Reaching the Point Where You’re Sick of Music
I have a great job. I get to write and talk about music all day. But I’m going to let you in on a secret: there are times when I prefer silence.
No music. Not a note. Just quiet.
When I tell people this, the reaction is usually something along the lines of “REALLY? I’m ALWAYS listening to music. I NEVER turn it off! What’s wrong with you?”
Nothing’s wrong with me. Like everyone else, I need to rest and recharge. And for me, that means periods of silence. This is what keeps me from becoming totally jaded and sick of music.
“Sick of music? That’s…well, sick! How can anyone ever be sick of music? What’s wrong with you?”
Nothing. I’m just guarding against an OD. And if you listen to as much music I do over the course of a day–and remember that this is the critical listening involved in evaluating songs, albums and genres across a wide range of genres and not listening for pure pleasure–it’s extremely easy to overdo it.
Here’s what can happen. This article appeared on Drowned in Sound under the title “Has Anyone Ever Reached the Point of Where You’re Totally Sick of Music?”
Read the rest here. And does this sound familiar to anyone?
I know of what you speak. I spent my 20s so immersed in music there was no balance. I worked in music, I listened to music full time, I played music, everyone I knew could only talk about the records they were buying, the shows they were going to, the tours their bands were going on, the records they were putting out…So at age 30 I did something to make me a better person and give myself some balance and to meet some wonderful people from other interesting walks of life….I took up the sport of curling and traded in a slice of my musical passion and time for something else. It worked out pretty well…
I am a musician and a sound engineer so I totally get this. After 7 years of holding down house sound gigs I lost all passion for music. I stopped listening to anything new, my brain was totally fried from it. Today I have a better balance as I am not around music quite as much. If I need a fix I often turn on a web radio station and see what strikes me as cool.
I’ve seen you feeling that way for a long time now. Your posts were getting less enthusiastic and less detailed. It’s like you’re obliged to post about music whereas before you did it to share the joy. I feel that way too now that I’m in my 40s. I never thought I would lose the passion for music but working at a record store kinda of killed it and the lack of bands that excite me like before doesnt really happen much these days.
Lately, I’ve been exploring bands I missed the first time around and I think it’s because it’s less marketed, more original in taking chances, more expression in creativity but they were too ahead of their time to sustain themselves. I just got the first two Wall of Voodoo CDs off ebay and will check out next Oingo Boingo, Ennio Morricone, The Damned, Orange Juice and a bunch more that didn’t have Auto Tune effects.
I use to work with music as a dj for years. I turned down opportunities to work in the dj stores because of a fear of mediocrity or worse. I figured if I burnt out my passion for music…..what was left to enjoy to that degree?