Anybody else who doesn't enjoy listening to music?

pklima · #1 03-29-2006, 07:37 AM

I can't listen to music for enjoyment - I immediately start to analyze it, dissect it, wonder how it would sound as a country song or as a black metal song etc. I've been this way for over a year now so I don't think it's just a passing phase. Is anybody else like this? I'm just curious, really.

Aside from leaving more free time for playing, this has a major financial upside. I've cashed in pretty good selling off most of my music collection - a lot of the more obscure stuff had gone out of print and up in value in the meantime. Considering I had acquired almost all of it by trading my own recordings this is basically indirect profit from my various bands which is great.

I'm only keeping stuff that I have on CD that I might want to cover someday.

WalterBush · #2 03-29-2006, 09:24 AM

I've been doing this since high school (13 years ago, now), and the closest thing to a cure I found was to become involved in the recording process.

Now, I'm at least able to enjoy the recording quality, engineering tricks, and overall tone of an album, and analysis as you describe is a desirable trait in an engineer.

tkozal · #3 03-29-2006, 09:28 AM

As my ear got better, largely when I was out of college where I was a music major, I found myself analysing EVERYTHING. If a Duran Duran song was on the muzak while I was crapping, I would be thinking, "umm up a fourth, dominant chord,hmm" (I have relative not perfect pitch).

This finally went away. I just tuned it out. Post #2 is a good answer.

BassChuck · #4 03-29-2006, 09:34 AM

This sort of thing is very common among people who play for a living. When I was studying orchestral music, I was amazed to find out my teacher not only didn't have a record collection, but didn't even own a record player (pre-CD days). I checked informally with other orchestral player (from a major symphony orchestra, full time gig!) and found many were the same. Other listened to music, but not orchestral. Some even played other instruments like banjo so they could play and enjoy music other than the kind they were paid to play.

Ever notice how actors dress like crap? And Artists houses will have very little decoration? I even had an acountant bounce a check he had written to me.

Some people just can't take their work home.

superbassman2000 · #5 03-29-2006, 09:46 AM

i had the same problem where i would pick apart the music, but now i can listen to muisic and just enjoy it after i tried a little trick. I have a 60-cd music player, and i just leave it on at low volume all day on shuffle. i also started getting into low-key music and jambands, where there weren't a thousand chord changes, or anything you'd really have to think about. i would leave it on all day, and eventually i would stop thinking about it, and just enjoy it.
also, what you could do, is instead of picking out aspects of a song that you don't like, pick out the parts of the song that you do like. Thats how i got into bands like Phish and the Big Wu, i started focusing on the guitar solos, the vocals and harmonies, good drumbeats, stuff like that, and thats how i got into those bands, and a whole new genre...

poptart · #6 03-29-2006, 09:51 AM

Yep, I find myself listening to talk radio stations - however I love listening to the sort of music that I don't play. So I play in a pop/dance/commercial music band but love listening to fusion jazz. If I listen to commercial radio or go to a club/bar playing pop/dance music I can't relax...so...see post 2

I guess it is a result of having an anatlytical ear

davetakis · #7 03-29-2006, 10:19 AM

i rarely listen to music for pleasure anymore. i play it , produce it, and sell it during the day [cd store] so in my car i listen to talk radio. stern mostly. although the all elvis channel is my 2nd fav.

pklima · #8 03-30-2006, 12:21 AM

Thanks for the responses. I don't think this is a problem at all except that when I audition for bands and they ask me what I listen to... then I tell them I don't and they look at me like "you freak, aren't you supposed to love music?"

diraga · #9 09-13-2011, 03:32 AM

my brother is the only one i know who doesn't enjoy listening to music, but he is an engineer, no musician! luckily i never had that problem, i enjoy it still if i analyse it. (i keep my favourite bands out of analysing-listening)

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sethlow3 · #10 09-13-2011, 03:39 AM

Don't analyze it so much. Music is meant to be felt. Chances are you need to tap into a new style or something similar to shake up the neurons. Why did you start playing bass? What music did you start with? Are you a jazz or classical nerd? Music should soothe the soul, not clutter the brain.

pklima · #11 09-13-2011, 03:41 AM

Wow, what an old thread, but I guess some things don't change. FWIW I still pretty much don't listen to music "for fun", just whatever I'm supposed to learn this week or things I might want to cover with one of my bands. Or, as I tell people, "I don't listen to music, MUSIC LISTENS TO ME!"

hrodbert696 · #12 09-13-2011, 04:01 AM

Reminds me of a story I heard about a horse breeder, friend of a friend. They were driving through the countryside in a car and a kid said, "Oh look what a beautiful horsie!" Before she even thought what she was saying, the breeder said, "No it's not."

Semisweet · #13 09-13-2011, 08:46 AM

Same as BassChuck says....Some of this may have to do with what you do for a living versus what you do in your spare time. Within reason, I'd bet there are maids with dirty houses, or chefs with a freezer full of Hot Pockets, etc. I'm a professional dog trainer and one of my personal dogs, while a very good girl, is extremely obnoxious and that's my fault for not teaching her canine social graces, mostly 'cause when I get home, I've had enough.

Music, however, could be a tad bit different than that since it's so subjective. As I learn the bass, I find myself picking out the bass line progressions in my favorite songs, trying to thump along on my leg (since I mostly listen in the car)....but at least this is still enjoyable for me.

lpdeluxe · #14 09-13-2011, 09:07 AM

Like probably everyone on this forum, I have several hundred CDs (long ago gave up trying to count) in genres from country blues to classical, along with two stereos (one in my office, another in my living room) so naturally, when my lady friend comes over, the first thing she asks is, "why isn't there any music on?" I tried explaining to her that it's a library, and that it's difficult to just sit back and enjoy music without thinking about the arrangement, and the beat, and what the bass player's doing and what licks the Dobro player is laying out....

So now I pull CDs out and say, "you've got to hear this!" and off we go. She has spent her life listening to music and being around musicians (she worked at Armadillo World Headquarters in Austin, Tx, back in its heyday, and she actually appears on one of the posters) but only this year has she been taking percussion lessons. She's a killer tambourine/conga/afuche cabasa player, and her teacher is a local former Nashville studio drummer. In other words, she has the ears and the feel, and she's able to just sit down in the living room and enjoy the music. She's letting me do the same, and it's amazing how much more fun I'm having.

gnjpowell · #15 09-13-2011, 09:11 AM

Ever ride in a mechanic's car? YIKES!

negative theory · #16 09-13-2011, 09:11 AM

I always pick apart music. I even got more involved in the recording process. This just allowed me to back up what I was already doing. I find that analyzing the music is part of the fun. Sure, I pick out the chord structures and so on while I'm listening, but that doesn't mean that it doesn't still sound good cranked in the car with the windows down.

If it helps at all, I also do the same thing with TV, movies, books and just about anything else.

bassbully · #17 09-13-2011, 09:11 AM

I dont listen allot and have done what you talk about but less these day. I listen to allot of talk radio. The only music I do listen to is good old CDs that I have in my car and in my homebar while working. I am going back and buying allot of CDs from people/bands I missed or passed over thru the years.

HeadyVan Halen · #18 09-13-2011, 09:18 AM

I was heading down that road until I heard R.L. Burnside play 'Jumper on the Line' on youtube...1 chord.
Then I remembered why music exists.

T-MOST · #19 09-13-2011, 09:28 AM

Nope. I listen to music strictly for enjoyment. I don't want to analize and dissect it (even when I have to).

groooooove · #20 09-13-2011, 09:39 AM

i dont understand how one can feel that way..

i once had a music professor for sight singing that mentioned how on his free time, he gets away from music. (because music has been his day job for years.) to me, thats bizarre. i've been performing, teaching, and studying music for a very long time. 95% of the time when i have a day off, when i wake up, the first thing i cant wait to do is sit down and listen to a piece of music.

i understand the want and need to dissect and study pieces, but when it comes down to it- that want comes from enjoying how they sound. i wouldn't care about beethoven's clever voice leading if it weren't for the undeniable charm it produces when you listen to it.

there are times where i cant wait to look at a score to see whats going on, or to learn it, or whatever- but still- listening is where the pleasure comes from.