do you fetishistically AVOID listening to your favorite albums?

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I've developed a probably unhealthy quirk where I only listen to my Very Favorite Albums once in a great while, and under only the "right conditions" (alone, dimmed lights, total attention to the stereo)... Kind of like a "Same Time, Next Year" scenario, only infinitely lamer (and without Alan Alda).

I guess I'm afraid of getting "tired" of them... but's it's almost worse than that, like I've elevated them so highly that I'm afraid of even perceiving a "flaw in their perfection" (I know, shoot me now). I've gone so far as to ask someone to turn off a tape playing in the car, because I just couldn't deal with having such greatness merely playing in the background.

Believe me, I'm not a psychopath otherwise. (Is this what they mean by "rockism"?)

― Sam Jeffries (samjeff), Sunday, 16 March 2003 04:06 (twenty-three years ago)

i do this to an extent - it's very much more to avoid becoming tired of them (which has happened with several of my favourite albums in the past, Loveless and The Stone Roses being two particular examples)

― electric sound of jim (electricsound), Sunday, 16 March 2003 04:09 (twenty-three years ago)

this is probably a highly rockist activity, yeah, but i do it too. i probably haven't listened to laughing stock in like six mos. but it's supposedly my favorite album. i worry about listening to it and hating it and i also worry about listening to it and realzing its what is known as a "stock answer."

then i realize i am being stupid. but i still don't listen to it.

― jess (dubplatestyle), Sunday, 16 March 2003 04:13 (twenty-three years ago)

TOTALLY.

I was actually thinking about this today. I was trying to think of what to put in my discman before I went out, and I almost grabbed Gorguts Obscura, but then I put it back because I don't ever want to wear it out.

Yeah, Talk Talk is one group whose records (and the Hollis thing) I consider some of the best ever, but I try not to listen to them too often. Not because they're "difficult" or demanding of a particular mood or anything, just they're so exquisitely grand I don't ever want them to become overly familiar.

― Mr. Diamond (diamond), Sunday, 16 March 2003 04:23 (twenty-three years ago)

I do this with A Love Supreme, probably for fear of getting tired of it or getting too used to its impact.

― Jordan (Jordan), Sunday, 16 March 2003 04:32 (twenty-three years ago)

Kind of like a "Same Time, Next Year" scenario, only infinitely lamer (and without Alan Alda).
You're lucky. Once a year I pull out "War" and "Daydream Nation" and then Alan Alda comes over and tactlessly talks over the good parts.

― Lord Custos Epsilon (Lord Custos Epsilon), Sunday, 16 March 2003 04:46 (twenty-three years ago)

a lot of it, too, is that, for me, I don't ever have to hear my favorite records ever again, because i can play them note for note in my head anyway. Wire's Chairs Missing falls into this category - I never have to hear THAT again. It becomes this weird Rocky Horror-esque scenario where everything is anticipated, with no surprises, no nuances. I guess this is the end result of "wearing them out" so maybe you have the right idea.

― roger adultery (roger adultery), Sunday, 16 March 2003 04:53 (twenty-three years ago)

Nah - I listen to my favorite albums all the time. That's how I know they're my favorites, you know?

― jillian (jillian), Sunday, 16 March 2003 05:33 (twenty-three years ago)

Agreed. I really feel like this is a stupid thing to do. Well, not "stupid" really, but maybe silly? If it's truly a great album, you won't get tired of it, because that's the way great albums are, right? And if you do get tired of it, and it becomes less great in your eyes (ears), won't it bump up something else into that spot?

On an unrelated note, I bought Wonderful Rainbow by Lightning Bolt today and I love it. One of the quickest MP3 download to CD purchase turnarounds I've ever personally experienced.

― Famous Athlete, Sunday, 16 March 2003 05:43 (twenty-three years ago)

Well, even though I'm constantly delighted that I'm able to find older stuff (and the VERY occasional new stuff) that I really like - it's very, very rare that I find something that "speaks to me" as much as that elite bunch of albums does. It's almost never that a new find gets added "near the top of the list." And I don't think something else would just "bump up" to #1... more like I'd lose something enormously valuable, and who knows if it can ever be "replaced."

― Sam Jeffries (samjeff), Sunday, 16 March 2003 05:56 (twenty-three years ago)

i disagree - while 'bumping something up' is of course a common practice (i figure I hear at least 30 new albums a week), pound for pound, album to album, I still prefer Chairs Missing to the new Daniel Johnston album, you know? But i'd much rather listen to Danile Johnston today.

There are exceptions - I can listen to Siamese Dream, any time, in any mood.

― roger adultery (roger adultery), Sunday, 16 March 2003 05:57 (twenty-three years ago)

absolutely. i haven't listened to Bark Psychosis' Hex in years, so terrified am i that it might not be as good as i remember. no danger, i realize. and yet i just can't take the chance, seeing as how 'Hex' has been perched at the very top of my Top 10 since 1994. so much at stake!

― summerslastsound, Sunday, 16 March 2003 06:04 (twenty-three years ago)

definitely, yes. i can get tired of albums really easily, like more than a once a month after the initial getting-aquainted phase tends to be a bit much for me. and with ones that i really don't want to spoil, it can be quite a while before the right moment presents itself.

― Al (sitcom), Sunday, 16 March 2003 06:55 (twenty-three years ago)

Some albums I know almost too well, others retain their surprises, still others leap out at me after I think I know them well enough...bit of a mix and match in the end.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Sunday, 16 March 2003 07:01 (twenty-three years ago)

― ron (ron), Sunday, 16 March 2003 07:56 (twenty-three years ago)

guilty as charged - my so called 'favourites' only get listened to once a year on average by me, probably more bi-annually now...

― stevem (blueski), Sunday, 16 March 2003 12:28 (twenty-three years ago)

No; I listen to my favorite albums long past the point of being sick of them. Then I put them away and "rediscover" them years later.

― Jody Beth Rosen (Jody Beth Rosen), Sunday, 16 March 2003 12:30 (twenty-three years ago)

All the time, i gess i'm doing it to increase my erge for'em. My theory is that it'll make you injoy the album for longer period, i'm allways afraid i'll get sick of it, if i woun't do it.

― rex jr., Sunday, 16 March 2003 13:15 (twenty-three years ago)

sort of.
stupid ha?

― rex jr., Sunday, 16 March 2003 13:17 (twenty-three years ago)

I don't bcz i don't have the time as I like to listen to new things and acquire new faves.

― Julio Desouza (jdesouza), Sunday, 16 March 2003 13:31 (twenty-three years ago)

Yes! for example I had never heard WishboneAsh-Argus until recently when I brought it home from the goodwill. I was so fucking happy with the A side I played it three times put the LP back its sleeve and buried it in the stacks to keep it from myself so as not to wear out the joy too soon.

― girl scout heroin (iamamonkey), Sunday, 16 March 2003 13:40 (twenty-three years ago)

I do this with my favorites and I do a similar thing with all albums I buy - I feel like an album will last longer if I only listen to it like three times within the first couple weeks.

― Vinnie (vprabhu), Sunday, 16 March 2003 20:42 (twenty-three years ago)

Sam, you are not alone. You pretty much described the same exact way I handle my favorite albums.

― JP Albin (John Paul Albin), Sunday, 16 March 2003 20:54 (twenty-three years ago)

It depends on the album...some records have such an impact on me that I can't handle them except in certain circumstance. (The Cure's Pornography springs to mind as the best example.) But generally I have so many favorites that I'm always rediscovering them.

― teeny (teeny), Sunday, 16 March 2003 21:14 (twenty-three years ago)

When I was younger and sadder, I had a never-changing top 10 albums list, which The White Album headed. When I realised I hardly ever put these records on I knocked the whole spurious thing on the head. Now I just have records I really like, like and so forth without anything so staid as order...

― DJ Mencap (DJ Mencap), Monday, 17 March 2003 13:31 (twenty-three years ago)

I think this shit is serious. A lot of us (me included) are really NOT listening to the music we like the most, so it won't lose its beauty because of overexposure. So are we kinda like avoiding pleasure to get even bigger pleasure? Is this some kind of masochistic fetish?

― JP Almeida (JP Almeida), Monday, 17 March 2003 14:19 (twenty-three years ago)

I had a friend who would play his fav song of the moment over and over and over. Ruined a few good ones for me.
Now, I feel guilty if I play an album I like too much. It's not a strict rule, like I could only listen to it 3X a year or something, but I do have an aversion to 'playing stuff out'. It *is* just that I like it so much, I don't want to 'ruin' it.

― oops (Oops), Monday, 17 March 2003 16:58 (twenty-three years ago)

Taking Sides: Fetishistically avoiding vs Fetishistically NOT avoiding listening to the same rekkids over and over and over again?

― Lord Custos Epsilon (Lord Custos Epsilon), Monday, 17 March 2003 22:04 (twenty-three years ago)

I pretty much stopped listening to _Colossal Youth_ for years because I'd completely wrung it dry. I've even memorized the spaces in between the songs. I went back to it for the first time in awhile last year and still love it.

― mike a (mike a), Monday, 17 March 2003 22:16 (twenty-three years ago)

I usually don't listed to my favourite albums more than 1-2 times a year at most. But I wouldn't say this is a "fetish" or anything. Just that I prefer checking out new stuff within the same genres instead of listening to the same records over and over again.

― Geir Hongro (GeirHong), Tuesday, 18 March 2003 02:17 (twenty-three years ago)

I never need to listen to Nevermind agian. But I will.

― B.Rad (Brad), Tuesday, 18 March 2003 02:23 (twenty-three years ago)

http://missionofburma.com/bgu/original/horriblekitty.gif

Ok, The BurmaKitty cannot resist posting on a thread that uses the word fetishistically.

Here's the deal, which doesn't really seem to relate to any of the previous answers...but definitely has the FETISH part down:

The MORE I listen to Signals, Calls and Marches

the better it sounds.

The MORE I listen to VS.

the better it sounds.

The MORE I listen to The Horrible Truth About Burma

The better it sounds.

But then, after a few listens to each, either my hands get tired, or the batteries run out, or some poor guy that looks sort of like he could look like Clint Conley if the lights were low enough is being stopped on the street and asked stupid questions like, "Have you ever heard of Mission of Burma?" "Do you play bass?" "Any stringed instrument?" "Do you know someone who plays an instrument?" "Do you know an alley that doesn't have much foot or vehicular traffic?" "How old are you?"

And it's NOTHING BUT TROUBLE and NOTHING GOOD CAN COME FROM IT

So, for that reason, and that reason alone, I have given up listening to Signals, Vs and the Horrible Truth for Lent.

Well, that and because the lines at confession are WAY TOO LONG this time of year.

― BurmaKitty (BurmaKitty), Tuesday, 18 March 2003 03:40 (twenty-three years ago)

god no. playing them the most is how I know they're my favorite albums. how else would you know they are if you don't reaffirm it? I'd hate to be under the false impression my favorite albums from eight years ago were actually as good as I thought they were.

― Anthony Miccio (Anthony Miccio), Tuesday, 18 March 2003 03:45 (twenty-three years ago)

Depends on the album, really. Something like Daft Punk's Discovery must be listened to repeatedly. Part of the fun is the compulsive addiction of it all. (Learning every inch of the album and anticipating it with each play) But then with something like Talk Talk, I find this type of music which doesn't bring out this addictive nature in me. Instead I'll play it every once in a while, be immensely satisfied with it all, and then put it away until just the right occassion. But I listen to Laughing Stock pretty often, so maybe that's not the best example. Lately, Esoteric's Metamorphogenesis seems to be building its status with this type of scenario.

Albums I've nearly killed: Mr. Bungle's California, the Avalanches' Since I Left You

― original bgm, Tuesday, 18 March 2003 04:03 (twenty-three years ago)

two years pass...

bump

― bump, Sunday, 12 June 2005 01:40 (twenty-one years ago)

OH Yeah, I am DOWN with this thread. What's more, I sometimes avoid listening to things I know are really good in favor of giving other things a re-listen just to make sure I didn't miss something. It really irritates me that I do this.

― The Silent Disco of Glastonbury (Bimble...), Sunday, 12 June 2005 01:47 (twenty-one years ago)

Yes, I tend to do this a lot. Kid A being the big one.

― The Brainwasher (Twilight), Sunday, 12 June 2005 01:55 (twenty-one years ago)

It depends on the album...some records have such an impact on me that I can't handle them except in certain circumstance

OTM.

― The Brainwasher (Twilight), Sunday, 12 June 2005 01:58 (twenty-one years ago)

I do this to varying degrees with my various favorite albums. I listen only very rarely to "Dub Housing" or that Rocket From the Tombs album; on the other hand, I listen to Dylan albums all the time, even "Blonde on Blonde."

― PeterAbe1ard (PeterAbe1ard), Sunday, 12 June 2005 02:06 (twenty-one years ago)

Yes, I tend to do this a lot. Kid A being the big one.

Yeah you know last night I went looking for news on Radiohead's next album and Thom Yorke said they're about finished, something like that, and he said it reminded him of Kid A and I was like "um...that doesn't give me much hope" and I LOVED Kid A!

― The Silent Disco of Glastonbury (Bimble...), Sunday, 12 June 2005 02:08 (twenty-one years ago)

Very surprised (happy? kinda disappointed b/c it's a very personal record but my love of it isn't unique in the least?) to see so much mention of Talk Talk in this thread. I think an album like Laughing Stock requires COMPLETE attention to catch every little aspect of the record....it's one of my top 5 "favorite" albums, but I'd never just throw it on in my car or listen to "After New Grass" on the subway to work. It's almost like you don't want to dull your senses to any part of the record....as if the minute of feedback in "After the Flood" could ever become less sublime than I've thought it was every time I've heard it.

But then, I've probably played Siamese Dream a thousand times since 1994 -- in the car, on my headphones in bed, in the subway -- and it's impact has dimmed only slightly. And I play Rumours any time I'm happy and want to hear some perfectly happy and fucked-up music, and I still love it.

So maybe it's just the quiet, introspective, and personal albums that I try to only play when I'm alone and completely focused.

In fact, I think tonight is a Spirit of Eden night....

― PB, Sunday, 12 June 2005 02:25 (twenty-one years ago)

Holy shit, I thought I was alone! It feels better to know I'm not the only one who does this

― Mickey (modestmickey), Sunday, 12 June 2005 02:48 (twenty-one years ago)

Same here, Mickey

― Cheek0 (Cheek0), Sunday, 12 June 2005 03:39 (twenty-one years ago)

Likewise

― Joseph McCombs (Joseph McCombs), Sunday, 12 June 2005 05:47 (twenty-one years ago)

Yeah, me too. I started to realize this when I went through my MP3 list and realized that I hadn't bothered to "digitize" any of the stuff I really loved, even though I rip whatever I listen to in a given day...

I question my judgement.

― John Justen (johnjusten), Sunday, 12 June 2005 05:56 (twenty-one years ago)

no self control, but wish i could do this. i usually listen to stuff until it makes me sick, or until it puts me into hypnosis mode.

― Susan Douglas (Susan Douglas), Sunday, 12 June 2005 07:07 (twenty-one years ago)

I always listen to stuff I don't think I'll like, and then sometimes I like it. My list of favorite albums is a long one, like most people's, but I never tire of "Here, My Dear," "Buying a Book," "Jack Johnson" or "There's a Riot Goin' On." I don't listen to them very much any more but I'm glad they're around.

― edd s hurt (ddduncan), Sunday, 12 June 2005 15:37 (twenty-one years ago)

I used to do this more, but lately I've been playing my favorites plenty. Talk Talk is the main exception that comes to mind, like several people mentioned upthread. LS and SoE get the couple-of-times-per-year treatment.

― sleep (sleep), Sunday, 12 June 2005 16:49 (twenty-one years ago)

i guess i kinda do this with movies. but music, as important as it is to me, i pretty much treat as completely disposable: use it up, toss it out, move along. i'm not sure if i'm really happy about that, but it's the way i am...

― s1ocki (slutsky), Sunday, 12 June 2005 20:00 (twenty-one years ago)

i dont listen to material i know well, and love, and revere or albums that are full of memories for me cos i dont like looking back and being nostalgic all the time plus i feel i need to find out new music and yeah, cos i dont wanna get tired of my fave albums.

― titchyschneider (titchyschneider), Sunday, 12 June 2005 20:02 (twenty-one years ago)

I do this a lot, especially with Grace and my Radiohead albums. It's like I have to psyche myself up to listen to them. I thought I was alone too!

― Crackity (Crackity Jones), Sunday, 12 June 2005 20:19 (twenty-one years ago)

the only prob i find is that when you psyche yourself up pre-listening to your favourite albums, they can often be something of a let down.

― titchyschneider (titchyschneider), Sunday, 12 June 2005 20:25 (twenty-one years ago)

"Buying a Book,"

i was just playing that the other day, edd. i don't know that many people who have even heard it, let alone have it be one of their favorites. i love it. but i can play it whenever i like! (whenever i see it in the stacks i have to put it on.)

― scott seward (scott seward), Sunday, 12 June 2005 20:32 (twenty-one years ago)

I have so many favourites that I could happily devote most of my free time to them, theoretically not "wearing them out" entirely until I'm too old to care anymore. So if I do avoid listening somewhat (and I do), it's because I'm dutifully listening to newer stuff that I'm less familiar with. And periodically, of course, many of these will BECOME favourites.

When I was young, however, just before the mass popularity of compact discs and the resultant explosion of CD reissues, it was much more of an event to successfully locate & buy albums that I'd been searching for for a long time beforehand. So, when I'd finally find that long-sought copy of White Light/White Heat or There's A Riot Goin' On or Lick My Decals Off, Baby, I'd habitually deprive myself, ration it out, maybe playing no more than a single new song per day, so it would be up to two weeks before I'd hear the whole thing. I played the opening five/ten/twelve minutes of "Sister Ray" upwards of a dozen times before finally hearing the whole thing! And I did the same thing with Metallica's Master Of Puppets - kinda illogically so, since I bought it the day it was released. (Along with Husker Du, they were the only then-active band I liked at the time.)

(Hey - I had a Joe Tex song in my head just yesterday! Not "Buying A Book" tho. ["I Believe I'm Gonna Make It"])

― Myonga Von Bontee (Myonga Von Bontee), Sunday, 12 June 2005 21:37 (twenty-one years ago)

It depends. I never play classic mid 60's Dylan or even "Blood On The Tracks" anymore and instead listen to duds like "Empire Burlesque" and "Infidels" more than is humanly acceptable.

― Alfred Soto (Alfred Soto), Sunday, 12 June 2005 22:50 (twenty-one years ago)

Do I AVOID listening to my fave albums? Hell no! That kinda DEFEATS THE PURPOSE, doesn't it? If I find myself getting tired of an album after awhile...hey, it wore well, it had a good run, I can retire it!(I didn't say sell it.)

Besides, it is only when I hear my fave stuff over and over AGAINST MY WILL, like through the radio or something...that's when I get tired of certain records. But when it's on my own turntable or CD drawer, in my own time, then I play it everytime I feel like it.

― Rev. Hoodoo (Rev. Hoodoo), Monday, 13 June 2005 04:10 (twenty-one years ago)

my I'm-down-and-need-comfort-food kinda albums are "Notorious Byrd Brothers," Vibrators's "Pure Mania," the first Clash album, and the "Tropicalia Essentials" collection, among many others. Recent stuff would be Deana Carter's latest and Sharon Jones, not a great record but fun. I listen to those quite often. I've been in a Joe Tex mood lately too, got a copy of his last one "He Who Is Without Funk" and his live album from the mid-'60s. And, the first Moby Grape LP and of course my beloved "City of Angels" by the Miracles, which always reaffirms my faith in humanity.

― edd s hurt (ddduncan), Monday, 13 June 2005 16:58 (twenty-one years ago)

As far as Pearl Jam and Nick Cave, totally, 100% otm. I think it's because whenever I go back to those albums, I get stuck in this vortex where I can't listen to anything else. I get obsessed all over again. So I purposefully stay away for as long as I can. I definitely avoid my faves quite a bit. Plus I'm afraid of neglecting something newer that I haven't decided on yet. Yknow?

― VegemiteGrrl (VegemiteGrrl), Tuesday, 14 June 2005 01:12 (twenty-one years ago)

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