> And then you went home and, precisely because you didn’t have access to all of the music that ever existed, you listened to the whole album, and then you’d listen to it again, and when you did you were just listening to it, rather than having music on in the background while you repetitively scrolled through other shit on your phone.
I had an argument about this with a friend of mine a while back.
"Why would you EVER do anything BUT just download and listen to the best songs on the album? Listening to the whole album, including the crap songs is just the height of stupidity. Why would you pay money for the crap songs??"
Counterpoint: The songs which grab you right away, may not be the ones with staying power. You get over them, and the more you listen to the songs which don't grab you right away, the more you start to appreciate their hidden depths.
90's music example: Megadeth's Rust In Peace album. Hanger 18 is the most obviously best song on the album, but you listen to the albums a few times, and if you're a guitar player you're going to start noticing the playing on Tornado of Souls. You go back and HOLY SHIT THIS SONG IS INSANE. That is a song that I can listen to decades later and still hear something new and interesting that I never noticed before.
Another counterpoint: Concept albums, which tell a story which is greater than the sum of its parts. Listening to the whole album of 2112 by Rush is far superior to just listening to Temples of Syrinx. Or, the whole of Dream Theater's Metropolis Pt. 2 instead of just The Dance of Eternity.
My friend is not a musician and has a fairly casual appreciation of music. So of course, he has a shallow view of how people should consume music.
I had an argument about this with a friend of mine a while back.
"Why would you EVER do anything BUT just download and listen to the best songs on the album? Listening to the whole album, including the crap songs is just the height of stupidity. Why would you pay money for the crap songs??"
Counterpoint: The songs which grab you right away, may not be the ones with staying power. You get over them, and the more you listen to the songs which don't grab you right away, the more you start to appreciate their hidden depths.
90's music example: Megadeth's Rust In Peace album. Hanger 18 is the most obviously best song on the album, but you listen to the albums a few times, and if you're a guitar player you're going to start noticing the playing on Tornado of Souls. You go back and HOLY SHIT THIS SONG IS INSANE. That is a song that I can listen to decades later and still hear something new and interesting that I never noticed before.
Another counterpoint: Concept albums, which tell a story which is greater than the sum of its parts. Listening to the whole album of 2112 by Rush is far superior to just listening to Temples of Syrinx. Or, the whole of Dream Theater's Metropolis Pt. 2 instead of just The Dance of Eternity.
My friend is not a musician and has a fairly casual appreciation of music. So of course, he has a shallow view of how people should consume music.