No - More Is More
Published May 30, 2003
More whiny-ass musing on the indelibility of youth and dangers of overabundance. This What Do I Know dude is worn out physically and emotionally by packing 5,000 CDs and wondering if he has gained anything over when he had 60 cassettes he knew by heart. He's a flipping piker: I have to move 25,000 records and CDs and not for one moment do I wonder if I would be better off without them. I crave variety and specificity and if I want to hear all the Toy Dolls' records, that's what I want to hear.
So has the writer gained something by accumulating 4940 recordings more than he used to have? Yes, he has gained something: access to variety and granularity of musical mood and experience - even if he doesn't listen to all 5000 with any regularity, he CAN listen to any one of them any time he wants.
You want to know what makes me want to defenestrate someone? When they come over to the house to socialize and I ask what they would like to hear, and they say, "You pick it out - there's too much to choose from," as if that is something BAD. Would you rather I had 60 cassettes, you pud? Isn't variety GOOD? You don't have to look through them all - just look around until you find something you like, or something that looks interesting - no pressure, no hassles.
So anyway, here's what the guy has to say:
- Less is More
....After stacking hundreds upon hundreds of cds in boxes, ripping a tape gun across the top, marking the outside with a fat red marker and stacking them all in the corner, it hit me - why am I hauling all this crap around? Am I any more satisfied - musically - with a collection of music that is a thousand-times larger than when it all fit into a single briefcase?
The music on those cassettes - some of which weren't the most sophisticated, mature, or with any lasting value (some of it was total crap) - shaped and defined those early years like nothing I've listened to since. I can still remember all the lyrics from every single one of the albums in that case; the "flow" of the track progression, the time of year I acquired it (early R.E.M. always "smells" like Fall and Winter to me), and the life-altering events that indirectly revolved around them.
Sure, I've purchased tons of great albums between then and now, and I am still an avid collector of new music. But is the experience any richer? Am I more fulfilled?
- No - More Is More
- Published: May 30, 2003
- Type:
- Section: Music
- Filed Under: Music: News
- Writer: Eric Olsen
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that's exactly right Andy, you have a very specific mood and you need to find the music to meet it - that's why I hate to allow music to dictate my mood, I want to find the music to match my mood. That's takes a lot of records.
at least the guy still has an emotional attachment to his music (ok, at least some of it anyway). i thought that the 'REM "smells" like Fall' thing was kinda cool.
on the other hand...sorry, there's never enough.
yeah I can never understand people who's music collection is half a bookshelf. how do they satisfy the cravings?
Yay Eric. Agreed. I'm only 21, but I think at that age around 300 CDs and a handful of records is nowhere near enough. There's so much stuff to catch up on.
Wanna burn me some CDs? haha.
Eric: *25,000*?! Do you have a picture of this? I drop jaws when I show people my relatively modest 1400 CD collection. I can't imagine what 25,000 would look like.
I can understand what he's saying, in that I have a tendency to acquire things because they were on sale, used, etc., and not get into them the way I should because there are always more to buy. And there's always a bit of guilt when I buy because my wife and I are on a pretty tight budget, but we're frugal in every other way - so my "habit" isn't such a burden, I hope. When I feel too guilty, I tend to trade in what's grown stale, but at some point later I almost always come to regret it. I try to make a pact with myself to never, ever trade anything in again, but it never lasts. It's kind of fun to trade in a few discs and get a new one in return without having to open your wallet.
More than anything, I just crave new music - music I haven't heard yet, I mean, not necessarily music that's just come out. I'd be happy if I could get a something I've never heard before to listen to everyday, even if it is only that one spin I get with it. Of course, I can't afford that. So I have to make do, getting rid of what I can to fund the new stuff I want to check out. The problem is, my collection has gotten to the point where I'm emotionally attached to the majority of the music in it, which makes getting rid of a lot of this stuff impossible. In the end, that's not bad, but of course it prevents me from getting something with the trade I could get from it . . . vicious circle!
> music I haven't heard yet
yep, same with me. after posting my pre-vacation Friday Morning Listen...it got me to thinking about the fact that i'll be able to listen to a community radio station (WERU) for the entire two weeks.
i've listened to it before and it's just a blast...entire shows where i know almost NONE of the artists...heaven for me. i'll come back with a long list of artists (time to raid the cd fund cookie jar!)
But see, that's why you guys are so cool and this writer is not: you want new and different things, he, and so many people, want safe and same and predictable. There are times when I will listen carefully to a CD more than once, like when I am reviewing it, or trying to learn a song (which I, unfortunately rarely do anymore), but for the most part I want to hear something then move on to something else, and on and on.
"More more more, how do you like it? how do you like it?"
By the way, storage is an issue: my records take up one room and CDs another.
I have move it all into our new basement - will suck hard.
Careful there, basements flood. Speaking from experience.
Ours seems secure, but it's an important thought - everything will be off the ground.
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haha I have no where near 25,000 albums, but I'm probably packing quite a few albums when I move too what with vinyls and cds and whatnot. It does sometimes suck. Sometimes, I just don't know what to listen to haha. That's why my monthly visit to the record show in town here is crucial. For $20 I can expand my collection by 10 or so albums.
I find though, that I still have those days of, "Man there's nothing good to listen to"