Interest in music

Musikwala

Popmartian
Joined
Jan 14, 2014
Posts
1,271
Reaction score
6
Location
Ontario, Canada
I have often wondered about this and thought that it would make for a nice debate over here.

Tell me if the following is also true for you guys.

I have always noticed that the people I know... close family, friends, other relatives etc. are just not into music as much as I am.

I mean, they will listen to the radio passively and may even know a good amount of classic songs by a variety of artists. But they will never collect classic albums or seek out any new albums. They are generally happy with any hit songs they hear in passing, while doing their chores or whatever.

The thing that puzzles me is... many of these people will seek out the latest books, browse book stores regularly and have a healthy reading habit. Many also keep up on the latest movies, watch award shows like the Oscars and get excited to watch the latest movies. But they have no interest in keeping up with new music... or even collecting established classics.

What do books and movies have that music doesn't?

When I spoke to my wife on this topic... (and I have to add here that she is a passive listener of music but she admires my dedication and interest towards music)... she made a good point. She said movie trailers/previews are constantly advertized on TV. Behind The Scenes programmes are broadcast on TV. Whereas with music, one has to seek out artists and albums. They are not ubiquitous on TV. I guess when MTV stopped playing music, it all went south.

Thoughts?
 

AboutAGirl

oh, be nice
Joined
Apr 21, 2005
Posts
2,693
Reaction score
11
Hmmm.... can't say I know the feeling. My family are all big music fans. We're all big movie and TV fans as well. Me, my uncle, and gram are the only readers in the group.
 

gcczep

Ever Onward...
Joined
Apr 29, 2011
Posts
4,374
Reaction score
17
Location
Between my left and right speakers...
Addictions...

Folks and some relatives are "average" music/film fans. Average meaning they are not in the same strata of...uuummm...obsession. Yes, music you have to go further to see what is the latest development as it differs from movies from a visual perspective.
 

Johnny-Too-Good

Senior Member
Joined
Dec 23, 2013
Posts
1,568
Reaction score
6
Location
UK
I completely get what you are saying Musikwala. I rarely, if ever these days, meet anyone with the same enthusiasm as me for classic rock music. My wife has had to put up with it for most of her adult life. She is also a passive listener, though I did persuade her to come with me to see the Floyd and Fleetwood Mac. I brainwashed my four children, and it worked to an extent - The second time I went to see Pink Floyd it was with my two oldest sons and their wives. Times change I guess. I had a circle of friends in the '70s/'80s who had fantastic record collections, and we would hang out at each other's homes listening (and smoking) for hours. These days most of my music listening is in the car.
 

Vehicle

Aging Metalhead
Joined
Mar 2, 2012
Posts
2,725
Reaction score
342
Location
The Barrens
Family (Missus, brothers, cousins, etc)......listeners

Son, daughter, myself...... hunter/gatherers
 

Sunny

Settled down at last and very happy.
Joined
Jan 1, 2010
Posts
15,728
Reaction score
176
Location
On a far away island .....
We didn't have at TV when I was growing up so the whole family read a lot and listened to music. Grew up listening to a lot of blues, rock, metal and pop.
 

analoggal

Woman of the Country
Joined
Feb 11, 2013
Posts
224
Reaction score
23
Location
Heart o' the Ozarks
Family Affair

Music has always been a huge part of our lives. Now we're talking 60's & 70's here...
Dad: Every Saturday & Sunday he'd play his polkas as loud as possible on his state-of-the-art 'hi-fi' to wake us up after late nights out - it was a real eye-opener!
Mom: Was real heavy into Motown
Big Sis: Did the Carol King/Joni Mitchell thing
Big Bro: Really into Traffic, King Crimson & 'underground' style of music
Little Sis & I: Motown and later 'underground' music
Hubby: Is my soul mate in most things especially music - we both love classic rock and have an extensive reel-to-reel collection
Daughter - 25 yrs. old: Into classic rock - has a very extensive vinyl collection

It's a Family Affair... Sly & the Family Stone

 

Jet

Midway Up The Ceiling
Joined
Mar 23, 2014
Posts
6,453
Reaction score
21
Location
On The Hill
My husband was also a passive listener when we met. Now we've been to see McCartney twice, Chicago five times, ELO once, America once, Heart once, to name just a few, and he now loves the Beatles. The funniest thing that ever happened is when he came running in the house once and said he heard a new McCartney song that ended with Band On The Run. :woot: I almost didn't have the heart to tell him it was Nineteen Hundred And Eighty-Five. Now he loves to listen to music (too loud) with his Disc-man. :flirt My mom and dad are gone but they didn't really listen to much music either. My mom drove me nutty when I was a kid listening to talk-radio.
 

coltrane2

Musicologist
Joined
Dec 25, 2011
Posts
350
Reaction score
0
Location
UK
I have often wondered about this and thought that it would make for a nice debate over here.

Tell me if the following is also true for you guys.

I have always noticed that the people I know... close family, friends, other relatives etc. are just not into music as much as I am.

I mean, they will listen to the radio passively and may even know a good amount of classic songs by a variety of artists. But they will never collect classic albums or seek out any new albums. They are generally happy with any hit songs they hear in passing, while doing their chores or whatever.

The thing that puzzles me is... many of these people will seek out the latest books, browse book stores regularly and have a healthy reading habit. Many also keep up on the latest movies, watch award shows like the Oscars and get excited to watch the latest movies. But they have no interest in keeping up with new music... or even collecting established classics.

What do books and movies have that music doesn't?

When I spoke to my wife on this topic... (and I have to add here that she is a passive listener of music but she admires my dedication and interest towards music)... she made a good point. She said movie trailers/previews are constantly advertized on TV. Behind The Scenes programmes are broadcast on TV. Whereas with music, one has to seek out artists and albums. They are not ubiquitous on TV. I guess when MTV stopped playing music, it all went south.

Thoughts?

I've been thinking and pondering on this one for years. Especially the point about the folks around me being patient and culturally tuned in enough to get excited about books or new movie releases....but rarely music.

One thing is for sure, this is not the result of music representing an inferior medium: this is MUSIC for goodness sake, it's one of the highest forms of human expression, commenting on and soothing our condition and it always has been.

In my opinion, the problem lies with the three "Ms": Media, medium and market:

The media has dropped music like a hot potato, because it's now a commodity in supermarkets like buying a tin of beans. Unless it's the next Adele album, they won't get behind it. It's a circular exercise as the media is partly responsible but has no desire to alter the status quo. Why release column space in connection with happening music when you can use it to report on Kim Kardashian? And MTV, as bad as it was, is no longer even a music channel!

Music mediums have been nothing short of a disaster over the past 15 years: whilst both books and movies have been subject to swift transitions in format, none of those format changes altered the shape of the experience. The fact that a book is consumed via Kindle or a movie on a streaming box rather than DVD hasn't resulted in the general public only reading part of a book or watching part of a film. Music on the other hand has suffered as a result of the erosion of the album as an artistic expression in favour of short attention span tracks via Spotify or iTunes. It's not dead as the "media" would have us believe, but it's impact has been significantly altered.

The market has changed because, anyway you slice it, the golden age of rock is over. What hope should we hold out for a new Beatles, Stones, Zeppelin, Sabbath, Zappa, Springsteen, Floyd, Guns N Roses, Nirvana or even Radiohead? Answer: none - it's impossible. There is still a lot of great, great music and great new bands, but that period of discovery and magic is now historic - a relic (albeit one to be enjoyed and savoured via the vast catalogue of great music).

I'm guessing that none of these comments (other than market) apply to the folks on this forum and that includes me. We all 'get it' and music and albums are a huge, huge part of our lives. Not something to feel superior about, in fact we should educate and spread the word!
 

Find member

Forum statistics

Threads
30,658
Posts
1,064,913
Members
6,353
Latest member
edmerka

Members online

Top