I don't know about you, but I am personally a little tired of being aurally punched in the face every time I turn on the radio. Every song is full of the same characteristics that are designed to elicit a response from the casual listener, but I can't listen to music that way.
I am a musician, and I am doing my best to step away from what I call "Shuffle Culture."
How many of you have gone on your friend's phone on a long car trip and tried to find good music to listen to? And how many of you have been excited to see the name of a favorite artist, only to find out that your friend only has the artist's one big hit from 2006? A lot of you? OK, yeah, me too.
It is important at this point for me to state that this is not in and of itself a problem, but I think there are better ways of listening to music. With the popularization of mp3 and Internet radio, we often listen to a collection of the songs that "wow" us the most.
The big problem with this type of listening is that it ignores some of the best work that pop musicians and producers do in the process of creating the music. Individual tracks are great for someone with a low iTunes budget, but album listening is the way to go.
Albums are more than just a collection of the most recent songs written or performed by a musical artist. Good albums explore a specific idea or sentiment. Good albums use musical devices and motives throughout the album that tie the songs together. If we aren't listening to the entire album, we won't be picking up on these idiosyncrasies within the art.
Beyond that, albums give you an automatic variety. Seriously. Someone spent a lot of money to make sure that this album has a good mix of music that you will want to listen to straight through. They spend a lot of time ensuring that the tracks are programmed appropriately. Listening to a full album, you don't only get to hear the palatable songs with a nice dance beat -- you get to hear a wider selection of what the musician has to offer.
I am not saying that we should all get rid of our electronic devices and go back to using vinyl for everything. I am not saying that it is bad for you to download that one song that you really love. I am merely hoping to inspire some curiosity about the music that is available to us.
A single song can express a range of emotions. An album can take all of those expressions and create a multi-faceted work of art. Albums can make us think and grow. Albums can create change.
Maybe it seems a bit old-fashioned to listen to an album without skipping to our favorite songs, but give it a chance. Listening like an old person might not be so bad.
