Listening to complete albums.... (1 Viewer)

nervas

more crickets than friends
Does anyone find this to be a thing of the past? With ipods, mp3s and computers ready to jump from one song to another and the push of a button, I found that I had stopped listening to complete albums. So at the end of 2007, a friend of mine had said he was trying to listen to complete albums, regardless of the junk between the songs he bought the albums for. Usually, I don't ever buy an album based on a song or two, I simply buy for the band. Well, at the beginning of this year I decided to listen to as many complete albums as I could. As of today I've made it to 108, hoping to be a bit beyond 200 by the end of the year. I must say, I have thouroughly enjoyed the experience and just thought I'd share the suggestion and see if anyone had felt the same. You know, just not really letting an album play in it's entirety.

Any thoughts?
 
mjp is right. This continues to be a problem especially in top 40 music. Put out one hit and then quickly put together 9 more "filler" songs. If those ar ethe type of bands that your friend listens to, then maybe he should just buy the song that he likes from iTunes.

I listen to MANY, MANY albums all the way through.

Bill
 
Yeah, I'm not exactly sure what he was listening to at the time. If I know him, probably lots of late 80's early 90's glam ala Ratt, L.A. Guns, Faster Pussycat, etc. Back then I'm sure he was probably buying the stuff for the big power ballad that so many people bought those albums for!
 
..he was probably buying the stuff for the big power ballad...
Funny, I thought that would be the part someone would skip.

[pause for raucous laughter]

I always listen to albums all the way through, but it's a dying format. It was really established by limitations in the recorded music formats. Now that those limitations don't exist, the album as a concept is disappearing.

Record companies do not want you to buy one song for the same reason cable companies resist a la carte pricing - they lose money. The record companies know you would only buy 1 of every 10 songs they pay to record, and the cable companies know you would not pay for those 250 channels that you have never watched.

We started out with Edison cylinders which were one song, now we are devolving back to the future.
 
I have an subscription to Napster. I've found that they have a pretty good selection of music. I routinely listen to full albums ... mainly of albums I've never listened to before as a whole.

That said, a lot of music being made today doesn't warrant a full album listen, mmmk? :)
 
With ipods, mp3s and computers ready to jump from one song to another and the push of a button, I found that I had stopped listening to complete albums.
This isn't new. It's just easier. Before you had to get up and walk over to the stereo and rewind the cassette tape or lift the needle. Imbeciles found it easier to just call the radio station and request the same lame-ass song they just played fifteen minutes ago--hence the top ten. It still exists in spirit. It's what shaped our music technology!
 
I would say that it's very rare for me not to listen to an entire album. But that's probably a function of a few of the things already discussed:

1. I rarely listen to anything that would even remotely qualify for Top 40. I agree that most of those types of albums have one hit and nine duds, and even the hit song itself usually isn't very good.
2. I own an iPod, but most of the time I listen to vinyl, so it's not as easy to skip tracks.
3. I usually buy based on the artist, and not because of a particular song that I like. Therefore, I'm more interested in the entire album.
 
I agree with the above said, but does anybody still buy singles? I'm talking about vinyl. I remember the mainstream bands and underground groups released a single before putting out the lp and the output of some (thinking of Septic Death http://www.myspace.com/septicdeathboise and others) was so little, I was wild about another single after years of silence. Is anyone still keen on catching singles, rare stuff, imports, overpriced to get two or three songs you can't hear anywhere else?
 
There are definately a select few bands that I buy the 7 inch singles from anytime they're released. I listen to most stuff on vinyl, however I'm in the car too much not to rely heavily on my 160gb iPod.

Bands like Pearl Jam, The Hives, Arctic Monkeys release 7 inch singles all the time, with 2-3 b-sides you wont get anywhere else and I snap them up anytime I can.

I can't go without saying that anything Jack White is involved in, The White Stripes, The Raconteurs or the dead weather, always puts out 7 inch singles. They are always a treat to receive in the mail, and some of my most coveted items.
 
I almost always listen to an entire album...even on my ipod. I hate song jumpers. At times, I will listen to entire discographies.

I haven't purchased a single in over 25 years.
 
Man, listen to a whole album! I don't even listen to a whole song.
Not even a Spice Girls song ?

Till 2008, listening to music consisted for me in listening to complete albums. But since one year, I've got less time, so I spend most of my days listening to songs here and there on my computer. I try to listen at least one album per week, old or new stuff. For example, I've planned to test the last PJ Harvey this afternoon. Listening to songs is in my opinion a rather superficial way to listen to music. That's thanks to whole albums that I now am fond of other bands than mighty Muse ! :D
 
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I don't have to listen to the Spice Girls at all because a soundtrack of all their songs plays constanly in my mind, I like it that way and I don't even have to play replay.
 
I don't always listen to full albums... but if I'm driving a ways, it seems cruel to break up most Beatles albums. Modest Mouse too. But a lot of times, I'll just set the iPod on shuffle (or my wife will).

I dunno, I've always liked mixing stuff up a bit...
 
I always have at least two forms of music going at once, computer and stereo for example, and along with the soundtrack in my mind I'm usually listening to three different songs at the same time so technically I might listen to a full album all the way through but it's hard to get all the little nuances this way. In fact I'm listening to Fleetwood Mac, Slayer & Anne Murray as I write.
 
That Anne Murray\Slayer duet is really a thing of beauty. Its a shame that her drinking and drug use really ruined a possible tour and full album though. At least we'll always have November 1987.
 

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