Music isn't really important anymore.

[Guybrush]

It's a vicious cycle of the need for new music, the creation of that music, and then the search for newer pleasures.

It's indeed a vicious cycle, but it's also one that's quite escapeable.

What has happened since the late 90s, the way I see it, is that the availability of music (and also movies, audiobooks etc.) free of cost has led the average person to treat it just the brutal way one treats anything that is "gratis" (there is a thing such as a free lunch): with kleptomania and non-commitment (the smörgåsbord effect - the wealth of choices makes one gluttonize, which in turn dilutes the grandeur of each delicacy and leaves the eaterer but with an aching stomach). I recently spotted an eighteen-year(-ish) old boy amply illustrate this on a messageboard; he wrote something to the effect of: "Someone recommend me some music. I have, like, 20 000 mp3s, but I can't think think of a single one I want to listen to." He thinks he needs to be pointed in the direction of good music, but what he really needs, I think, is to become a better listener*; should he accomplish that goal, I'm sure he'll find his 20 000 mp3s more than enough for a lifetime of listening - in the process eradicating his newness addiction (which is what the "vicious cycle" is about, isn't it?).

What I'm trying to say is that I think "the search for newer pleasures" is a self-feeding cycle (the more "newer pleasures" you find, the swifter you abandon your old flames, the more intense the hunt for "the next fix") that one has to be aware of and evade from time to another. It has always been present, but file-sharing has made it possible for most anybody to stir it since what was the "safeguard" (the monetary investment) is gone.

* (Presumptuousness alert!) I haven't escaped the cycle completely, but I do think my music listening skills have improved a lot over the last couple of years, partly thanks to some restrictions I have put on my listening. These include: (1) It's strictly forbidden to touch the "next tune" stick on the mp3-player no matter how tedious the song playing is, and (2) It's strictly forbidden to save files to my harddrive unless I have some kind of an emotional bond to them (e.g. no keeping songs solely for completist reasons).

Hmm, a bit of a patchwork this. Well, it's clear in my head anyway.

 

[DJ PIMP]

It's indeed a vicious cycle, but it's also one that's quite escapeable.

As much as we live in an age of arrested development, it seems the common escape for most is hitting 30ish, seeing the pop culture from their youth get recycled and figuring "this is great but I did it the first time", before letting the commitments of relationships, kids, mortgages and work come to the fore.

I imagine some would describe it as "getting a life" but as I am equal parts man and techno I cannot personally verify that claim.

 

[Tactics]

its not even that

Ugh, I know, I'll try to be a bit more positive in future. It just feels like everything I hated as a teenager has become huge, I realise this isn't how everybody else feels.

I agree with you (kinda) but the thing is...

"IT DOESN'T MATTER!" (c) The Rock

it seems a lot of your beef is with the mainstream but...who cares about the mainstream? there are some good musics within it but the best music will always be underground and with small to reasonably large followings

thats.about.it - well I think so

 

[swears]

I agree with you (kinda) but the thing is...

"IT DOESN'T MATTER!" (c) The Rock

it seems a lot of your beef is with the mainstream but...who cares about the mainstream? there are some good musics within it but the best music will always be underground and with small to reasonably large followings

thats.about.it - well I think so

Yeah, but there's not much on the underground that interests me either. Maybe the odd minimal, electronica or dubstep track, aside from that it's mostly been old stuff.

 

[blunt]

Yeah, but there's not much on the underground that interests me either. Maybe the odd minimal, electronica or dubstep track, aside from that it's mostly been old stuff.

Well, I guess the question you have to ask yourself is whether or not you'd have been feeling the old stuff first time around...

 

[Guybrush]

Yeah, but there's not much on the underground that interests me either. Maybe the odd minimal, electronica or dubstep track, aside from that it's mostly been old stuff.

Have you heard this album, Swears?

They're the Swedish Hot Chip (they even tour together), and they write all of their songs themselves but are still resolutely in the dance camp (no guitars in other words).

You can listen to three of their songs on their MySpace-page (here), "City" is my favourite.