How many of you listen to your own music?

[Deluge Of Sound]

Saw a Rolling Stone Q&A with a guy from the band Phoenix (who I'm unfamiliar with) where he said "listening to your own music is like kissing yourself, it just doesn't work."

Now, I've always been of the opposite mindset. I listen to my own stuff fairly religiously-I wouldn't have played it if I didn't dig it, and I wouldn't have bothered to record it if I didn't want to hear it, right?

So where do you fall?

[PimasterPearson]

Definitely. I like to hear how I've progressed, and listen for areas to improve. Plus what the OP said, I like the music I play.

[old-fashioned]

I can't stop... (It's different everytime)

[Infiltration12]

I would imagine it is different if you were the primary song writer of your band. Then it probably would be like kissing yourself.

However, I like to listen to my own band's songs. I didn't write them(Although I do have a few ideas for existing songs that end up getting recorded), so they are still fun to listen to.

[miacomet]

Always...great learning tool. It helps me better understand what bandmates are doing and/or trying to do.

[vladchrome]

yeah probably a lot more than is healthy when we're working on the song but also listen to it after it's a done deal great way to see what you've done in the past and ( hopefully ) compare progress or revisit ideas .

[MNAirHead]

When in production I only listen to it for a few weeks.. once it's OK .. let it go.

[Rick Nicak]

Im with MNAirhead, only when its being put together do I listen to it.

[countrybass007]

Listening to your own music is a great learning tool.

[Deluge Of Sound]

Originally Posted by MNAirHead

When in production I only listen to it for a few weeks.. once it's OK .. let it go.

Originally Posted by Rick Nicak

Im with MNAirhead, only when its being put together do I listen to it.

Care to clarify as to why?

[Ron Now]

I once read a quote from Josh Hommes where someone asked why they were listening to their own band in the van, I can't recall the exact quote but it was along the lines of " why would you make music you wouldn't want to listen to?"

That's how I look at it, I make music I love, I make music that I wish people would make...so what if I'm on it, I think it's great and I'm gonna listen to it.

A lot.

[geeza]

Originally Posted by MNAirHead

When in production I only listen to it for a few weeks.. once it's OK .. let it go.

This. I hear it plenty when we learn/develop songs, or if we're preparing for a gig. There ARE, however, a couple of our songs that I really do like a lot, so I do listen to them.

[ozacrot]

It depends. I feel like in excess, listening to yourself is a bad habit - more about validating your own musical identity than expanding your definition of musicianship. But to an extent, I think it also helps out to see from some distance how you're serving the song. They both have their use, but I tend to feel as a policy that I've got more to learn from other.

[crayzee]

I have some of my old bands' music. Sometimes I listen to it. Think is, if I want to hear the song, I just think of it.

I agree with the whole idea of loving the music you're playing because it's what you'd wanna listen to, but I kinda liken the whole thing to my personal outlook about golf: Fun to play, not as much fun to watch (or in this case, listen).

[TortillaChip520]

i really enjoy my band's music. Even if i weren't in the band, i'd listen to our music

[gatorfreak8031]

It seems like the downside of listening to your own music is that you'd get tired of it faster. Once you play a song a certain number of times, it tends to get old, but listening to it too much tends to rush that process.

On the other side, you can get some great ideas of things you want to change when listening to a song as opposed to when you only play it and fall into ruts.

[jmattbassplaya]

I write music I wish was already in existence so of course I listen to it. Plus it`s a great learning tool.

[M.Wrenn]

I write the music I want to listen to, so, logically, I listen to my own music.

[Matt R.]

Originally Posted by MNAirHead

When in production I only listen to it for a few weeks.. once it's OK .. let it go.

I'm like this too, but over time I enjoy revisiting the tracks every now and then.

[southshoreconor]

Originally Posted by TortillaChip520

i really enjoy my band's music. Even if i weren't in the band, i'd listen to our music

+1,000

if you don't like to listen to your own band, your band probably sucks.