As I’ve mentioned previously, last.fm has provided me with a tremendous selection of new (to me) music based on my current playlists. I also happen to be part of the majority of the world that is forced to work for a living, however, I’m of the lucky few that can put a pair of headphones over my ears and listen to hours of music while busily pretending to work. This gives me ample time to churn through many an album, and mostly enjoying every moment of it. Sure, sometimes you stumble over something truly horrible, but mostly, it’s just great music.
That is until I put together a collection for a recent trip to Ottawa, a 6-7 hour drive for those of us with kids that need to stop. Suddenly, all the tracks I loved and held dear to my work-a-day heart, were pure shite. Repetitive garbage that I couldn’t turn off quickly enough. There’s a couple working theories I have for this. One: My car stereo is junk and doesn’t do the music justice. Although this is true, I’m hardly an audiophile and still run the stock radio in my truck. Two: The rear speakers were covered, and therefore, turned off, leaving me without much bass and not much distinction between levels. Three: Atmosphere has a great deal to do with my listening habits. While working, I have quite a bit going through my mind, usually from several different subjects at once. The music pumped directly into my head takes a back stage to trying to debug the latest issue in front of me. It’s possible that while thinking of particularily difficult problem, the music dissappears totally, and I don’t even hear it anymore.
The opposite is true while driving. I try to pay attention to my driving and not dying. One thing, one task, and not terribly difficult or consuming. So perhaps the music filling the car suddenly becomes more prominent. I noticed when the vocals are weak. I notice when 40 seconds of a 2 minute song are the same words over and over again. I notice when I just don’t like a song, or even an entire album. Perfect example, The Kills – No Wow. I couldn’t get enough of this album at work, but I actually shut it off in the truck. It just got on my nerves for some reason.
I know we covered this one off-blog (amazing, I know) but in the interest of leaving comments when I feel the urge, let me rephrase it here.
I also think that the way you feel about music in a car can depend a lot on who’s in the car with you. I know that when I listen on my own I have a certain capacity for awkwardness in a song that doesn’t translate to a more social listening experience. When I’m listening with someone that has different taste from my own I become highly sensitive to all the little things that can make an album sound annoying: repetition, shrill vocals, song similarity, genre confusion, etc.
It really just goes to show why there is a “mainstream” music scene. People’s tastes vary so wildly that it takes a generic (typically watered down and completely quirk-free) pop-song to achieve the least offensive experience for everyone.