I was talking to a mate the other day about discovering new music, and it’s something that I’m almost fanatical about - every Friday the first thing I check is my Spotify Release Radar playlist, I just can't imagine missing out!
It’s almost as if I’m trying to prove to myself that I’m not one of the “I like your old stuff better than your new stuff” crowd, or that I’m still young ‘cause I listen to new music.
There comes a time when you’re faced with this choice I think, maybe early to mid 30s (agree?) when you start to think that “the music that kids these days listen to is rubbish, not like my day” and it’s an intense battle… and we don’t all win it.
Sometimes we don't even choose to fight it.
What got me thinking was a little project I’m trying to put together with musicians playing their favourite songs from 1971, 1981, 1991 and 2001. I was reminiscing about how I used to listen to music when I didn’t have every song ever released at my fingertips.
Did I appreciate music more because I had to choose what I bought to listen to? Was it because I had more time?
And I got a little sad, because there’s something about the solid memory of putting on my headphones, listening to Stone Temple Pilots’ second record while I read along to the lyrics in the CD liner notes that I just can’t replicate now. Searching for lyrics on Genius and queueing up a track in Spotify doesn’t feel the same.
Maybe technology is the problem. Maybe it’s “kids these days”. Or maybe it’s me.
How do you listen to music?