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Mini: Stuck in a Music Rut · Why We Do What We Do

• 0:03
  Speaker 1: You're listening to Why we do what we do. Welcome
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: to Why we do what we do. Many I am
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: your host, Abraham, and I'm your host Shane. We are
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: a psychology podcast. We talk about all of the things
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: that humans and non human animals do, and sometimes we
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: talk about leisurely things that we do and then stop doing.
• 0:33
  Speaker 2: Yeah, and so today we're talking about that time that
• 0:35
  Speaker 2: you find music and that you love music, but then
• 0:37
  Speaker 2: you stop looking for music, and then now all you
• 0:40
  Speaker 2: do is listen to the radio with bad music or
• 0:43
  Speaker 2: podcasts that have no music in them at all because
• 0:45
  Speaker 2: you don't want to go searching for new music.
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: Yep, yep. Just being the doing the old person thing
• 0:50
  Speaker 1: and what the youngsters would criticize about old people's things and.
• 0:54
  Speaker 2: What those of us born in the nineteen hundreds.
• 0:56
  Speaker 1: Yeah, exactly, that's right. So if if you're joining us
• 1:01
  Speaker 1: for the first time, then welcome. We are so glad
• 1:04
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• 1:06
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• 1:08
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• 1:19
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• 1:22
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  Speaker 1: you can continue to find join the things that we create,
• 1:27
  Speaker 1: and we're really happy that you continue to find your
• 1:29
  Speaker 1: way back to us. The other thing I was going
• 1:31
  Speaker 1: to say on this is that this is a short
• 1:33
  Speaker 1: episode because it's a mini We release these once a
• 1:36
  Speaker 1: week on Mondays, just a quick dive into some discussion
• 1:39
  Speaker 1: and then we get out of there. Our full length
• 1:41
  Speaker 1: episodes come out on Wednesdays, So if you're hearing this
• 1:45
  Speaker 1: for the first time, that all of them will be
• 1:46
  Speaker 1: this short, unless you only listen on Mondays, and then
• 1:48
  Speaker 1: they will be.
• 1:50
  Speaker 2: Yeah, it's going to be a real shock when you
• 1:52
  Speaker 2: discover that we have full length episodes.
• 1:54
  Speaker 1: Yes, some of them well over an hour. I would
• 1:57
  Speaker 1: say we average around an hour. Yeah, anymore, that's it,
• 2:00
  Speaker 1: all right, Ready to dive into this, Yes, let's do
• 2:03
  Speaker 1: it all right? Great? So, when we were young, dumb,
• 2:06
  Speaker 1: and rooted much of our identity in music, what do
• 2:08
  Speaker 1: you think I was gonna say? We would enthusiastically search
• 2:15
  Speaker 1: for new music to latch on too. I definitely had
• 2:17
  Speaker 1: that experience, and I know that Shane did too.
• 2:20
  Speaker 2: Yeah oh yeah, yeah yeah. I would always read the
• 2:22
  Speaker 2: thank yous in like CD booklets because they always mentioned bands,
• 2:26
  Speaker 2: and you're like, there are other bands like yo, yeah,
• 2:29
  Speaker 2: and then you check those bands out voraciously consumed music.
• 2:33
  Speaker 2: Yeah yeah. But you know what, something that happens is
• 2:35
  Speaker 2: as you as you get older, people stop looking for
• 2:38
  Speaker 2: new music or even listen to new music at some
• 2:40
  Speaker 2: point and just listen to the stuff that they already
• 2:43
  Speaker 2: know that they like. You kind of go like, why
• 2:44
  Speaker 2: do I need this new thing? Or you'll hear people say, ah,
• 2:47
  Speaker 2: new music is terrible compared to when I was a kid,
• 2:50
  Speaker 2: and that's why we all listen to classic.
• 2:51
  Speaker 1: Rock now exactly. And I will say that this did
• 2:56
  Speaker 1: sort of happen to me just as you said. I
• 2:58
  Speaker 1: would read the thank yous on album and like try
• 3:00
  Speaker 1: and find new bands, and I would look. I'd go
• 3:03
  Speaker 1: to like record label websites and look at their new releases.
• 3:07
  Speaker 1: And when i'd go to concerts, I'd be you know,
• 3:10
  Speaker 1: checking out all the other bands that were playing and
• 3:12
  Speaker 1: pick up their albums. And I was just constantly on
• 3:14
  Speaker 1: this on the hunts to find the next great thing
• 3:17
  Speaker 1: that I was going to love. I would liken it too.
• 3:20
  Speaker 1: When I would go to restaurants, I would like to
• 3:23
  Speaker 1: try pretty much everything on the menu at least once.
• 3:25
  Speaker 1: I wanted to find out what was the thing or
• 3:27
  Speaker 1: the things I loved the most, and like what particular
• 3:30
  Speaker 1: mood might I be in when I come to this restaurant.
• 3:33
  Speaker 1: I want to get that thing that I know that
• 3:34
  Speaker 1: I like or like today I'm feeling this other thing. Yeah,
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  Speaker 1: And it's similar with music. It's like I would just
• 3:38
  Speaker 1: want to try everything and find all my favorites that
• 3:41
  Speaker 1: are sort of out there right that happened to you.
• 3:43
  Speaker 2: Anytime a band would come up or somebody would mention
• 3:46
  Speaker 2: a band, I would I would always try to give
• 3:48
  Speaker 2: it a listen at least so there, you know, as
• 3:50
  Speaker 2: I got like probably I would say probably around two
• 3:55
  Speaker 2: thousand and six or so, for like a couple of years,
• 3:58
  Speaker 2: I missed the boat on a lot of stuff. And
• 4:00
  Speaker 2: the reason being is because I was kind of I
• 4:01
  Speaker 2: was busy, Like I was like a new dad, so
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  Speaker 2: I wasn't really prime for that. But like now I'm
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  Speaker 2: going back and I'm kind of going Okay, there are
• 4:08
  Speaker 2: these bands that people are talking about let me go
• 4:10
  Speaker 2: hear it, let me go listen to it, And I'm
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  Speaker 2: pretty indiscriminate about that. Like if somebody's like, hey, you
• 4:14
  Speaker 2: should go check this out, I'll go listen to it,
• 4:16
  Speaker 2: and I'll give it enough of a try to be like, nah,
• 4:17
  Speaker 2: I don't really like this, but yeah, I mean this.
• 4:19
  Speaker 2: There was a period of time where I just kind
• 4:21
  Speaker 2: of really didn't seek new music. I only sought music
• 4:24
  Speaker 2: from bands that I knew I.
• 4:25
  Speaker 1: Liked, yeah, yeah, and then oftentimes it was mostly returning
• 4:28
  Speaker 1: to albums that you already were like familiar with, the
• 4:31
  Speaker 1: songs you already knew, and that sort of thing, which
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  Speaker 1: I still do.
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  Speaker 2: I mean, I like, every you know, every week, I
• 4:37
  Speaker 2: have a playlist where I'm like, these are albums that
• 4:39
  Speaker 2: I have always loved, and every Friday I listened to
• 4:41
  Speaker 2: that whole playlist. So you know, I've got the damned
• 4:44
  Speaker 2: machine gun etiquette, I've got bad religion, Strangers in Fiction,
• 4:47
  Speaker 2: DELANDERFS versus God, Like, there's a few on there that
• 4:50
  Speaker 2: Sam I AM's astray. Those are records I listen to
• 4:52
  Speaker 2: every week. Wow Guaranteed, Oh Green Days, Insomniac I listened
• 4:55
  Speaker 2: to that every week as well.
• 4:56
  Speaker 1: That's a good one.
• 4:57
  Speaker 2: Yeah, it's best.
• 4:58
  Speaker 1: Okay. So let's get into this, this whole idea of
• 5:01
  Speaker 1: sort of eagerness to seek out and listen to new
• 5:04
  Speaker 1: music because everything that we love now was once new
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  Speaker 1: to us, right, and that means that things that we
• 5:11
  Speaker 1: might love in the future might feel new to us now,
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  Speaker 1: and so accepting that we could make space for and
• 5:18
  Speaker 1: create the opportunity to discover something else that we would
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  Speaker 1: love just as deeply and passionately, if not more than
• 5:25
  Speaker 1: the stuff that we already think that we love now.
• 5:28
  Speaker 1: That's something why I've sort of always wanted to not
• 5:31
  Speaker 1: close myself off to it, right. And this is sometimes
• 5:34
  Speaker 1: called open earedness by the very cool people who name
• 5:37
  Speaker 1: things with very cool names, which is enthusiasm for new music.
• 5:43
  Speaker 1: And this actually does start to decrease in sort of
• 5:46
  Speaker 1: early adolescents around eleven ish years old, although as you
• 5:50
  Speaker 1: said and as I said, I think this went I
• 5:52
  Speaker 1: was still eagerly seeking music well into my twenties.
• 5:55
  Speaker 2: I wonder if this is like when we talk about
• 5:57
  Speaker 2: like maybe general population or as like we in the
• 6:01
  Speaker 2: hardcore community like to call people civilians, because I think
• 6:04
  Speaker 2: that when you base your identity around music like punk, hardcore, metal,
• 6:08
  Speaker 2: like any stuff like or hip operating like that. Like
• 6:10
  Speaker 2: if you were in it and you love it like
• 6:12
  Speaker 2: this and it's like so much of your community, I
• 6:14
  Speaker 2: would imagine it probably lasts a little bit longer.
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  Speaker 1: That's a good point. Yeah, if not only your identity,
• 6:20
  Speaker 1: but your social network also has its identity rooted in
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  Speaker 1: some kind of music that has shared as part of
• 6:27
  Speaker 1: that culture, that I think would endure a bit beyond
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  Speaker 1: whatever is the like this is cool because it's popular
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  Speaker 1: right now and I'm you know, amongst my friends or this,
• 6:36
  Speaker 1: you know whatever, it's popular. So anyway, so as I said,
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  Speaker 1: it starts to decrease in early adolescents, it increases again
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  Speaker 1: in early adulthood, and then it decreases again, often all
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  Speaker 1: the way down to zero. Just you're like, no more
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  Speaker 1: new music for me. I got my three albums that
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  Speaker 1: I love or these twenty songs that I love, and
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  Speaker 1: and then I'm out.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah yeah, yeah. So in a twenty thirteen study in
• 6:59
  Speaker 2: the journal person Nowaday in Social Psychology, they surveyed two
• 7:02
  Speaker 2: hundred and fifty thousand people, which is a huge end.
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  Speaker 2: That's a big end Yeah, Yeah, that's a big end.
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  Speaker 2: These folks showed that the significance of music declines after adolescents,
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  Speaker 2: and we peak at listening to music about twenty percent
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  Speaker 2: of our waking hours, down to about thirteen percent in adulthood.
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  Speaker 2: So when we're kids, we listen to way more music.
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  Speaker 2: When we become adults, it kind of tapers off and
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  Speaker 2: gets to about like thirteen percent of our waking hours.
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  Speaker 2: So what is going on here? Like, what is happening
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  Speaker 2: that we have stopped caring about this thing that we love?
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, we go all the way down to that thirteen
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  Speaker 1: percent and instead we're listening to twenty percent of our
• 7:35
  Speaker 1: time with ads. We're back and as we said, we're asking, like,
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  Speaker 1: what's going on with this? Why do we see this
• 7:48
  Speaker 1: decrease in the amount of music that we're listening to
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  Speaker 1: and our interest in seeking out new music? Well, some
• 7:54
  Speaker 1: of you may have already thought about this as we
• 7:56
  Speaker 1: were talking about it, but there are several things going
• 7:59
  Speaker 1: on you kind of all read be highlighted. One of
• 8:01
  Speaker 1: them becoming a new dad, and that is that when
• 8:03
  Speaker 1: we're young, our musical tastes are often a significant part
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  Speaker 1: of our psychosocial development. That's like we're in this environment
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  Speaker 1: where kind of our big thing is we're making friends,
• 8:15
  Speaker 1: we're learning who we are, we're integrating ourselves into a
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  Speaker 1: community of some sort.
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  Speaker 2: Right.
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  Speaker 1: That's just a big part of us early growing up.
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  Speaker 1: That's like part of the journey. And a lot of
• 8:25
  Speaker 1: what can come with that is music, Like what you're
• 8:28
  Speaker 1: listening to and what your friends are listening to. It's
• 8:30
  Speaker 1: a topic around which we bond with others and we
• 8:33
  Speaker 1: anchor our personalities sometimes and our identities sometimes depending on
• 8:38
  Speaker 1: the people. But for a lot of people, they that
• 8:41
  Speaker 1: becomes something that's really central to them is like the
• 8:44
  Speaker 1: music they choose to listen to and sort of take
• 8:47
  Speaker 1: on as this is a thing I love so much.
• 8:49
  Speaker 1: It's kind of a part of me in a way, right.
• 8:51
  Speaker 2: And so as we grow and we move into these
• 8:53
  Speaker 2: different social situations such as college or work environments, like
• 8:56
  Speaker 2: unless these environments are heavily focused around music, maybe you're
• 8:59
  Speaker 2: running our line label, maybe you're playing in a professional
• 9:01
  Speaker 2: band something along those lines, most of us aren't doing that,
• 9:04
  Speaker 2: so music doesn't become a major factor in those settings.
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  Speaker 2: So it's not the focal point, it's not the social infrastructure,
• 9:10
  Speaker 2: and it just kind of like is it takes like
• 9:12
  Speaker 2: a secondary backseat you will to kind of the main
• 9:16
  Speaker 2: responsibilities in those spaces.
• 9:17
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, we just we have other things going on, right,
• 9:21
  Speaker 1: So nevertheless, you know, we do find common ground with
• 9:24
  Speaker 1: our coworkers, classmates, and teammates that music just can't be
• 9:30
  Speaker 1: as big a part of those those collaborative spaces anymore.
• 9:34
  Speaker 1: And even without that, though, will form meaningful relationships with them,
• 9:38
  Speaker 1: regardless of the kind of music that we love, or
• 9:40
  Speaker 1: the music that we do or don't like, or the
• 9:42
  Speaker 1: music that they love. Like all of us probably work
• 9:45
  Speaker 1: with someone that listens to country and we know what's wrong,
• 9:48
  Speaker 1: they know what's wrong, but we just accept that they've
• 9:49
  Speaker 1: made space for that.
• 9:54
  Speaker 2: You know, I was thinking about this because I don't
• 9:56
  Speaker 2: know if you've had this experience, but like I get
• 9:58
  Speaker 2: this experience a lot when I because I listen to
• 10:00
  Speaker 2: a lot of heavy music, And so when I tell
• 10:02
  Speaker 2: people that I listen to heavy music, they're like, oh,
• 10:04
  Speaker 2: I listen to heavy music, Like you know, do you
• 10:06
  Speaker 2: like uh you like stained? And and so like I
• 10:11
  Speaker 2: try so hard. I try so hard not to be
• 10:14
  Speaker 2: like judgmental about music because I'm like, you're allowed to
• 10:17
  Speaker 2: like what you like, I get it. But when somebody
• 10:19
  Speaker 2: tells me that they're like, I listen to heavy music
• 10:21
  Speaker 2: like Stained like or like Nickelback or something like that,
• 10:23
  Speaker 2: I kind of go, I what I've what I've learned
• 10:26
  Speaker 2: is like that's called coworker core. Sure, So it's like
• 10:33
  Speaker 2: which is like you like, it's like they're close, they
• 10:36
  Speaker 2: don't really get it, and you're just like you're being
• 10:38
  Speaker 2: nice and you're like, yeah, okay, cool, that's heavy, and
• 10:40
  Speaker 2: then you don't tell them that you're like in the
• 10:42
  Speaker 2: background listening to like at the Gates or Emperor Sugar
• 10:45
  Speaker 2: or something like that.
• 10:45
  Speaker 1: You know, yeah, yeah, yes, obviously I was teasing about country.
• 10:49
  Speaker 1: We're not trying to ye anyone's yum. If you like country,
• 10:52
  Speaker 1: that's fine. I like listen to whateverbody you want to
• 10:54
  Speaker 1: listen to. But yes, no, it is funny. It's sort
• 10:57
  Speaker 1: of like when when someone tells me like, oh, I
• 10:59
  Speaker 1: love board games, because I'll tell them like, oh, I
• 11:02
  Speaker 1: like board games, so I love board games. What's your favorite?
• 11:05
  Speaker 1: And I'm like, well, I have three hundred and sixty
• 11:08
  Speaker 1: so I have like twenty favorites. They're like, yeah, I
• 11:10
  Speaker 1: didn't even know they're were three hundred and sixty board games. Yeah,
• 11:14
  Speaker 1: like that's like one percent of the available board game
• 11:18
  Speaker 1: market anyway, Right, It's fine, we all have different things
• 11:21
  Speaker 1: that we're passionate about. Let's get back on track though. Yeah, yeah,
• 11:24
  Speaker 1: for sure, what we were talking about. We were talking
• 11:25
  Speaker 1: about the fact that we will be able to form
• 11:28
  Speaker 1: relationships as we get into adulthood and a bunch of
• 11:31
  Speaker 1: different sort of social circles anymore, because sort of initially
• 11:35
  Speaker 1: we're kind of around the same group of people all
• 11:37
  Speaker 1: the time and we kind of just get to hang
• 11:38
  Speaker 1: out with them and that's fine, and then we end
• 11:40
  Speaker 1: up in college we're going to different classes. Or even
• 11:43
  Speaker 1: if you're not in college, like you have your work space,
• 11:46
  Speaker 1: then you might have your different family and friends groups,
• 11:48
  Speaker 1: or like if you do some sport thing, like maybe
• 11:51
  Speaker 1: you found a group of people that you play soccer
• 11:54
  Speaker 1: with on the weekends or something, and like those those
• 11:57
  Speaker 1: people all have sort of different thoughts and tastes and whatnot,
• 12:00
  Speaker 1: and at least we can all agree generally that we
• 12:02
  Speaker 1: like Fleetwood Mac and that's the common ground in all
• 12:05
  Speaker 1: of us.
• 12:06
  Speaker 2: I think that's reasonable and that's fair.
• 12:07
  Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, I mean, it's pretty much everyone will be
• 12:10
  Speaker 1: on board with that. So that's where we left off
• 12:12
  Speaker 1: before we got on a side tagent though.
• 12:15
  Speaker 2: Yeah, so as adults, and I kind of alluded this earlier,
• 12:18
  Speaker 2: and this is just kind of what happens, right. We
• 12:20
  Speaker 2: have a lot of obligations, different obligations, different responsibilities, and
• 12:24
  Speaker 2: as a result, that means that we have less time
• 12:26
  Speaker 2: to listen to music, let alone find new music and
• 12:29
  Speaker 2: seek new music. So a lot of times what we'll
• 12:31
  Speaker 2: do is we'll select something that's convenient that we know,
• 12:33
  Speaker 2: rather than having to do the extra effort to search
• 12:35
  Speaker 2: for something.
• 12:36
  Speaker 1: Some hypothesize that as we age, we lose our hearing
• 12:39
  Speaker 1: sensitivity and our tolerance for a loud or high pitched sounds,
• 12:43
  Speaker 1: and that may contribute to our declining interest in music.
• 12:46
  Speaker 1: I will say that, like people who go through actual
• 12:48
  Speaker 1: significant hearing loss, is very possible that that will be
• 12:51
  Speaker 1: a thing. I am also given to understand that many
• 12:53
  Speaker 1: people with who are deaf or have some kind of
• 12:56
  Speaker 1: hearing loss, they'll find other ways to kind of enjoy music.
• 12:58
  Speaker 1: Still there's like still rhythm to it, that's fun. You
• 13:01
  Speaker 1: could still feel the vibrations that have a very nice
• 13:03
  Speaker 1: pattern to them. Yeah, I don't know, it's a hypothesis
• 13:06
  Speaker 1: that might be true for some people, but I didn't
• 13:09
  Speaker 1: see any research that indicated that that was a widespread
• 13:12
  Speaker 1: phenomenon that would actually account for this, So I would say,
• 13:14
  Speaker 1: at best, it's a guess that might apply to some people.
• 13:18
  Speaker 2: Right now, some argue that adults do listen to a
• 13:20
  Speaker 2: lot of new music, and I mean with the amount
• 13:22
  Speaker 2: of content and information that is out there in the
• 13:24
  Speaker 2: world a year flooded with new music all the time. True,
• 13:27
  Speaker 2: but what ends up happening is we kind of just
• 13:29
  Speaker 2: tend to treat it as background music and have less
• 13:32
  Speaker 2: of a motivation or any socially relevant setting for us
• 13:35
  Speaker 2: to specifically try to seek that out. So we may
• 13:38
  Speaker 2: not actually notice that we listen to a lot of
• 13:40
  Speaker 2: new music, or the amount of new music that we do.
• 13:43
  Speaker 1: Yeah, very much. So, so that is to say, like
• 13:46
  Speaker 1: we probably do listen to new music, but we're not
• 13:48
  Speaker 1: really acknowledging that as much or we don't care. Yeah,
• 13:51
  Speaker 1: we just don't care. That one I think does land
• 13:54
  Speaker 1: with me, Like, I definitely have heard quite a bit
• 13:55
  Speaker 1: of new music, and I just never really spent time listening,
• 13:59
  Speaker 1: like really listening to it and then trying to see like,
• 14:02
  Speaker 1: is there something here that I would glom onto? So
• 14:05
  Speaker 1: one part of our experience with music is that our
• 14:07
  Speaker 1: history with certain music will have important memory associations and
• 14:11
  Speaker 1: can therefore be nostalgic. And so music we hear reminds
• 14:14
  Speaker 1: us of these important events in our lives, our feelings
• 14:17
  Speaker 1: or relationships, stuff like that, and music that sounds like
• 14:21
  Speaker 1: the music for which we have those positive associations is
• 14:25
  Speaker 1: more likely to be something we're attracted to as well. Yeah,
• 14:28
  Speaker 1: So in addition to the fact that we have less
• 14:30
  Speaker 1: time to seek out new music, we don't really care
• 14:32
  Speaker 1: when we hear new music, and we have less motivation
• 14:35
  Speaker 1: to try and find it because of all those factors.
• 14:37
  Speaker 1: Like the stuff that we like evokes these feelings in
• 14:40
  Speaker 1: this that we kind of have a nice association with,
• 14:42
  Speaker 1: like where they feel good, and so things that sound
• 14:45
  Speaker 1: like that, if they are new, are also going to
• 14:47
  Speaker 1: feel good. But like for many of us, there's just
• 14:50
  Speaker 1: nothing coming out really that sounds like that anymore. So, right, yeah, right, exactly.
• 14:54
  Speaker 2: I mean, and it happens with bands that we like
• 14:56
  Speaker 2: to like, you know, like for me, I Go Dookie
• 14:58
  Speaker 2: and Insomniac are two of my Facevorite records. Of all time,
• 15:01
  Speaker 2: but the new Green Day does not sound like that.
• 15:03
  Speaker 2: So you just kind of go like, I don't even
• 15:05
  Speaker 2: listen to new music from bands that I like because
• 15:07
  Speaker 2: I go like, nah, it doesn't sound like the records
• 15:09
  Speaker 2: I like, you know, because it's like there's like that
• 15:10
  Speaker 2: nostalgia that that like that feeling of that like that
• 15:13
  Speaker 2: feeling of putting in. You know, when you're eight years
• 15:14
  Speaker 2: old and you put Dukie in the tape deck and
• 15:16
  Speaker 2: you're like, Okay, here we go, you.
• 15:18
  Speaker 1: Know, and then you mom, sextualize what you just said
• 15:21
  Speaker 1: as we put in at eight years old nonetheless eight
• 15:27
  Speaker 1: years old.
• 15:27
  Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah. And then I turned to my mom and
• 15:29
  Speaker 2: I go, hey, mom, what's a whore? You know? Because
• 15:31
  Speaker 2: they say that in the songs that I and I
• 15:33
  Speaker 2: might have to my mom has to give me like
• 15:34
  Speaker 2: an impromptu sex education routine because of Green Day. So
• 15:37
  Speaker 2: thank you Billy Joe Armstrong for that.
• 15:39
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 15:40
  Speaker 2: So why we like music is by itself an interesting
• 15:43
  Speaker 2: question and definitely worth exploring in a longer episode. If
• 15:46
  Speaker 2: we haven't done it already, maybe we did. I don't know.
• 15:48
  Speaker 2: Time is time is a flat circle. It's strange, but
• 15:51
  Speaker 2: the tendency to stick to our guns as we do
• 15:53
  Speaker 2: in part with like the complex network of contingencies that
• 15:56
  Speaker 2: are in place and that are associated with music, specifically
• 15:58
  Speaker 2: our social environments, our value, and our experiences with music.
• 16:01
  Speaker 2: It all plays such a kind of a unique fascinating
• 16:03
  Speaker 2: role in like why we like music and why we
• 16:06
  Speaker 2: continue to listen to music in the ways that we do.
• 16:08
  Speaker 1: All right, if you would like to get back into
• 16:11
  Speaker 1: listening to some new music, we have a couple of
• 16:14
  Speaker 1: suggestions for you. And we've probably gone long enough. We
• 16:16
  Speaker 1: may as well just play quick ad.
• 16:18
  Speaker 2: Yeah, which will not help you get into music.
• 16:27
  Speaker 1: All right, we're back. You probably heard some music on
• 16:29
  Speaker 1: that ad and it probably did not evoke good feelings,
• 16:33
  Speaker 1: although who knows, maybe they'll play some good music once
• 16:35
  Speaker 1: in a while. All right, So, if you are interested
• 16:37
  Speaker 1: in trying to get back into listening to and discovering
• 16:40
  Speaker 1: new music, one of the suggestions that I saw was
• 16:43
  Speaker 1: try different modalities, which is to say, do a focused
• 16:47
  Speaker 1: listening and isolation where you just sit and just listen,
• 16:50
  Speaker 1: just really listen to the music and just enjoy it.
• 16:53
  Speaker 1: Like That's one modality is to like just sit and
• 16:55
  Speaker 1: really absorb it. Another one is to listen casually have
• 16:58
  Speaker 1: it on in the background, just put it one working
• 17:00
  Speaker 1: on things. Yeah, go to live performances. I will say, like,
• 17:03
  Speaker 1: there is something about live music that has it, Like
• 17:07
  Speaker 1: I find myself able to attach to it much more
• 17:11
  Speaker 1: quickly and easily. Yeah, than music I hear recorded, Even
• 17:14
  Speaker 1: though recordings often sound ultimately better, seeing it live just
• 17:18
  Speaker 1: has that presence, that feel that I think different. Yeah,
• 17:21
  Speaker 1: it's just different. And then of course listening in social
• 17:23
  Speaker 1: settings can also help. And so if you did want
• 17:26
  Speaker 1: to try listening to new music, like pick a thing
• 17:28
  Speaker 1: and try listening to it in those different ways.
• 17:31
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I think for me this one's easy because I
• 17:34
  Speaker 2: spend a lot of time listening to music in isolation.
• 17:36
  Speaker 2: I do go to a lot of live shows. So
• 17:37
  Speaker 2: like that that one is like something that's like already
• 17:40
  Speaker 2: part of a habit which we should talk about, right, Like,
• 17:42
  Speaker 2: let's make this a habit, make it a hobby. So
• 17:44
  Speaker 2: if you can make a routine out of finding new
• 17:46
  Speaker 2: music or seeking out new music, you can plan ahead
• 17:49
  Speaker 2: or plan time just to listen to new music as
• 17:52
  Speaker 2: it comes out, something that I do every week.
• 17:54
  Speaker 1: I do.
• 17:54
  Speaker 2: I have two days every week where I listen to
• 17:57
  Speaker 2: new music. Wow, every Monday, which this is something I
• 18:00
  Speaker 2: actually really like about Spotify. They will give you like
• 18:02
  Speaker 2: a Monday playlist of like a weekly Discovery playlist, which
• 18:05
  Speaker 2: is made up of all sorts of stuff that is
• 18:08
  Speaker 2: completely not stuff that's normally on your playlist but related
• 18:11
  Speaker 2: to stuff that you're listening to on Spotify, and they
• 18:13
  Speaker 2: curate a playlist for you every Monday for you to
• 18:15
  Speaker 2: sit down and listen to new music. So that's kind
• 18:18
  Speaker 2: of cool. And then every Friday. Now, because when we
• 18:20
  Speaker 2: were kids, every Tuesday was the release date for music.
• 18:22
  Speaker 2: Now every Friday is the release date for new music.
• 18:25
  Speaker 2: And so I follow up with bands that I like,
• 18:27
  Speaker 2: and I check out and see what's being released that week,
• 18:29
  Speaker 2: and I try to give some of those records a
• 18:31
  Speaker 2: listen that day. So I spend two days a week
• 18:33
  Speaker 2: doing this exact thing.
• 18:35
  Speaker 1: Nice, Okay, gotcha, Yeah, that's cool. Another one is to
• 18:39
  Speaker 1: listen with curiosity, just to like listen like with some
• 18:42
  Speaker 1: that open earedness if you will being open minded about it,
• 18:45
  Speaker 1: if you try and learn about the history of the
• 18:47
  Speaker 1: album or the band or that song or other interesting
• 18:50
  Speaker 1: information about what you're listening to, and that can help
• 18:53
  Speaker 1: you just connect to it. A little bit more and
• 18:55
  Speaker 1: have it then end up meaning something beyond just what
• 18:58
  Speaker 1: you're hearing, and so yeah, just to try to bring
• 19:01
  Speaker 1: in some curiosity to it.
• 19:02
  Speaker 2: Yeah. One thing I do there is if I'm listening
• 19:04
  Speaker 2: to a band and I learned that they have other albums,
• 19:06
  Speaker 2: I will try to go listen to their other albums too,
• 19:08
  Speaker 2: like or if they're members of other bands, I go
• 19:11
  Speaker 2: listen to those bands. That's an easy way to do that.
• 19:13
  Speaker 2: So it's like, oh, I learned that this band is
• 19:15
  Speaker 2: you know, ex members of this band, So now I
• 19:17
  Speaker 2: can go listen to this other band that they're related to.
• 19:19
  Speaker 2: And that's how you discover like the Volcano Choir, which
• 19:22
  Speaker 2: is Bonaver's previous band, and like all kinds of stuff,
• 19:24
  Speaker 2: like there's really cool stuff out there.
• 19:26
  Speaker 1: Wow, Okay, yeah.
• 19:27
  Speaker 2: Now you should be patient, give yourself grace and patience here.
• 19:31
  Speaker 2: Many people do not connect with music immediately when they
• 19:33
  Speaker 2: first hear it. There are plenty of albums that are
• 19:35
  Speaker 2: like some of my favorite albums that I did not
• 19:37
  Speaker 2: like it first. I was kind of like, I don't
• 19:38
  Speaker 2: get this as boring, and then later I'm like, oh,
• 19:40
  Speaker 2: this is really good. Yeah, but you should start with
• 19:42
  Speaker 2: like some kind of preference for like you know, we
• 19:45
  Speaker 2: I'm sorry, let me say it like this. We may
• 19:47
  Speaker 2: not like music immediately, but we may start to form
• 19:50
  Speaker 2: a preference across multiple listens like I just mentioned, Like
• 19:53
  Speaker 2: radio stations, record labels specifically bank on this phenomenon to
• 19:56
  Speaker 2: get you those earworms. Like that's how hits all work, right,
• 19:59
  Speaker 2: You hear enough as you listen, you'll become more familiar
• 20:01
  Speaker 2: with the music and are more likely to start to
• 20:03
  Speaker 2: find enjoyment in it, something I always do too, as
• 20:06
  Speaker 2: I listen for like parts or like pieces of music,
• 20:08
  Speaker 2: so I listen to like what the instrumentation is doing
• 20:10
  Speaker 2: and find interest in those same Like for me, I
• 20:13
  Speaker 2: love guitar work, but I spend when I listen to music,
• 20:15
  Speaker 2: I spend a lot of time trying to listen to
• 20:16
  Speaker 2: hooks and melodies, but listen into like the rhythm and
• 20:19
  Speaker 2: bass sections, So I listen to the drums and bass
• 20:21
  Speaker 2: most often.
• 20:21
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I listen to a lot of guitar melodies. For me,
• 20:23
  Speaker 1: because I'm a drummer, A lot of the drums I
• 20:26
  Speaker 1: like listen for and see is there anything cool going
• 20:28
  Speaker 1: on here?
• 20:29
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 20:29
  Speaker 1: Another one that they recommend is get recommendations from people
• 20:32
  Speaker 1: you trust and who you have a good relationship with.
• 20:35
  Speaker 1: So let's if you know someone who like, you've sort
• 20:38
  Speaker 1: of talked about music with them before, or you just
• 20:41
  Speaker 1: tend to like that person, you can see like, what
• 20:43
  Speaker 1: do they recommend, and you might not necessarily get on
• 20:45
  Speaker 1: board with it, But I think at least in some
• 20:47
  Speaker 1: instances you'll find something like a song or even an
• 20:50
  Speaker 1: album that you listen to and you're like, this is
• 20:52
  Speaker 1: actually pretty good, and then that makes its way into
• 20:54
  Speaker 1: your rotation.
• 20:55
  Speaker 2: Yeah, and then avoids signing negative musical values to yourself.
• 20:58
  Speaker 2: So if you declare that you were just so someone
• 21:00
  Speaker 2: who quote hates jazz or hates rap or hates metal,
• 21:02
  Speaker 2: then you are less likely to even be open to
• 21:04
  Speaker 2: the experience of music that you might otherwise find pleasure in.
• 21:08
  Speaker 2: When you kind of set a general rule that I
• 21:10
  Speaker 2: hate blank, you know genre, what you're doing is not
• 21:13
  Speaker 2: only are you eliminating that genre, but you're limiting eliminating
• 21:16
  Speaker 2: every subgenre of that, that group, and you're eliminating every
• 21:20
  Speaker 2: kind of like permutation of that or combination. So if
• 21:23
  Speaker 2: you say you hate rap, then you're gonna lose hip hop,
• 21:26
  Speaker 2: You're gonna lose you know skate, you know R and B,
• 21:28
  Speaker 2: you're gonna lose all kinds of stuff inside of that.
• 21:31
  Speaker 2: And even then, like there's there's so many Like I
• 21:33
  Speaker 2: always kind of use this as an example. There is
• 21:36
  Speaker 2: a difference between DMX and fifty cent and Kendrick Lamar
• 21:40
  Speaker 2: versus far Side, and you know a tribe called Quest
• 21:44
  Speaker 2: and all like when you get into it BC Boys.
• 21:47
  Speaker 2: They're all very different experiences. So it's worth not saying
• 21:51
  Speaker 2: that you hate a genre and give it, give it
• 21:53
  Speaker 2: some space.
• 21:54
  Speaker 1: The genres are totally arbitrary, and they're like, yeah, a
• 21:57
  Speaker 1: broad classification meant to more or less represents some features
• 22:01
  Speaker 1: that tend to be pretty common across like groups of songs, right,
• 22:05
  Speaker 1: and like it barely functions in a way of existing
• 22:09
  Speaker 1: at all. There's so many people would call them different things.
• 22:12
  Speaker 1: It's kind of a silly exercise really, So I think
• 22:15
  Speaker 1: saying you hate anyone genre is just like shutting the
• 22:18
  Speaker 1: door on on the opportunity to discover something you might
• 22:22
  Speaker 1: actually love, which I did when I when I criticize
• 22:24
  Speaker 1: people or criticized country. But I've tried to be more
• 22:28
  Speaker 1: open minded about that a little bit. Anyway. Yeah, the
• 22:31
  Speaker 1: last one they hear they suggest here is don't feel
• 22:33
  Speaker 1: obligated to keep up with all trends. It's easier right now,
• 22:36
  Speaker 1: It's easier than ever to make music and to get
• 22:38
  Speaker 1: it out there. So, like, I think a lot of
• 22:40
  Speaker 1: people are like, well, what's the newest thing out this week?
• 22:43
  Speaker 1: And I think, like I wouldn't set these really extreme goals.
• 22:46
  Speaker 1: Is like, just do your best, you know, whatever works
• 22:48
  Speaker 1: for you, whatever you can do, Like I just don't
• 22:50
  Speaker 1: hold yourself to some impossible accomplishment unless you want to.
• 22:54
  Speaker 1: I mean, if if you really like that's how you
• 22:56
  Speaker 1: motivate yourself and that's what gets you going, then sure.
• 22:59
  Speaker 1: But I'd say for most people that's pretty daunting and
• 23:01
  Speaker 1: overwhelming is to try and keep up with all the
• 23:03
  Speaker 1: new trends. It's like, just every once in a while,
• 23:05
  Speaker 1: you know, seek something out whatever works for you.
• 23:07
  Speaker 2: Yeah, treat it like a hobby and have fun with it. Like,
• 23:09
  Speaker 2: you don't need to make this work. I mean, unless
• 23:11
  Speaker 2: you're working in a and R or working for a
• 23:13
  Speaker 2: record label, that maybe you have to do that. But
• 23:14
  Speaker 2: like if you're not doing that and you're just kind
• 23:16
  Speaker 2: of a casual listener, then don't put that criteria on yourself.
• 23:19
  Speaker 2: Just listen to music casually, enjoy it. And if you
• 23:22
  Speaker 2: don't want to listen to the music, that's perfectly okay too,
• 23:25
  Speaker 2: if you like what you like and you don't want
• 23:26
  Speaker 2: to get rid of it. But there's a lot of
• 23:28
  Speaker 2: really great new music out there, and I hope that
• 23:30
  Speaker 2: people spend a little bit of time discovering it.
• 23:32
  Speaker 1: Yes, all right, that's two weeks in a row. We
• 23:34
  Speaker 1: went crazy long for a minute, so we're gonna have
• 23:36
  Speaker 1: to wrap it up there. I mentioned to the top,
• 23:39
  Speaker 1: i'd say more about how you could support us, but
• 23:41
  Speaker 1: because of the time, I'm not going to do that. Instead,
• 23:43
  Speaker 1: I'm going to say if you'd like to tell us
• 23:45
  Speaker 1: about your thoughts with music, getting stuck in a music rut,
• 23:48
  Speaker 1: or getting out of a music rut, or just your
• 23:50
  Speaker 1: favorite songs, bands, or albums, we're happy to hear those things.
• 23:53
  Speaker 1: You should tell us that by emailing us directly at
• 23:55
  Speaker 1: info at wwdwwdpodcast dot com, or on all those so
• 24:00
  Speaker 1: media platforms, and we look forward to hearing from you there.
• 24:03
  Speaker 1: But we probably better wrap this one up here. As
• 24:04
  Speaker 1: I said, we have full length episodes come out on Wednesdays.
• 24:07
  Speaker 1: They're actually a little bit longer than this and then
• 24:09
  Speaker 1: usually short episodes that come out on Mondays. But is
• 24:11
  Speaker 1: there anything that you would like to add or anything
• 24:13
  Speaker 1: that I forgot before we wrap this up today?
• 24:15
  Speaker 2: Shane, Uh, nope, I think that covers it.
• 24:17
  Speaker 1: I thank you to our patron supporters, thank you to
• 24:19
  Speaker 1: my team and people who make this happen, and thank
• 24:21
  Speaker 1: you all for listening today. This is Abraham and this
• 24:23
  Speaker 1: is Shane. Why we Do what we Do Mini is
• 24:25
  Speaker 1: out I you've been listening to Why We Do What
• 24:29
  Speaker 1: We Do.
• 24:30
  Speaker 2: You can learn more about this and other episodes by
• 24:33
  Speaker 2: going to WWD WWD.
• 24:35
  Speaker 1: Podcast dot com.
• 24:37
  Speaker 2: Thanks for listening, and we hope you have an awesome
• 24:39
  Speaker 2: day