing other things.....I feel much more woefully behind when it comes to books and I read a lot.

THE FUTURE

 

[lazarus]

The Future, Conan?

Spoiler

 

[bono_212]

　I miss that sketch .

Do knives listen to music in the future?

 

[No spoken words]

Knives make music in the future. Especially in Robo-France 29.

 

[cobl04]

I like to think I started something by listing my top ten albums that-didn't-come-out-that-year when we do the end-of-year threads.

 

[LemonMelon]

Knives make music in the future. Especially in Robo-France 29.

The Knife - Silent Shout:An AudioVisual Experience - YouTube

I wonder how Bill Cosby will feel about music of the future.

 

[LemonMirrorSky]

For any given year, there are probably three new albums and three older albums (out of around 100 total I hear) that enter regular rotation for me.

You listen to a 100 new albums every year? That itself is incomprehensible for me. I just wouldn't have the time to listen to even half that amount.

But there's plenty of artists who have back catalogs I just haven't gotten around to hearing completely. It's a lot harder when you have day jobs and a fraction of the free time you had when you were a teenager.

Like IWasBored mentioned though, it's not something you'll be able to truly catch up on in the end. All you can do is just take in what you can at the moment and hope there's plenty of stuff there to like.

Things like job, career, wife and kids get in the way. We are not all 18 anymore. One thing I know though for sure... at the rate I listen to new music nowadays, I know I'll never ever run out of music to discover!

Thanks for your input, people.

 

[LemonMelon]

You listen to a 100 new albums every year? That itself is incomprehensible for me. I just wouldn't have the time to listen to even half that amount.

I'm at 172 for 2013 Like iYup, I only end up listening to about half a dozen on a regular basis. My most listened to albums have a healthy number of plays (Yeezus, Trouble Will Find Me, Push the Sky Away, mbv) but it drops off fast after that.

It feels good to be able to recommend albums to people, but it does make my year-end lists a bit arbitrary. Going back to last year's stuff, I always find my opinions have changed, but then that would happen anyway.

 

[LemonMirrorSky]

Of course, if I used services like Spotify or Grooveshark I would probably listen to more. But at the moment it is still a combination of buying CDs and downloading from the internet which all take up time and money.

 

[LemonMirrorSky]

The other sub-debate to this whole topic is... in this endless race to "own" every classic album possible... is there even a need to own everything?? Or would you be satisfied with simply listening to an album online on a listening service?

After spending years building a collection, whether through CDs, LPs or mp3s... would you abandon it all for an online collection that anybody anywhere could listen to?

Pros:
- Much cheaper on the pocket
- All music is available for you to listen. No need to download or buy anything.

Cons:
- No liner notes. No look and feel of an album in your hands. No sense of ownership whatsoever.

:/

 

[bono_212]

I basically stick to vinyl these days. I like CDs and I buy them if I find them cheap, but I don't ever really listen to them. I hate to be a broken record, but I really only listen to music on Grooveshark anymore, or my record player.

 

[LemonMirrorSky]

I basically stick to vinyl these days. I like CDs and I buy them if I find them cheap, but I don't ever really listen to them. I hate to be a broken record, but I really only listen to music on Grooveshark anymore, or my record player.

Yea but do you think you'd ever abandon your collection and go online completely?

 

[bono_212]

Nope, it makes my living room look all fancy.

 

[IWasBored]

I've almost abandoned buying physical copies of albums. I think the only thing I've bought non-digitally this year was Trouble Will Find Me. Never thought that would happen, but given that I can no longer go to a record store and buy music in person, I opt for the instant gratification choice rather than waiting for stuff to show up in the mail. And I do use spotify a fair amount, although that has more to do with not owning an iPod at the moment. I listen to probably just as much music that I actually already own vs what i don't own, so it's probably a little silly for me to give them 10 bucks a month to stream albums I've previously bought. But my phone is only going to hold a small fraction of my music collection, so until I get a new iPod, it will have to do. Plus, I've got the option to listen to stuff I don't own/legally preview before I buy it if I actually like it (and want to be able to hear it when I don't have an Internet connection/don't feel like eating my data plan).

Initially, I was very much opposed to the idea of buying mp3s vs CDs. But it turns out I care a lot less about all the sentimental, ceremonial bullshit of that first listen whilst paging through the lyrics. And I don't give a rat's ass about displaying my collection. Convenience (I can go music shopping in my living room at 4am if I so please), storage (external hard drives take up so much less space than cd racks)--these are much more important. As I get older, I find that overall I just want fewer objects in my life, taking up space into house, potentially having to be packed up in boxes the next time I move, etc. same opinion applies to ebooks, although I buy a real copy when I know my housemate will want to read whatever it is after I do.

 

[LemonMirrorSky]

Convenience (I can go music shopping in my living room at 4am if I so please), storage (external hard drives take up so much less space than cd racks)--these are much more important. As I get older, I find that overall I just want fewer objects in my life, taking up space into house, potentially having to be packed up in boxes the next time I move, etc.

Agreed about wanting less clutter. But sometimes I really miss buying CDs. Downloading is just not the same. And the other side of the coin is that, CDs of albums I want to buy are anyway not available in music stores. I wanted to get Innerspeaker on CD but I couldn't find the damn thing anywhere!

Everything has changed. Collecting is not what it used to be.

 

[LemonMelon]

It's still great if you collect vinyl. Pressings are becoming increasingly more common for albums I want to buy. I would have hated to be a collector 20 years ago when there was no demand and hardly any bands cared to put out vinyl. I have a CD collection but it's not really worth displaying because the format itself is so unappealing to look at.

 

[cobl04]

I still buy CDs mostly, though usually only when they have booklets. I buy vinyl if they'll look cool (Embryonic, Amok, Bitches Brew). I digitally download albums when they're reasonably priced (Yeezus). I stream/download the rest. Will always continue to buy physical though, cos I like the look of it all.

 

[LemonMirrorSky]

Will always continue to buy physical though, cos I like the look of it all.

Wait till you have to move.. and travel like crazy on your job or something! That's when the difficulty of collecting physical albums bites you in the ass. It's a damn tragedy is what it is.

 

[iron yuppie]

I still buy copious amounts of CDs but am aware that it's a habit without much benefit. I've started getting vinyl of my favorite albums. Depeche Mode's Violator is the major one that has eluded me so far.

 

[Mount Temple]

Nope, it makes my living room look all fancy.

Agreed, I have a little over 3000 CD's and about 250 Vinyl and it looks amazing all displayed in the living room!