Listening differently...

[Bryant]

Unfortunately, this wouldn't work for me. Aside from my obsession with finding new music, I'm also somewhat obsessed with tracking what I listen to. Between my phone and my PC, I track 100% of what I listen to. I wouldn't be able to do this with CDs or a harddrive in my car.

Well I said I didn't want to be rude in my first reply. Well....... I take that back Greg. That is just plain weird. I suppose you can just chalk that up as the fact that I just don't get it, but I don't. What purpose does that data serve you ?
I mean I am a reasonably technical guy. I don't listen to Vanden Plas on 8 track. I actually prefer USB drives over a phone though. I keep half a dozen or so in my van (my CD player in the van has a USB.) I can stick them in my Oppo DVD player here in my HT system, or carry them into work to stick in the office PC and I don't have to tie up or drain my phone battery. Of course, it is a matter of simplicity and efficiency on my part. I am lazy.

 

[Bryant]

I've often thought about how cool it would have been to have been scobbling my entire life. I'd love to know how many times through I've played Shout at the Devil, Rage for Order, Ride the Lighting, etc.

That is a good thought, actually.

Now I feel bad about the last reply. Ha ha ha.....

For me, I would like to see how many times I have played Accept - Metal Heart, AC/DC - Back in Black, Metal Church - Blessing in Disguise, Master of Puppets, Yngwie - Rising Force, etc. I wonder what release I played the most ? Probably the Accept. However, I have owned BiB on vinyl, cassette, CD, mp3. It may rival the Metal Heart. Kinda makes me want to play BiB. It has actually been quite a while.

 

[Bryant]

But I also guess I am missing some things that would have clicked eventually. I just hope at that point places like this and other social music places I got to it sing the praises of it enough to make me revisit anything I brushed aside prematurely.

If I weren't such a HUGE Vanden Plas fan, I would have shelved "Chronicles" because it took MANY listens for me to "get." However, not only did it finally click, I find it to be their masterpiece now.
It isn't just "challenging" stuff like prog-metal either. I remember that Greg actually mailed me a CD (remember those ? >) of Tad Morose "Matters of the Dark." I listened to it and eh.... tossed it aside. Well, Tad Morose happened to be playing the next PPUSA, so I gave it another shot a few weeks later and that time I had to pick my jaw up off the floor. It was absolutely incredible.

 

[Bryant]

There were a lot of comments in this thread that I could relate to, but none so much as this. Since I started doing compilation reviews for the Corroseum, I find that my brain starts to break down songs into suitable one-liners. Instead of just enjoying the music, with every new track I am thinking "Old school US speed metal with gravelly female vocals." "Hair metal not unlike Badlands if Mike Tramp sang for them." "Mind-blowing early Queensryche influenced progressive power metal. Different to album version." Even if I'm not listening to a compilation I just can't help myself.

I agree 100%. However that isn't ALL a bad thing. I mentioned in another reply about Tad Morose. I think the reason Tad Morose absolutely floored me once they clicked with me is because I was a HUGE Metal Church fan when Howe (and Wayne too) was there. When they broke up, there was a huge void in metal for me for years. Tad Morose filled that void. They didn't really sound "like" Metal Church, but it just gave that same "vibe" for lack of a better adjective err.... well normally a noun, but you get the point.

 

[General Zod]

Well I said I didn't want to be rude in my first reply. Well....... I take that back Greg. That is just plain weird. I suppose you can just chalk that up as the fact that I just don't get it, but I don't. What purpose does that data serve you?

I would say it has two benefits. First, it's just plain cool. I readily acknowledge I'm a bit of geek when it comes to tracking data. Second, I actually use the data to make purchasing decision. Any record, that has 30 songs played, I buy.

I mean I am a reasonably technical guy. I don't listen to Vanden Plas on 8 track. I actually prefer USB drives over a phone though. I keep half a dozen or so in my van (my CD player in the van has a USB.) I can stick them in my Oppo DVD player here in my HT system, or carry them into work to stick in the office PC and I don't have to tie up or drain my phone battery. Of course, it is a matter of simplicity and efficiency on my part. I am lazy.

By and large, what I'm doing is effective, efficient, and even convenient. My current phone has 128GBs of memory on it and nearly 700 records. So if I'm in my car, I'm streaming music from my phone via Bluetooth. If I'm listening via headphones, I use my phone. And if I'm playing music throughout the house, I'm using my PC. This is how I would listen to my music even if I didn't Scobble. It just so happens my listening fits perfectly with Scobbling.

Now I feel bad about the last reply. Ha ha ha....

LOL.

 

[General Zod]

Now, I do spend a LOT of time listening to music, so I don't feel like I have a crisis. I can get through multiple full albums every day the way I'm going right now.

Just to clarify a bit, I don't feel as if this is a crisis. Mostly I'm intrigued by the idea of taking the concept of "acquaintance of many, friends with few", inverting it, and seeing if that has an impact on the way I appreciate music. Unfortunately my job is one where listening to music isn't really an option. Yet I do have time at work to hit a few review sites and add new things to my always expanding collection. So with the number of releases I want to check out growing, my listening hours shrinking, I have a dilemma.

 

[Bryant]

By and large, what I'm doing is effective, efficient, and even convenient. My current phone has 128GBs of memory on it and nearly 700 records. So if I'm in my car, I'm streaming music from my phone via Bluetooth. If I'm listening via headphones, I use my phone. And if I'm playing music throughout the house, I'm using my PC. This is how I would listen to my music even if I didn't Scobble. It just so happens my listening fits perfectly with Scobbling.

LOL.

Gotcha !! That is efficient and I like efficient. Don't get me wrong, I still do listen to CDs some. My wife's minivan can't really be upgraded as far as the head unit. We aren't too far away from getting a newer vehicle for her though, so that may change in the future.

Anyway. I am glad you created this thread. It really got me thinking about my listening habits and preferences and such. I sort of learned some stuff about myself........ well not so much learned anything "new" about myself, but more that I was able to connect some dots.
I am a musician, and though I consider myself a guitarist "by trade" so to speak, I am a multi-instrumentalist. Although I know very little about actually recording a song, I feel like I have a "producer's ear. I love the way instruments (which includes the vocals, as it is simply the lead instrument) interact with one another. It also explains my lack of sub-genre specific preference. Some bands that aren't particularly complex do still interweave with each other in incredible ways. A great example of that is AC/DC - Back in Black. The Brothers Young, when playing rhythm together REALLY intertwine with each other in ways you don't hear anywhere else. AC/DC is as close as it gets te "three chord rock" at first listen, but Angus would play a chord in one finger position and Malcolm would use another and it gives a HUGE stereophonic wall of sound. This isn't about AC/DC love here, that is simply just an example. I love drummers to accent guitars as well, not just power out double bass or crazy drum rolls and such. Drums play a HUGE role in bands that I love.
In conclusion, it takes a while for all of the interplay that I love so much to come to the surface even though I have ears that are trained for it. When I do hear some of it from a couple of listens, it piques my interest, and I spin it more. I'm not saying that ALL bands or releases that I like particularly have this stellar type of interplay, but the vast majority do.

 

[Burkhard]

I've often thought about how cool it would have been to have been scobbling my entire life. I'd love to know how many times through I've played Shout at the Devil, Rage for Order, Ride the Lighting, etc.

I've actually been keeping track of how often I listen to my albums since 1988 (which is not my entire life, but more than half of it) by a very simple means I could refer to as "audio scribbler" (all it requires is a pen and paper) and which I'm still using now, since I'm usually only listening to entire albums. I just wish I had started at least four years earlier, thus in 1984 when I got into Heavy Metal. (In that case "Ride the Lightning", "Master of Puppets", "The Spectre Within" and maybe a few more would rank much higher than they do now.)

 

[Oblivion Ocean]

I've actually been keeping track of how often I listen to my albums since 1988 (which is not my entire life, but more than half of it) by a very simple means I could refer to as "audio scribbler" (all it requires is a pen and paper) and which I'm still using now, since I'm usually only listening to entire albums. I just wish I had started at least four years earlier, thus in 1984 when I got into Heavy Metal. (In that case "Ride the Lightning", "Master of Puppets", "The Spectre Within" and maybe a few more would rank much higher than they do now.)

I started a thread awhile ago along these lines. I was wondering if you had to pay a quarter every time you listened to an album, which album would have cost you the most money and roughly how much would it be.

 

[LunaTEKKE]

An interesting discussion that has made me look at my own listening habits over the years. When I was in Jr. High and High School, you could buy a new release for $7.99 (maybe even on sale for $5.99). Cobbling enough money together to make a purchase involved several hours of babysitting or yard work. As others have posted, I would sit down with the lyrics and listen to a new album repeatedly until I had all the lyrics memorized. Even the songs I didn’t care for at the beginning tended to grow on me with repeated listens.

These days, I buy a LOT more CDs, but seem to give them a more cursory listen while I’m working or driving in search of a quick fix - a song that will kick my ass on the first listen. Occasionally, I do get that quick fix, for example: “Sin”/Circus Maximus; “Orvam”/Need; “Day Sixteen: Loser/Ayreon”; “Accolade II”/Symphony X; “Cheyenne”/John Arch; “I Believe”/Shadow Gallery.

But I’m positive I have a lot of great releases in my collection that just haven’t been given a fair listen, due to a “perfect storm” of less free time and more available music.

When “Endless Forms Most Beautiful” from Nightwish came out, I probably would have shelved it after one listen, but I had tickets to the Phoenix show, which was about a month after the release, and I really wanted to get familiar with the new material. I listened to the CD three times through while reading the lyrics and played it nonstop in my car and while at work. It grew on me to the point where I play it now a LOT - although I still wish the material would have been better tailored to Floor’s power and range.

I don’t think I’m up to the “5 CD” challenge, but here’s my new personal challenge: every new CD that I buy will get three straight listens with my full attention and a week of nonstop play. Next up will be “Underworld” from Symphony X.

A couple of side notes:

1. I think the perfect storm of more availability and less free time applies to the *information* that I consume about the bands as well. Back in the day, I loved visiting the grocery or drug store, because I got such a thrill to see a new Hit Parader or Kerrang magazine on the shelves. I bought all of that stuff and read it cover to cover. I could recite full bios (including birthdays) for every member of all my favorite bands. These days, that information is just a click away, but there are bands I like where I would struggle to even name all of the members.

2. Probably part of the reason that I don’t spend as much time with lyrics is that they are TOO FREAKING SMALL on the CD booklets. I either have to use a magnifying glass or hold the booklet right up to my nose. I suspect this this could be the year that I finally break down and buy bifocals…

 

[TwizstedJesus]

I've actually been keeping track of how often I listen to my albums since 1988 (which is not my entire life, but more than half of it) by a very simple means I could refer to as "audio scribbler" (all it requires is a pen and paper) and which I'm still using now, since I'm usually only listening to entire albums. I just wish I had started at least four years earlier, thus in 1984 when I got into Heavy Metal. (In that case "Ride the Lightning", "Master of Puppets", "The Spectre Within" and maybe a few more would rank much higher than they do now.)

We can all make a strong guess as to which cd's have received the most play in our lives. I am certain that my top 3 of all time are Fates Warning "No Exit", Savatage "Streets" and Pain of Salvation "Remedy Lane". They have all received weekly play for as long as they've been out and I still repeat play on certain days. But it would be interesting to get a snapshot of maybe the top 20 cd's in our playlists all time. I'm sure that there would be a few surprises; cd's that received heavy heavy play for like a year and then got pushed aside for something new, cd's that we each dig out a few times a year and spin that end up being listened to more than we realize, etc...

Listening to new music is extremely difficult to do. I find myself forcing a cd to the bitter end if I am not digging it, and if it isn't hitting the spot I find myself turning the stereo off instead of moving on since I am adamant that I must give it a chance if I spend my hard earned money on it. I have tried to listen differently since this thread popped up.

 

[Burkhard]

I started a thread awhile ago along these lines. I was wondering if you had to pay a quarter every time you listened to an album, which album would have cost you the most money and roughly how much would it be.

In my case that album would be "Terrestrials" by Atrox and it would have cost me (until now) $343.25. Now you do the math. By the way, the second most expensive album would have been "Within the Veil" by Fear of God at $312.00.

As regards the "5 CD"-challenge, I have done something similar, but it was only for 2 1/2 weeks in 2010 and about one week in 2013 when I was on holidays in Norway and the only music I had with me were the 7 CDs I listen to alternately in my car. But I didn't do this as a "challenge" and since the perception of music while driving in your car is always different from the one when you listen to it at home without any background noises and with or without headphones, maybe this doesn't really count.

I don't know if this also fits in here, but I noticed that while the number of albums I buy per year has gone down from about 50 in the late eighties/early nineties to something between 5 to 10 within the last 10 years, the number of spins of new albums has gone up, well, at least of those I really do enjoy a lot. The explanation is, of course, quite simple, because the less new albums I buy, the more time I have got to listen to each of them. Out of my 20 most-played albums since 1988, nine have been released in the past 10 years.

But it would be interesting to get a snapshot of maybe the top 20 cd's in our playlists all time. I'm sure that there would be a few surprises; cd's that received heavy heavy play for like a year and then got pushed aside for something new,

I think there are also a few examples of the latter in my top 20. I've noticed that when I play a new album of one of my favourite bands/artists a lot for a longer time, this might nearly abruptly stop once they release a new album - at least if I like the new album as much as the previous one.

cd's that we each dig out a few times a year and spin that end up being listened to more than we realize

In my case, "A Tribute to Insanity" by Hexenhaus (released in 1988) would be one of these CDs, though they aren't in my top 20 anymore.

 

[Diamond45]

An interesting discussion that has made me look at my own listening habits over the years. When I was in Jr. High and High School, you could buy a new release for $7.99 (maybe even on sale for $5.99). Cobbling enough money together to make a purchase involved several hours of babysitting or yard work. As others have posted, I would sit down with the lyrics and listen to a new album repeatedly until I had all the lyrics memorized. Even the songs I didn’t care for at the beginning tended to grow on me with repeated listens.

Part of the problem these days is that we are so inundated with new music that at times that we tend to wear ourselves out of new releases. Artists tend to release singles off of their album on YouTube, SoundCloud and other avenues that weren't even available until recently. Add Spotify, Pandora and iTunes to that as well. Even when we grab the CD off of Amazon and get the MP3s for free via their "auto rip" feature, so we are sick of it by the time we get the actual CD.

Next up will be “Underworld” from Symphony X.

That one is already on pre-order at Amazon. And I've been playing some of the YouTube videos over and over. "Without You" is on repeat play for me. That song really kicks ass. Hope I don't get sick of it by the time the album comes out!

I suspect this this could be the year that I finally break down and buy
bifocals…

I'm already on my second pair. However I still take them off to read small print!

 

[Hammerlock]

One thing I have been doing for the last two or three years is weighting my music rotation towards new releases, especially new releases of bands I was already a fan of. I'll usually listen to a new album one or two times (more if I love it) and then shelve it for a bit for other things, but over the next few months I try to revisit it a few times to see whether it gets better with age. It's helped albums like Insomnium's "Shadows of the Dying Sun" to grow on me, in that particular case into album of the year last year. It certainly helps me put together a year-end list when I get multiple perspectives on an album as the year rolls on.

 

[General Zod]

I've actually been keeping track of how often I listen to my albums since 1988 (which is not my entire life, but more than half of it) by a very simple means I could refer to as "audio scribbler" (all it requires is a pen and paper) and which I'm still using now, since I'm usually only listening to entire albums.

You've written down everything you've listened to since 1988?!?! That's pretty awesome and a little frightening. I'm picturing that scene in every movie, where the FBI profiler enters the one room apartment of the killer (prior to finding the killer), and tacked all over his walls are tens of thousands of scraps of papers. The lead detective carefully pulls a piece off the wall. The camera pans in on the piece of paper as he reads it. "January 9, 1992, Number of the Beast, 4 times today". The camera pans up to the detective's face, as he says horrified, "It's worse than we thought."

 

[jhallum]

By and large, what I'm doing is effective, efficient, and even convenient. My current phone has 128GBs of memory on it and nearly 700 records. So if I'm in my car, I'm streaming music from my phone via Bluetooth. If I'm listening via headphones, I use my phone. And if I'm playing music throughout the house, I'm using my PC. This is how I would listen to my music even if I didn't Scobble. It just so happens my listening fits perfectly with Scobbling.

LOL.

I just wish that storage scales more on these types of devices. I have a big iPod classic, and my 1100 albums are now cresting the size that the device is able to carry. Sadly, the affordable Micro SD cards have not gotten to the 256 GB range, which is the size I need to hold my collection, it's still trapped at 128GB. If it can get a little larger, than I could truly carry my collection everywhere, which would be fantastic!

 

[TheLongshot]

It is unfortunate that HD based music players have gone out of vogue, because capacity is an issue. I have a 120GB hard drive in my car's player, but it is now full and given how old the player is, it isn't really upgradable.

My current workout MP3 player has 4GB built in and a 32GB SD card. The 4GB carries the latest stuff in my collection, while the rest is a mix of the subset of my collection. I kinda wish the internal memory was 8GB so that the mix was a bit better, but generally it works well for me for working out.

 

[General Zod]

I agree, it will be great when larger SDRAM becomes cheaper and we can keep entire collections on a device. However, being able to keep 700+ records, at 320 Kbps, is fine for me. I rarely feel like I'm missing that 701st record. Plus, coming from a generation where I had six or seven cassettes in my car (max), I feel like I always have sufficient music at my fingertips.

 

[Burkhard]

You've written down everything you've listened to since 1988?!?! That's pretty awesome and a little frightening. I'm picturing that scene in every movie, where the FBI profiler enters the one room apartment of the killer (prior to finding the killer), and tacked all over his walls are tens of thousands of scraps of papers. The lead detective carefully pulls a piece off the wall. The camera pans in on the piece of paper as he reads it. "January 9, 1992, Number of the Beast, 4 times today". The camera pans up to the detective's face, as he says horrified, "It's worse than we thought."

It's not that bad. I just make a tally chart (if this is the correct word) and then tally up the tally marks once per month and once per year. A single sheet of paper will usually be enough for one year. I don't listen to more than 100-150 different albums per year (the vast majority of which only get a few spins).

 

[General Zod]

Listening Experiment: Day 8

Agalloch // The Mantle. As I noted in my OP, I've always held this record in high regard. So far its status has not been elevated as a result of this experiment.

Gorguts // Colored Sands. Lyrics have often been something that can make or break a band in my eyes. However, I've always considered them something of a non-factor in music that's either sung:

A) in another language or
B) so unintelligibly it might as well be sung in another language

As a result of this effort, I've come to learn that Colored Sands is about Tibet, its culture, and its struggle against an oppressive regime. The lyrics and the additional passages that accompany the lyrics have definitively elevated this listening experience. The music, which has always felt dissonant and impenetrable, has begun to open up.

Radiohead // OK Computer. I think this may be the longest recording in history... or perhaps it just feels that way? After one listen (I'm dreading the second), Thom Yorke's voice is just painful. It's not that he can't sing, it just feels as if he's consistently extending himself beyond his abilities.

Shade Empire // Omega Arcane. A real solid release. However, given it's duration (1:15), I realize I've probably never listened to it all, in a focused manner, in one sitting. Taken as a whole, it loses steam as it unfolds. It's not so much the quality diminishes, as it becomes abundantly apparent it's just unnecessarily long. I agree with the sentiments often expressed on Angry Metal Guy; once you crack the 45 minute mark, proceed with caution.

Slayer // Reign in Blood. Half way through the second song, I considered swapping this out of my List of 5, in favor of some other unappreciated classic. I found all of the lead play exceedingly abrasive; from Araya's vocals to the guitar solos. However, I stuck with it. After five spins, I can say I've almost begun to appreciate this record.

Taken overall, this experiment was likely overly idealistic. I've begun to confirm my listening habits haven't shifted as a result of abundance, but merely evolved to meet my changing music needs. Whereas a single record could once satisfy the limited listening experiences of my teenage mind, I now require more sustenance to feed that hunger.