The more to listen, the better?

[POP-ROMANCER]

Musically, there are great songs that are very simple and when you listen the songs a few times that song is yours. For example, the first albums from the beatles, and sing-a-long songs from u2 like pride, streets etc.

But I bought POP 8 years ago, that got me in to u2. The 'strangest' thing about that album is that it's still growing on me, every time I listen to that album I think its better. That's because the songs are complicated and there are so much differenbt sounds in the songs. Every time I discover some 'new' things in the songs of pop.

So, I ask myself. Music that you listen to for 8 years, and it's still growing on me, is that BETTER music that an album that you listen a few times and you know thew songs from inside out?

I think it is. The latest album from coldplay x&y is also such an album that the more you listen to it, the more you like it. I think it's BETTER music because it's so GREAT what u2 did. Make an album like POP and I listen to it for 8 long years and I like it more and more.

So for all the guys who don't like POP, listen listen listen and you will like it once !!

BUT is it 'better' music when it''s still growing on you after such a long time?

 

[Miricale_Drug]

yes it is ' better' music. Well actually no, it is music with more depth. I am assuming you are quite an inteligent individual, and if you can analyse music deeply, then it is better. Sorry my heads starting to hurt a bit i can't write anything else, i will do later

 

[xana dew]

Yeah, it's definetly better. Pop is like that for me, too.

I dunno, what gets me is having read that Bono mentioned that progressive rock was starting to take over (paraphrasing) during the Pop days -- and he now speaks of prog-rock as some sort of unholy path U2 will never take again.

But that's the great gift of densely layered, complicated songs and lyrics. You get to discover them again and again, and often the words and music take on new meanings entirely!

Maybe Bono oughta reconsider.

 

[Zoots]

Pop is certainly a grower! Of course it's stopped becoming better and better for me cos it's long since reached it's zenith! I just never grow tired of it. Every time I listen to it, I love it to death. Doesn't exactly get better but sounds as awesome as the last time I listened to it.

 

[MrBrau1]

No, it's not better.

It's just more challenging.

Pop is as much a "pop" record as ATYCLB, JT, or AB. It just takes 8 years to sift through all the trendy production and find the pop songs underneath the mess.

"looking for baby Jesus, under the trash."

 

[xana dew]

Wow, well said Mr. Brau, as usual. I'm glad U2 hasn't always been that sort of heavily laden prog rock band, but rather a band that most times just kicks out great straight-ahead rock songs. Still, so glad they went out on a limb with Pop. Definetly adds to the variety.

 

[lov12113]

Okay, not to burst anyone's bubble....I'm a grad student working on a doctorate in Psychology. Here goes: a basic psychological principle is that the more you expose yourself to something, the more you will like it.

I know, you're probably thinking "heck no, I've been around alot of stuff I don't like and it isn't growing on me." To that I say: I will put money on it. Find something you hate and do it or be around it all the time for a long while (like weeks or months) and you will eventually find you don't hate it as much and you may even like it.

This can easily be done with music. Pick out your least favorite U2 album or song and listen to it alot (like everytime you're in the car) and after a while (for some people, longer than others) I guarantee it will grow on you quite a bit.

 

[miss becky]

I'd have to disagree, lov12113. For example, at my office they have music piped in over the intercom. Every day, it seems like they play the same songs. There are certain songs I hate. I've been at my job for two and a half years now. And having heard these same songs for that long, over and over, has not make me like them. It only makes me hate them even more. In fact, if I have to hear Big Yellow Taxi one more time I think I will go crazy and kill someone.

But about Pop -- and any U2 album -- I think that is part of the band's brilliance. Not every song is instantly accessible. Some of them take some time to "get." And it seems like the ones that take longer to love, are the ones that stick with me more. First impressions aren't usually wrong -- if I love a song on the first listen (like Gone, for instance), chances are I will always love it. But the songs that have grown on me over time are often the ones that I have the most love for.

If You Wear That Velvet Dress is a perfect example. For years I hated the song. I always skipped it when I listened to Pop. And then one day I decided to give it a chance. And wham! It hit me, how great the song was, how erotic, how wonderful. And since then I've loved it deeply.

Now if only I could get that to happen with The Playboy Mansion...

 

[Irishteen]

I disagree lov12113, there are songs i heard a million times and still hate, a song may seem better the more you listen but a good song will never sound liek a masterpiece no matter how many times you hear it. Each song has a limit to how much you can enjoy it, no matter how many listens.

 

[jonnytakeawalk]

Okay, not to burst anyone's bubble....I'm a grad student working on a doctorate in Psychology. Here goes: a basic psychological principle is that the more you expose yourself to something, the more you will like it.

I know, you're probably thinking "heck no, I've been around alot of stuff I don't like and it isn't growing on me." To that I say: I will put money on it. Find something you hate and do it or be around it all the time for a long while (like weeks or months) and you will eventually find you don't hate it as much and you may even like it.

This can easily be done with music. Pick out your least favorite U2 album or song and listen to it alot (like everytime you're in the car) and after a while (for some people, longer than others) I guarantee it will grow on you quite a bit.

That's really interesting, I thought it would be the opposite. The more you expose yourself to something the more likely you will start to dislike it and get sick of it. So I suppose the whole 'absense makes the heart grow fonder' isn't correct either

 

[namkcuR]

No, it's not better.

It's just more challenging.

Pop is as much a "pop" record as ATYCLB, JT, or AB. It just takes 8 years to sift through all the trendy production and find the pop songs underneath the mess.

"looking for baby Jesus, under the trash."

No. I heard Pop the first time in 1999. I loved about half the songs immediatly and the other half earned my love by 2000. It took one year. And it's not a straight pop record. ATYCLB is a straight pop record.

To answer the original question, the longer music takes to fully grow on you, generally speaking, the more complex it is. Whether it is better depends on whether or not you're looking for complex pop/rock music or...not so complex pop/rock music.

 

[gareth brown]

So I suppose the whole 'absense makes the heart grow fonder' isn't correct either

I thought that would be more associated with people rather than music and so on

 

[lov12113]

I worked in a restaurant where all the music being played was country. I hate country music with a passion. I worked at the restaurant for almost a year and by the end of the year I knew lyrcis to most of the songs and a few of them had really grown on me...in fact I like some of them quite a bit.

But alas, the psychological principle is not full proof.....because human interaction is so complicated....many secondary factors can influence whether your exposure to something translates into an increased liking for it.

For example: have you ever eaten something and then gotten really sick around the same time. It may be that your getting sick had nothing to do with the food you had just finished eating but because the 2 events happened at the same time, you may no longer like that kind of food because your mind associates sickness with that food.

Okay, enough of the psycho-bable....POP has grown on me too alot over the years

 

[Irishteen]

So what I know the lyrics of songs i hate, i hear them so much they are in my memory, but I still don't like them

 

[Hallucination]

Every U2 album continues to grow on me. No word of a lie. I like every album more each time I listen to it and I like every song more and more. Though the only song that doesn't grow on me and in fact the only song by U2 that I don't like is Miami.

 

[Hallucination]

Okay, not to burst anyone's bubble....I'm a grad student working on a doctorate in Psychology. Here goes: a basic psychological principle is that the more you expose yourself to something, the more you will like it.

I know, you're probably thinking "heck no, I've been around alot of stuff I don't like and it isn't growing on me." To that I say: I will put money on it. Find something you hate and do it or be around it all the time for a long while (like weeks or months) and you will eventually find you don't hate it as much and you may even like it.

This can easily be done with music. Pick out your least favorite U2 album or song and listen to it alot (like everytime you're in the car) and after a while (for some people, longer than others) I guarantee it will grow on you quite a bit.

Not to burst your bubble but I disagree somewhat. There is no way in the world that you will ever be able to convince me that if I were to go out and buy an album by a band that I don't like and listen to it over and over that it will eventually grow on me. That's weak minded and it's called being brainwashed. That's why shit like Simple Plan and Nickleback and 3 Doors Down sell so much. It's becasue people only think what they are exposed to is good. I agree with what you're saying to a point. Nobody likes bands like the ones I mentioned but they've been over exposed to it and have now convinced themselves they like it. "Your Theory" is true in some respect but it doesn't apply to everyone. I know this because I dj and there are songs I have to play all the time(for the last seven years) and I despise those songs when I'm not djing. That's not a theory that's tried tested and true feild work.

PS. I know it's not YOUR theory.

 

[tuwie]

some really good points brought up here.
yeah, i agree that good music grows on you, and that you are able to continually listen to good music without getting sick of it. from experience, radios have ruined some good songs for me becuase they are overplayed. For some songs, I might like them initially, but listening to them OVER AND OVER AND OVER just makes me not like it anymore. however, i can listen to "with or without you" on repeat for 3 weeks and not get tired of it.