If I find myself overplaying certain songs, I sometimes have to force myself to take a break because when I don’t, I usually end up ruining/disliking the song. I hate when this happens because perfectly good songs that I love end up irritating me because I have heard it too much. Do you stop listening to those songs or just play it as many times as you like?
EDIT: changed title to be open-ended.
I’m old and vastly prefer to listen to albums in their entirety rather than just specific songs. I’ll still sometimes listen to an album on repeat a bunch, but I think this effect is slightly dulled on me because I’m listening to 10ish tracks on repeat rather than just the one.
My wife though - she’ll play the same 3 albums on repeat for a goddamn year at a time. I still can’t stand The Hives because they’re all I heard in our car for far too long.
I am like that when listening to music I haven’t heard before, I listen to the album in its entirety, and the releases in chronological order. After that, they get dumped in a spotify playlist based on genre and played on shuffle. Some of my playlists get huge.
Yes! When I discover a new band I always like to listen to their stuff chronologically, as you said. At times this can be rough. Some bands start off very strong, but often bands take a few albums before they get good and I have to slog through a few before I find one I like.
I’m having the opposite problem right now. Radiohead’s first two albums are some of my favorite ever, but I’ve never been able to get into their stuff after those two. Currently I’m making an effort to go through the rest of their discography in order to see if there’s anything else I like. I’m 5 albums in and there’s been a few specific tracks I like, but none of the albums thus far compare to those first two for me. As an album-based listener this is weirdly stressful to me.
Radiohead is one of those bands that evolve their sound a lot, so it is not so weird that you mostly enjoy just a few of their albums.
That said ok computer and its spiritual successor in rainbows are those albums for me.
Also Thom Yorkes track suspirium from the suspiria soundtrack album is one of those songs I cannot stop listening to. That track is often played three times in a row for me.
Haha, this is the same for me. I’ll listen to a band’s debut, and the rest doesn’t always live up to it. Then I have to force myself to listen to the rest just in case I like any more, even sometimes to check them off my list.
Getting into vinyl helped me with this and I get to hear the lesser known songs of my favorite artists as well as their weird experimental stuff.
Yeah, I grew up collecting vinyl so that’s probably what got me into the habit all those years ago.
I’m a performer, which means that I will listen to the same song probably hundreds of times while I write an act to it. My Spotify wrapped is literally just all the songs I performed that year (no Spotify, no one actually enjoys Imagine Dragons). I’ll sometimes hear the songs in my sleep. Send help pls.
I imagine the rules change, so to speak, as a performer. As with stage acting, that you somehow find a way both to separate and reinvoke the songs? And, I guess, musician dinthe same as OP, right? Fully or partially retire songs eventually
Dude I experience this PLUS my mind just has to have a song playing internally constantly, so even if I don’t actually play the song, my mind will beat it to death if it’s catchy enough
Great, this has just replaced some vim key bindings in my head. Thanks very much!
There was a time in my life when I was wary of wearing out certain songs, but now I just play them to death if that’s what I’m in the mood for. Life’s too short to deny yourself the pleasure of hearing a song that you really want to listen to…and if you DO get tired of your current earworm, so much? There’s so much great music out there that it shouldn’t be long before you discover something new that you can immerse yourself in.
Plus you can always come back to it in a few years and it’s nostalgic.
I played the shit out of Anna Molly by Incubus and whenever I listen to it I’m now reminded of the season of life I was living when I over listened to it hah.
I support this take. On principle, I retire bands and keep working to discover new music. Especially the type I find on bandcamp, where it’s just some dude in a random basement somewhere creating it
I’ve been listening to same shit for 30 years. New music is ruined as soon as I hear it because it’s not what I’m used to.
I don’t understand how that is possible. I switch which genres I am mostly into several times a year. I wish I could be one of those die hard fans that stick to the same stuff year in and year out. It seems so peaceful.
Peaceful, but boring
I currently mostly listen to german rap music.
Only to a handful of artists though because most are fake idiots whose texts don’t have meaning in them. It’s always the same and everyone just produces whatever they think will sell best, zero own personality in their songs
Like others in here, I find myself listening to whole records. Sometimes I’ll listen to a couple by an artist in a row.
I feel like I don’t listen to enough music. I try to sit down and actively listen to things when I can, but mostly I’ll get a record or two in while doing something mindless like dishes or yard work. Nothing gets overplayed this way.
This is why a streaming service works for me. Back when I had to buy music, I basically never did, so never really listened. Now that I can usually play something that I’ve never heard before, but is still similar to stuff I like, I play music all the time.
I understand the argument that artists get paid less for streaming, but I suspect the increased playing time makes up for it
This is a really good point. I wish I had the money to buy physical media, to support the artists I like. However, I listen to way too many songs and albums. Not only this but I enjoy shuffling music from different albums. I always use shuffle unless listening to new music.
I have my own playlist, 5000+, wide variety: pop, rock, alt. (Separate list for jazz and metal).
I keep that on “random”. I frequently add music. Either a classic I hadn’t heard in a while or new music. About once a month I listen to Top 10 charts for: pop, rock, alt.
I also discover new artist through the show called: “Tiny Desk” from NPR. It’s a great show. Music from all genres. Mostly stripped down to basics. Gives a good sense of what the artist can do.
Tiny Desk is great. I want to trade collections with you but mine is my pride and joy. I’m very jealous of it. Mine sits just over 3000.
Ha, I hear ya. I’ve spent many hours on my collection. From CD rips, video converter, and of course plenty I’ve paid for. 1950s-now. Numerous original version of songs, e.g. “Remember(Walking in the Sand)” by Shangri Las… and the Aerosmith version.
OP, please reword your post to be an open-ended question. Thanks.
Thanks for reminder, done.
Not specifically certain songs but definitely certain artists. I have to the would library on shuffle sometimes to mix things up and introduce a bit of freshness.
I tend to binge a song or a whole album for a few days, then get sick of it and not listen to it for months
Playing off this, those tracks are like a diary for that period, however long. So I go back to them to recapture a period of time or a mood. Also there’s a weather and seasonal aspect to this. My music diet changes like my food diet diet does across the year
I dive hard into certain artists when find a song I like, but I find that my interest will naturally shift to other artists. For example, in 2022 Spotify put me in the top 0.01% for Seamus Kennedy because I found a funny song about a “greusome” moment. But I only occasionally listen to him this year. Right now I’m on a Dua Lipa binge because she put out a new good song with a hot music video. Never really gave her a chance before because I thought it was a weird band name. If I get bored and haven’t found anything new I’ll dive into something older too. Got on a Vengaboys and Limp Bizkit kick lately too.
Yup. I avoid playing my favorite band’s music on repeat so I can enjoy their concerts and the occasions where I do listen to them more.
Everything is finite. Live in the moment and enjoy that song now without worrying whether you’ll enjoy it in the future. Other songs will take its place.
Well said.
Oh this is partly how listening to music works for me. I’ll be listening to some particular songs in the moment repeatedly, get fed up of either all of them at once or one by one, then just stop listening to those that I get fed up of. I’ll then again listen to music when I again feel like listening to some particular music.
This is not directly related, but one reason I stop myself from binge watching TV shows is that if I end up watching too many episodes of a TV series at one go it can end up ruining the show for me, regardless of how great it may be, because watching too many episodes at one go makes me so fed up of the show that I don’t feel like watching it anymore. Binge watching almost ruined Breaking Bad for me; since then I make it a point to never watch more than 2 episodes of a show in a day. I generally restrict myself to one episode per day.
It is interesting how the brain works, I am the same.
That’s for sure!
