Does the digital revolution drive music obsession?

I think when we talk about the first case, mentioning the Perica album is purely my own subjective take. In the second instance, though, there’s actually an objective element at play—or at least an attempt to find some objectivity, given that being "objective" is always on shaky ground when you're talking about music criticism... if you'll excuse me. 🤷

@coppermarlin81/">@@coppermarlin81 : Not necessarily, though it stands to reason that you’re going to gravitate toward whatever hits harder or holds more value for you... 🤷

@wiredfalcon2/">@@wiredfalcon2 : It's a bit of both, really... 🙂 If I had been in a position back then where I could have just stripped everything down and listened to every single release available, I'm sure I would've found some albums that actually outshine Perica. That's just how it works. Look, the Perica album is still one of my absolute favorites to this day, but back then, I thought Ivica was this flawless, untouchable genius... now, looking back, I realize he wasn't quite at that level when you compare him to the heavy hitters of that genre. You know what I mean?

@Brenda Scott14/">@@Brenda Scott14: Well, obviously, yes... but not with every single album. There are plenty that stay close to my heart, it just depends on the mood... whether I feel like diving into some Cut or if I want to focus on something else entirely. Back in the day, we didn't have nearly as many options, so everything felt more intense... you were basically forced to grapple with whatever you had in front of you, whether it was a masterpiece or just something decent...

🤷 Every time I spin Atomizer, it’s like hearing it for the first time—even though I’ve probably played it a million times already.
The same goes for Liar, London Calling, Mirrored, Kid A, Houses of the Holy, Reign in Blood.

Then again, there are some albums I just can't listen to on repeat—they're a bit much for my nervous system, I guess. Hypermagic Mountain, for instance. I absolutely love it, though.

*ponor pretistiti ajpod and wanders off into the twilight to the sounds of Jordan, Minnesota*

Yeah, I’m right there with gentlepuma20 on this one. 🤮 😬
I mean, acting all mysterious about how someone tracked down a specific record is just plain silly. It's like pretending you're lost in a blizzard when you know exactly where you're going. Just totally pointless, right?

Lawrence Torres37 said:@wiredfalcon2/">@@wiredfalcon2 : yeah and no 🙂 let's just say if I could go back and strip everything I knew at the time and listen to it all again, our stuff would probably sound way more genius than Perica. look, Perica is still one of my absolute favorites to this day, but back then I thought Ivica was some flawless genius, and now? looking at other albums in that genre, I realize he wasn't quite hitting those heights. you know what I mean.

I get what you're saying, but it just means you haven't found your own Perica yet. It’s been like six months since I last sat down with mine, but if someone told me, "Hey, pick one album to listen to before the world ends," I wouldn't even hesitate. I'd grab Perica. Period. No matter how much other music I dig through before or after, it doesn't change things. I've stumbled across heaps of good stuff and piles of garbage, but none of it takes away from Perica. If anything, it just adds layers to my musical history, which is basically a part of my life at this point.

Lisa Flores74 said:Let’s not forget MTV played a massive role in all this... and everything before it. Shows on KROQ or whatever the hell our parents used to listen to back in the day. Back then, MTV was actually a benchmark for quality. You didn't just listen because it was the only thing available; you listened because most of it was actually good. Less music meant less trash.
Nowadays, more music just equals more garbage. It takes way more willpower and effort to dig out something worthwhile. I honestly think the digital revolution is directly tied to this obsessive way of listening—it’s practically the only way for someone who actually cares about music to find what fits their taste and helps them grow.
The only question left is: at what point does this hunt, this obsession with finding "the thing," stop being a means to an end and become the end itself? Since it’s entirely up to the individual, I’d venture to say that once that happens, it’s not even about listening to music anymore.

I’m with you on this one. Raising a glass to the truth here.🙂

What else can I say without just rehashing those late-night contemplations about our dear zombies from the start of this thread while everyone else was fast asleep...🙂 zLimenko put it perfectly when he said exactly what I’m thinking and how I operate. Just imagine if we could copy-paste that post right here.

But now, let's talk about what really matters: Is it better to have access to today's mainstream hits, or the sheer skill of hunting down great music on your own...

I'll always vote for more options. I love having the freedom to choose, rather than being stuck with whatever is available because I have no other choice.

It doesn't matter who owns what or whether I had to go through extra trouble to find a specific track. All that matters is how it makes me feel. If I dig it, it's worth it.

So, how do I pick quality out of such a massive sea of noise? I find people who know their stuff. People who basically curate things for me. I tend to delegate the heavy lifting in a sort of hierarchy. 😁 There are a few individuals out there who know infinitely more about music than I ever will, people with a sensibility and taste similar to mine, so I trust them almost implicitly. They consistently blow me away with their finds. And I give back too, because finding a musical gem is a thrill, and I love discovering new tracks—I just don't have the endless hours required to do it constantly.

I love looking back at how things used to be; it brings a smile to my face. But honestly, I'm even happier that I can just hop on YouTube / Myspace / Soulseek / ... and grab whatever happens to cross my mind.

Personally, I’ve always felt that the internet and the MP3 format brought something truly transformative to the table.
When I look back at my high school days, it used to take me an entire year just to track down the full discography of Led Zeppelin—constantly hunting down classmates who happened to own that one specific record I was missing, just so I could sit there and painstakingly dub it onto a cassette tape. Fast forward to today, and you can access basically anything instantly.
There’s also a massive practical upside: nowadays, I can stream a track online to see if it actually holds up before I go out and drop money on a CD. It saves me from making a bad purchase.

Another thing is how bands have basically democratized. You don't just have one Led Zeppelin surrounded by a sea of total nobodies anymore. Now, there's just a massive amount of really solid, relatively popular bands out there.

I am an obsessive music listener. My first act every morning is turning on some tunes; my MP3 player is practically an extension of myself, and I always listen to something before bed. If we hadn't had the digital revolution, things would be much the same, just with fewer bands and albums available. The reality is that I cycle through individual albums less frequently now, mainly because I’m constantly aware of the backlog of albums waiting for me. Does that diminish the value of any single album? Not at all.

My approach remains consistent regardless of how I acquire music: if I enjoy an album, I'll loop it until something else takes its place as my most-played. If I don't like it, I'll actually listen to it again just to ensure I didn't miss something subtle. Truthfully, having such a massive selection has its downsides. Sometimes I feel paralyzed by choice, worrying I might breeze past something profound simply because I'm caught in this endless cycle of hunting for the next new thing—or the next old favorite. That constant search might overshadow the essence of music itself, but I'd still rather have this vast ocean of great tracks and junk than be stuck circling the same three bands forever.

I also tend to romanticize the format and the process of acquiring music. When you wait a long time for something, it's hard to remain objective, even if the end result fails to live up to the hype. As a format, the MP3 feels clinical and "cheap." While I love it for its portability and convenience, those exact traits are why I hate it. There was something more personal about vinyl; there was a ritual involved. Back in the day, I used to lend out cassettes with genuine anxiety, never knowing if someone's player would chew up the tape—and when you struggle to get your hands on something, you don't want to risk it. Nowadays, if I lend someone a CD or a digital file, I couldn't care less if it gets lost or damaged because I know I can just download it again. That's where the devaluation of digital tech comes from: it's too accessible.
Ultimately, though, the format or how you obtained the music doesn't matter if the music itself is garbage.
The digital age just allows me to feed my obsessions more effectively than ever. It gives me the freedom to listen to what I actually want, rather than whatever happens to be playing on the radio or circulating among my friends. For that reason, I have nothing against it.

Man, I was just thinking back to how we used to spend our time in the Stone Age, flipping through every single music magazine we could get our hands on at the American Embassy near Central Park. It didn't take us long to figure out which writers actually shared our vibe, and once we cracked that code, all we had to do was track down those specific albums...😬

You finally made it to the front page of Monitor.

Honestly, I don't really care if I went through hell to track down a specific record or if I just downloaded it while sipping coffee, smoking a cigarette, and staring out the window. The ones that were a pain to find aren't any more special to me. I mean, sure, I kind of miss wandering around local record stores looking for some new Therapy? or making that drive across state lines to hit up a Best Buy, but that's not the main thing.

The real deal is that back in the day—like ten (!?) years ago—I used to absolutely rip Electro-Shock Blues Eels onto my Walkman, and man, I loved that stuff. It was easily in my top 10 albums of all time. Nowadays, I've got their entire discography sitting on my hard drive, yet I haven't even touched Blinking Lights... even though my friends and Dragaš keep insisting it's amazing. I just haven't, because I have a hundred other bands I'm obsessed with.

I guess if the digital revolution hadn't happened, I probably wouldn't even know about most of these other bands I love (or at least, not nearly as many of them), but then again, now my attention is spread thin across a thousand different things, so maybe it isn't quite as intense anymore.

And, I don't know, I'm happy the internet introduced me to all these bands that I love just as much as those old records, tapes, and CDs, but these days I can't just listen to the same album over and over. I can't, because I know there’s still so much else out there waiting for me.

Luckily, I still have enough willpower and patience to put certain tracks on repeat and just lose myself in them for a bit.

blueranger12 said:Another thing is how much more accessible bands have become—it's kind of democratized everything. You don't just have one massive act like Led Zeppelin surrounded by total nobodies anymore; now there's a huge pool of really solid, relatively popular bands everywhere.

blueranger12!!! 🙂 😍

gentlepuma20 said:blueranger12!!! 🙂 😍

gentlepuma20!

I honestly just romanticize that whole era between Napster dying out and Soulseek actually showing up. I remember sitting there with my 56k modem, grinding through downloads for hours just to snag some obscure Arab Strap tracks or whatever. We’re talking three measly megabytes taking all night—from 10 PM straight through to 3 AM. And then, boom, total crash.
Here's a clip of Moffat saying that if he had a vagina, he'd totally sleep with Bruce Willis.
Then broadband hits, and after a massive phase of obsessively downloading everything in sight, I just... stopped. I completely lost interest in that whole massive catalog, with a few exceptions here and there. When was the last time I actually sat down and listened to an entire album from start to finish? Yesterday. Seriously, you guys. It lasted maybe twelve blessed minutes before I checked out.
Our attention spans have basically gone down the drain, and honestly? The whole concept of the "album" as a format is dying right along with them.

I'm totally with gentlepuma20 on this one.
Not really. 😁

I feel like I listen to music just as much as I used to—maybe even more? It’s just that nowadays I spend way more time glued to my computer, so I tend to use music as this constant background soundtrack more often than I did back in the day..
Like gentlepuma20 was saying, the whole "democratization" of bands happened because of the internet. Plus, there's a massive difference between how much you love owning a physical CD versus how much you actually love the music on it.
Honestly, I bet if we were still living in the era of cassettes and vinyl, I would've gone to way fewer concerts than I do now.

I think all of this is a good thing (or at least, definitely not a bad thing!). 🤷

Wait, hasn't a similar topic come up here before?

We’ve touched on this before, yeah. As much as I love getting nostalgic for the era of chrome cassette tapes and recording stuff off indie radio stations—or basically paying some guy at a local Best Buy to burn you a CD with the new Radiohead album and whatever else $10—I honestly think things are way better now. 🙄 I mean,

It’s true, everything is right there, the selection is endless, but somehow we have way less time to actually sit down and listen to all the new stuff.
On the flip side, I’ve stumbled upon a massive pile of bands I didn't even know existed, and they aren't exactly new releases —they’re just gems that hit me personally, rather than being something my friend, or their sister, or some cousin living in the US, or any other "influencer" would tell me to listen to.

An album that hits home today? I'll probably listen to it xxx times until I know every single bit of static on the track, which feels just as rewarding as those cassettes from 10-15 years ago. At the end of the day, if you actually love music, you're going to listen to music.
There are so many bands out there and a constant flood of new albums, yet this year I can barely scrape together ten candidates for Album of the Year (which is a huge change from last year). 🤷

Whenever I make a playlist for someone, I usually go with a full album on an audio CD or a specific themed mix CD. I totally get the argument that having everything on an MP3 disc ruins the experience because you lose that sense of direction—you don't even know where to start.
If you actually have the discipline to manage how much new music you download, then digital tools just make enjoying it easier. But if you're the type who tries to download every single thing Pitchfork rates above a 7.0, well, that’s a much harder road to travel.
By the way, I don't see anything wrong with judging something after just one listen. In my experience, very few great albums are so bad on the first spin that they're worth writing off entirely.

All in all, digitalization 👍

Great topic.
Honestly, nothing quite hits like that feeling of dubbing your favorite album or EP onto a high-quality cassette and just looping it until the tape itself starts to wear out. Those Maxell tapes were 👍

Even though everything feels like cheap, mass-produced junk nowadays instead of actual quality, I still get that same rush whenever I stumble upon something rare online—something I could never afford to own, or something most people have never even heard of, or just something I haven't listened to in ages.

coppermarlin81 said:Yeah, I’m with Ponor on this one. 🤮 😬
Trying to turn the way someone sources a specific circuit board into some grand mystery is just pure nonsense. It’s like pretending you can’t feel the cold when you’re standing in a blizzard. Just completely pointless.

"The Fox sat there for a while, staring at the Little Prince:
- Please... tame me! -
- I'd love to - he replied - but I don't have much time. I have friends to find and a whole lot of things to learn.
- People don't have time to truly know anything anymore. They just buy pre-packaged stuff from big-box retailers /.../
And what is a ritual? - the little prince asked.
- That's already mostly forgotten - It's the very thing that makes one day different from the next, or one hour different from all the others /.../
And the more time passes, the happier I'll be... In four hours, I'll be all worked up and trembling: I'll finally discover the price of happiness!" 😉

Jucer hacker on the tube, an afternoon backflash 😲 targeting DubNoBassWithMyHeadMan, whom I won't be getting rid of that easily. Reload > reload > reload . . 🙏 Worship the past, enjoy the future