Does anyone have, or has had, an addiction to music?
It might sound silly to most, but I have had one for years now.
I started to really listen to music on my own volition in the early 2010s when I was in my early 10s, and I was really big into EDM at the time (big room house, brostep, electro house, progressive house, etc).
At some point in 2014 I wanted to expand my tastes so I ended up on rateyourmusic.com which is the kinda place you always end up on at some point if you go down this path the way I see it, and at first I just checked the overall charts and shrugged since it wasn't my kind of music at all (The Beatles, The Beach Boys, Miles Davis, Pink Floyd, The Rolling Stones, Radiohead, etc), but at some point it started bothering me; "why is all that crappy old music so highly regarded?" and I started giving the stuff a try. Didn't like it at all, but I somehow starting feeling compelled to try and understand/appreciate it.
Eventually, I fell down a sort of rabbit hole when I started reading discussions on how some music is "objectively better" than others and I completely believed it. Pushed around by the extremely harsh disdain towards the EDM I loved and godly praise of the type of thing I just mentioned, I just kinda felt like I was supposed to move on and basically listened to a lot of stuff like that.
Another while later I eventually realized that the whole "objectively good/bad" thing is one ugly sack of false shit, but I've been really burned out since then, and now I don't even really feel the music I used to like. Problem is, at this point the act of crawling through the charts looking for new music, constantly listening to new stuff, thinking about genres, etc, is so deeply ingrained in my behavior that I can't seem to stop. I have music on at nearly all times, and I force myself to listen to everything in full despite not feeling it at all.
Something that's also gotten me is the whole repeated listening thing, I've always really loved the idea of being able to enjoy something you initially didn't care for or were lukewarm towards by simply repeatedly listening to it. That also caused me to disregard my own impressions and force myself to repeatedly listen to almost everything. I'm mostly out of that phase now, but I sometimes still find myself digging through random stuff I've given low ratings and listening to it again purely to see if I suddenly like it, but it has literally never even worked once. I also think this has been a contributor to me being burned out on music.
At this point I kinda feel like I'll never truly enjoy music again like I used to and it's really sad. Sometimes it does return a little, but if have to explain it with a rating, I can't say I've ever really felt anything above a 7/10 again, most of the time it's between a 3/10 and 6/10. I totally realize I just need to take a break, but I simply can't seem to stop (through a lot of effort I have actually managed to take a full break last month, but I immediately relapsed when I resumed this month, and even without that it doesn't seem like it helped all that much). What a lot of people have with things like gaming and food, I basically have with music.
Does anyone else have anything like this?
Not sure if I would call myself an “addict” but I listen to music almost literally 24/7 and I never really experienced burnout, probably because I never seemed to go through this common phase of trying to find “objectively” good music. I was always in my own bubble when it came to music, never cared about what was critically acclaimed or what the so called nerds were into, I just explored different genres and songs at my own pace. I think a lot of people fall into that mentality of trying to impress others by having “good” taste in music so they burn them selves out by listening to stuff they don’t even like just because it’s highly praised.
At the end of the day, music should never be a chore. Even as a musician, making new stuff never feels like a chore to me because it’s something I love to do, and if I get frustrated I just take a break and do something else.
One of the most satisfying experiences for me is listening to something that I really "shouldn't" like, given my current tastes, and being able to say "oh, yeah, I get it."
Fellow music addict (also with tinnitus) checking in.
What solved this issue for me was ignoring the music that's in the background. It's that music's job to pull my attention away from other things. If the piece isn't good enough to do that, listening to it attentively isn't going to change anything about my appreciation.
I went through a prog-rock phase where I was on a quest to find the ultimate albums. I wasn't enjoying a lot of it - there's far too much noodly 'gee-wiz look at what I can do' prog out there. I found a lot of good prog on that journey that I still listen to on occasion, but the number of albums I found that really took me for a ride and changed my musical appreciation (the 'revealers' that need several listens to appreciate) I can count on both hands. It's not common for albums to be able to do that and I think it gets a lot less common the more music you listen to. Once your tastes are mature you listen differently. I covered how I do my cratedigging in an older comment.
The only 'objectively bad' music I've ever heard is from bands and artists who are in two camps. The first are the guys who just haven't learned how to play yet, and even they can get lucky with a one hit wonder once in a while. The second are the guys who are turning out repetitive generic music, copies of other better original works - generally to cash in on a trend. I'll stick up for that much objectivity at least.
Problem is, it's the subjectivity that determines what you like. There's no such thing as a universal yardstick for music appreciation - we're all too different in our tastes, and you should never feel bad for hating an album everyone else is digging. I never got Radiohead at all, for example. They bore the hell out of me. That doesn't make them bad, just means they aren't my bag.
I recognize that feeling of 'I'll never enjoy music again' (and I'm in the middle of it right now still working on the bestof2020). Sooner or later, though, you'll hit on something that you'll have on repeat for a hundred spins. Sometimes you can find two in a week, though you'll be doing well if you can find ten in a year. Part of this is the staleness of sticking to one genre for a long time. It may be worth changing what part of the record store you're spending your time in if the staleness is persisting for too long.
If you fancy a well curated wall of genres to try out, start here.
Still subjective, not objective.
I think it's more an overabundance of music in general really, I don't get stuck in single genres. In fact, I wish I did, I'd like to get deeper in genres I already like instead of forcing myself through electroacoustic improvisation, drone, stoner metal and Detroit techno, lol.
If you think that, I'll wager you haven't spent much time listening to bands where not one member could play a scale to save their life. :)
Thing is, good and bad are by definition subjective since they depend on subjective criteria. So that alone would render "objectively good/bad" inherently impossible.
But aside from that, there are people who listen to super low bitrate field recordings, atonal improvised noise rock, electroacoustic improvisation, music that's literally just a super high pitched sine wave that goes on for an hour or so, etc. And there's John Cage who thought that all sound was music, so yeah...
One could listen to a kid hammering on a keyboard without any training for six hours but I don't think I'd call it music. :P
Sometimes, and I swear this is real, I like to challenge my sensibilities. I put on headphones, turn on several different pieces of classical music at once, maybe with some nature noises too, and just sit back and try to experience the chaos as music. It has groove, it has direction, it has narrative. The parts interact sometimes.
So like, this would be considered some real avant-garde BS if you did it in a performance. But it's not — it's just for me. :-)
To me it seems you have more an issue with the social part of music. I also listen to music 24/7, go on rateyourmusic, etc. but I'm quite confident in my judgment so if I think something is shit in the top 100 after one or two listens (and there's plenty of that on rateyourmusic), that's about it, and I don't care at all about genre, classification, etc. so I don't really experience what you are talking about.
I have phases where I only indulge and listen to what I enjoy the most for my mood, but after a while I get bored and feel the need to find new stuff, that's when I explore and push myself a bit to listen to new things. About the "repeated listening" thing, it does work but you need to have your curiosity genuinely piqued and it works usually when the music is too complex for you (e.g. if you try atonal jazz or Meshuggah and you don't feel it, maybe try again later), if you can tell exactly why you don't like it, trash it (for a good while at least). Also coming back to it after a significant period of time (a year) is probably a good idea rather than trying to force it.
Anyway, I would say I'm addicted to music, but in a more physical & emotional way. I just feel terrible if I don't listen to music for a while (I get depressed/nervous) and I have this feeling of relief when I finally do. I think there's also something with the air pressure on my ears.
Also try to move/dance to the music, feel it in a visceral way.
Oh yeah, I can imagine this being an issue especially if you have tinnitus. What do you think of noise music? Does it drown out the tinnitus?
I guess I do, I have a very inactive sedentary lifestyle so I suppose I might be subconsciously using it as a sort of "filler". I'll give the background noise a try.
I actually do make music myself in a DAW, but I find myself never being satisfied and unable to finish tracks. So I don't really do it too often since I find myself constantly running out of ideas, not being satisfied, etc, and then I just get angry and sour.
Yeah, I suppose it might be best to wait for a "sign" of sorts before retrying things.
Yeah, I'm very perfectionistic in most things I do, including drawing as well, and that works counterproductively. Guess it's better to make music without listening to anything in between?
Sure, you too!
I want to look at this differently.
It sounds like you don't want to change anything about the music you listen to, right? That's not the problem.
You want to establish a different relationship between you and music. You want to hear and treat it differently.
You already know there's music you can like. I think that experience is still accessible to you, it's just challenging to find right now.
I'd encourage you to really think about and change the way you consume music. Trying to reframe it as the experience of listening, rather than about the piece of music as an object that you can study.
I wouldn't suggest you go cold turkey — actually I would judge that unhealthy. But maybe you could go on a diet. You might try setting a time in the evening for two songs, and only two. Cut out other music from your day, just that time in the evening. Sit differently from how you normally do, maybe put on some nice shoes, and try to let only the sound walk you along. Not thinking about lyrics, or history of the performers, or whatever: just the gentle pull of beats and harmony, however you experience those things.
Man, I hope this comment is somehow useful to you. Sounds like you're in a tough spot.
Thanks, I'll try that.
I broke myself with regards to most popular music in high school. I fell into the jaded nerd thing of "this stuff sucks, it's just objectively bad." I hated on a lot of stuff that simply didn't deserve it. Here's the thing: I quickly got bored of what I was listening to, and accidentally went back to some of the stuff I bagged on, with some exceptions that I came to understand were individual taste, rather than objective truth. If I told 15-year-old me that within three years I'd be listening to progressive house and hip hop, I would've laughed in my own face.
I'd like to make a recommendation: Find an artist that gives you that 7/10 feeling, or even a 3/10. Check Wikipedia or interviews for their inspirations and/or collaborators and relationships. Follow this network and listen to everything. Some of my favorite music has been found through artist collaborations with other artists who I liked more than the original, and occasionally because an artist I liked listened to/mentioned them, or inspired, or even was inspired by, this other artist. All of my top favorite music was something I was effectively referred to by another artist.
I appreciate the help, but for some reason I've never had this work for me, it seems like all my favorite artists listen to music that I don't care for.