That's My Song, Don't Wear It Out

Its no secret that I Love music. Music is one of my greatest passions and I listen to it A LOT. I listen to music on my way to class, when I’m playing a game (that doesn’t require sound), when I do homework. I’m even listening to music as I’m typing this right now. However, there is one problem with listening to this much music; I wear it out.

I suffer a constant internal struggle between listening to a song too much and not listening to it enough to truly appreciate it. Every single time a new album comes out that I love, I listen to it over and over and over again. I tell myself, “live in moderation,” but I keep my ipod on “repeat.” I think to myself, “Hey, Linkin Park is awesome. I should listen to some Linkin Park . . . nah.” Then suddenly, I just stop. I don’t dare listen to a single track on that album for weeks, months, or in extreme cases, years. I move on to the latest album I added to my itunes library and allow myself to get lost in the guitar riffs and vocal melodies.

I’ve experienced this same cyclical problem since middle school and it has only worsened over time. Currently, my ears have been glued to my headphones, listening to Mastodon’s latest album, The Hunter. The album has been out for several weeks now and since then it has accounted for about 90% of all of the music I’ve listened to. I simply can’t stop listening to it. It is just a matter of time (no longer than a month from now) before I stop listening to the album and possibly, the band, for a stretch of time. I’m sure that by that point another album will be out to take its place (there are actually three albums coming out soon that I want to listen to [“I’m Excited, But Should I Be?]).

For years and years, this has been going on like clockwork. The only occasional hiccup is when multiple albums come out close together. Then, I can’t just listen to one album because others get ignored. At the same time, sometimes an album does get ignored only to be resurrected when I have grown bored with my current music and no new music has filled its shoes. 

I don’t know what it is about my personality that causes my brain to conform to these cycles, but to whatever you are, “well played sir.”