Music - Did We Forget How To Listen?

Did We Forget How To Listen?

[@judmcc]

I mostly sit and listen, as I've done since the 1960s. - The difference is that now I have to use a magnifying glass to read the liner notes for the CD!

[@davepounds8924]

Rick brings up a good point! I am in my 60s and remember how special it was to go buy a new record and then listen to it! Now you have a million songs in your front pocket on your IPhone The artist isn’t getting compensated as well either for his or her music on the Streaming Services Music has been cheapened!!!

[@denniswood1437]

I think the human element of writing songs from the heart is to a large extent gone in modern popular music. Today, most artists don't have the ability to master their instruments enough to play multiple chords, tempo changes, or just reproduce their music live.

[@lexpeters735]

Hi from Australia Tj, you certainly brought back memories from yesteryear about buying albums. I worked every Saturday at a vegetable farm with my best friend as a teen to save up to buy my own stereo system and as many albums as I could afford. It took 2 buses to get their and the same to get home. My wish list was always a mile long as the seventies was a very fertile era for music. Once I bought my latest album I devoured every word on the cover and inner sleeve while I played it. Those were the days.

[@maxipowa67]

Totally agree. I'm gonna go away and listen to one of my favourite albums and make sure i give it my full attention.

[@54macdog]

Listening is not passive if it is done properly, it is an active experience. Great video.

[@danieldemetzky5809]

That's exactly what I used to do. Learn the lyrics and being able to play it on the guitar but I grew up with the legends.

[@tonyeamon5118]

I was always criticized by my stepmom for just sitting and listening to my records, but it never stopped me, and that's still the way I do it.

[@Man_of_Oil]

I'm an older Gen-Z and I remember when I first introduced myself to some coworkers I told them I liked listening to music. They were a little confused and asked me if I did anything else while listening like reading or gaming, and they were dumbfounded when I said no, I just listen. Rick's point about music being devalued is so true. Music is universally experienced and a part of everyone's lives, but it's almost never appreciated as a standalone product. It's treated as mood-dressing or just something to set the vibes. Or now with TikTok it's been turned into "content", just a primer for creating memorable one liners or relatable skits. Streaming has been great in so many ways but the devaluation is a really sad unintentional consequence. Although as a counterpoint, I don't know if just sitting down and listening to a record is the gold standard way to experience music either! I've had countless experiences with artists/albums/songs that I've totally written-off until I see them live in concert, where being able to make a connection with the singer, see what the bassist is doing, what chords the guitarist is playing, etc. helps me gain a new appreciation for something or notice things I wouldn't have otherwise. I find things like music videos or live in-studio recordings can also help in similar ways, and that there's just a value to that added visual element. Intentional listening shouldn't have to be a test of attention span either, like I probably do my most intentional listening while walking my dogs with my headphones in. The movement helps me keep my mind from wandering or falling asleep lol. Not that I fail to see the value of popping on a record and reading the liner notes either though!

[@Man_of_Oil]

Also think about something like Stop Making Sense by the Talking Heads! The Beatles Rooftop Concert! The Taylor Swift Eras Tour Movie! I wish all my favorite bands could afford to do a production like that.

[@donnicholas7552]

I still listen to music the same way I did when I was teenager. I set aside some free time and just listen to the music. I miss the days of going into a record store and seeing a new LP release. Then rushing home to listen to it!

[@sidesup8286]

Remember that little tingle up the spine we would get when we were young and listening to some music we really loved. Where in the world did that tingle go? And we were listening on crappy stereos. Now that we have virtual reality machines for playback equipment, you'd think that would return. Now that I'm retired I do not feel like I'm wasting my time just sitting and listening to a whole piece of music. I can honestly say that ALL my time is SPARE time. My story is a little different. I did not have a job or an allowance, and we were poor. But I knew a store that had used lp records in the back for 9 cents each. Were they the artists you'd want? NO.... Were they in good condition? NO.... Not at all. There were hundreds of them, maybe even over a thousand, and every single one of them seemed to be all scratched up. And we loved it!. No Beatles, No Rolling Stones, No The Who or The Doors, just Ray Conniff, Bert Kampefert, Alfred Alpaka, The Mystic Moods Orchestra, Liberace. And we loved it! They were 9 cents each. We looked at the rest of the world as fools for paying 61 times too much There could have been some records in there that weren't all scratched up, but I don't think I ever found one. Those crackles and cackles and snaps and pops seemed part of the music after a while. And we loved it. I remember when I finally did get some money, & going over to a real record store and buying a brand new lp replacement for my crackly sounding first Santana album. When I opened the cellophane and put the lp on, the suface was quiet. It sounded so foreign, being used to my copy with continuous surface noise..Which I was used to for years. For some strange reason, I didn't like the new quiet copy as well. There was something missing! I actually went back to my 9 cent frisbee condition copy. Years later I realized and came to understand that my original noisy lp copy, was actually a much cleaner sounding original Columboa pressing. Even in the condition it was in; it still sounded cleaner than the brand new but inferior later pressing lp. It's interesting sometimes to sit in another room while a recording is playing. It sounds different and like you are hearing it from a new and different perspective. Anything new is sometimes better than the same old same old. I am discovering the joy of listening from another room. I don't think you listen as analytically that way;..which is actually good!

[@djacobmadrigal]

Part of the problem is also with some audiophiles: instead of them using their equipment to listen to music, they use music to listen to their equipment. 🤦

[@stephenrostkoski837]

When I was a kid, I'd usually spend Saturday mornings lying in bed listening to the radio. Since so much music is now available on my computer, over the last few years I've been spending most Saturday or Sunday mornings lying in bed just listening to music once again (I don't have a phone so no distractions!). Sometimes if I happen to wake up early on a workday, I'll spend an hour or so listening before I get up as well. It's a great way to start a day or weekend. Listening to music sparks thoughts or memories that can affect the rest of your day.

[@josephblue4135]

There was a ritual to going to the record store & flipping thru albums, finding something new or older that interested you. You'd bring it home , carefully cut the shrink wrap, look at the art & proceed to just settle in & listen to the album from 1st track to last track. It's the ritual we are missing.

[@anthonys4159]

Hmmmm, you and Rick are so right. Part of the problem is the easy access to music these days. I too remember having to save up my hard earned money back in the early 80s to buy records. I can remember when I was 13 or 14 going to Tower Records with $30 in my pocket and wanting to buy 5 albums I had had my eye on for a few months. My parents didn't give me that money... I think I earned it doing odd jobs around my neighborhood. So when I went up to the counter to buy the 5 albums, the total came to $32 or $33 with tax... and I was thinking about which album I was not gonna buy. As I was thinking, and adult behind stepped forward and offered to pay the difference (with no strings attached). I remember feeling so thankful to this person. As an adult today, I often look out for a similar opportunity to pay the gift forward.

[@roberthurley1685]

...just retired from the work force a few months ago and I now make a point to set aside time now and then for (I don't know what to call it but maybe) 'focused' listening, the way I used to, the way I watch a movie or read a book, so I schedule other activity and chores around the idea that I later set aside time for more focused time to listen without the " i oughta be ..." situation ... it also helps greatly that the wife is still working a couple more years so I can make that time work for me when I can turn it up as appropriate ...

[@seanhayden7719]

Very interesting subject you are right we don't invest time to properly listen to our music

[@kevinpascual]

Full album listens are a fantastic experience. There's a sense of completion and resolution.

[@thejoyofthemusicinmylife7897]

I am in my mid 60s and music is as much of my life as it was when I was a teenager, even more so today. I am not a big TV watcher so I always have music playing throughout the house. Unless I want to relax and sink deep into an album I usually play music while working on projects around the house. You really cannot do that so much when watching TV. Listening to music is sort of like watching a movie or TV show in the non visional sense. Along with listening to the classics, I also seek out newer artist who are not high on the mainstream radar. If I like a newer artist enough then I will buy some of their music instead of just listening to it on streaming services.

[@delsahutjacques7203]

Hello TJR ! You’re perfectly right ! But it was our ge-ge-generation !…😉

[@dennis2494]

You are correct, I listened to music the same way you did when I was young, besides looking at the album cover when i cake home with a new album I would record it on my reel-to-reel recorder the first time that I played a new album. Now I listen to music at my workbench while I am working on something. only occasionally will I just sit and listen to an album. Like you also said the car is where I listen to music the most and there I just plug in my phone with my music files on it and just shuffle the songs.

[@kingdicelille]

I've never felt guilty about wallowing in music for hours, listening to it, playing it, making it, reading about it, etc... Listening to an album is like enjoying "a movie for the ears", to quote Frank Zappa. Music is such an endlessly fascinating subject/ art form. Mind you, I sometimes feel sorry for all those who can't just listen to an LP (whatever the format) without doing anything else,. And then I feel guilty for my smugness ;)

[@derekroberts6654]

Watching this video, for some reason it aroused a memory. I remember as a kid i used to make a port out of album covers. I’d be playing a record and take other records and build a port on the floor and lay down in it. Gatefolds made it easier.

[@norrieclark5217]

I got a paper round back in 1981 so I could buy albums as my pocket money would only allow the odd single.First album I bought from my first pay was Queen Greatest Hits. Like you I listened to it though headphones and took in the artwork and pictures of their albums on the inner sleeve which I dreamed of owning one day which I did eventually. Still listen in a similar way today but there is the distraction of mobile phones and social media sometimes taking picture of album and posting it on vinyl groups so perhaps something is lost these days

[@jessem470]

This was an interesting video We ( our generation ) have some hope but there are generations who never learned how to listen I do a lot of half listening , but Sat / Sun morning are carved out I get up early and this is my time and i do listen But as your video went on I started thinking of John Cage’s 4.33 What is a music ? John challenged the world in 1952 and half a century later we live in world of sound landscapes Should we not learn how to embrace it ?

[@demonsbutterfly]

100% agreed

[@Vince_Tasciotti]

Sometimes I just sit and listen. I totaly was absorbed by what Rick Beato was saying.in his video. Yes I play music while driving via a blutooth connection from my phone. Part of me thinks Beato was also commenting on the changing times, he had to work to buy a record. Now a days streaming services make it too easy to hear music, so the appreciation of the privaledge of owning a copy of a record is removed. In some ways a streaming service makes music souless and even faceless to a point.

[@TJRtheOriginal]

Yeah, it is too easy. There have been so many times, I have been at a garage sale etc and I find an old used album for cheap, that I never got to hear back in the day, and I get excited and think “cool! I’ll check this out”! .........Of course, I could pull it up on streaming any time I want. But it’s more fun to unexpectedly just run across it, get it and take it home to listen to it. I bluetooth my phone to the car all the time too LOL......But If cars still had CD players, I would also play my CDs in the car too.

[@aminahmed2220]

Absolutely fantastic have a wonderful day tjr ❤❤❤❤❤❤😊😊😊😊😊😊

[@sharispies5094]

Love your picture 📸 of The Beatles. I have loved them for 60 years. I was at the beach ⛱️ a few weeks ago and saw the saddest thing a young lady sitting on the sand with head phones on😢

[@DesertRascal]

This reminds me when I couldn't get my Nirvana Nevermind CD back for a month after I loaned it out to someone in my platoon in Germany in 1991! It went around the barracks 10 times and was such a cherished thing! That will never be a thing the youngins will be able to experience in that way. Thanks for your perspective!

[@RobertEvans-g3m]

Hi I think your exactly correct and before watching your video I didn't realise that I'd forgotten how to listen, at the moment I can't set my turntable up and I do miss listening to my records (the phone is too convenient)

[@billyfletcher9449]

100% correct TJR.

[@kevincorcoran6493]

Oddly enough if I'm listening to streaming on my phone I actually do listen. But if I'm playing a CD and have my phone right next to me I do tend to keep looking at it and I am losing the listening experience. The same goes with TV and movies. So I'm actually losing of viewing experience when it comes to those genres and messing up the plot. I finally came up with a solution. I take my phone and put it out on the kitchen table and that way I don't get distracted. Great video as usual. Looking forward to the Dick Clark video I've seen it but I love to hear your reaction to it

[@trupax2210]

Right on

[@sharispies5094]

First time on your channel. Very interesting and I find our world 🌎 is so different than what we grew up in. I don't care for how people treat each other. We all need to be kinder and more observant of OUR LOVE OF MUSIC. Thank you. 🎉

[@Uppernorwood976]

The other side of this is the pure joy of hearing a new song which I loved but didn’t own on the radio. Of course it’s objectively better to hear a song when you want, but we appreciate it less.

[@williamlangan5902]

I sometimes feel guilty just listening and not doing anything else.

[@TJRtheOriginal]

same here

[@chuckiec20]

Kids on Bandstand were mostly entitled and look like they went to salons and 5th avenue clothing stores. By 1967 Haight was in full swing. Hendrix had released Hey Joe the previous year. Vanilla Fudge released "You Keep Me Hanging On" in 1967. These kids are not representative imo.

[@Chicago_Podcast_Authority]

If you don’t focus solely on the music then what’s the point. You can’t get fully enveloped in the magic if you’re multitasking. It’s a time luxury and privilege illusion admit but it’s definitely the way to go

[@paulboyd2786]

Yes, yes yes! I always ask myself why have I not listened yet to various things that just sit on my shelf and you may have hit the point on the head. It is almost everywhere now. I constantly tell myself what am I waiting for to listen to the Sgt Pepper 50th anniversary box from 2017? My answer is always the same, waiting for a good time to just listen to it without anything else going on. In some ways, that includes the book that comes with it. I wonder if that would be distracting to just dive into and read while the music is playing. Finding time to just listen to a CD is harder than it used to be.

[@TJRtheOriginal]

I don’t think there is anything wrong with reading the book (that is about the album) when you are listening to the album.

[@paulboyd2786]

@@TJRtheOriginal I may try that more often going forward, thank you for your response. I enjoy your videos.

[@jjquinn2004]

Boomer here (born 1954), who owned several hundred records (1969-1985, then lost all of them in storage) and currently, about 6,800 CDs (1985 - current). I'm a follower of Rick Beato, but I'd say that his comment re: music is getting worse, with TJR's comments, aren't completely relevant. Beato's point is interesting but most of more recent music that is created, many of us are not interested in listening to the music anyway. As just one example, I just bought about a half-dozen CDs and it was of a couple Marvin Gaye and Johnny Cash CDs - music from the 1960s. Sometimes later or sometimes earlier. So, Beato's music is getting worse, but I'm likely not interested in the new music anyway. Where TJR's video is relevant is when we think about the music are buying or keeping and how are we listening to them. When we were beginning our album journey and we'd - if we were lucky - would buy an album in a week or so, we would listen as TJR reminisced and he's right. And nowadays, we have to listen as a full-time effort. But the question is: how many per week do we buy and how easy is it to buy a album and listen 100% of our efforts? As an extreme, there are several of KZbinrs (e.g. I enjoy the videos of Mazzie and Melinda Murphy) I follow and they buy a lot of every week/month. How can someone listen to their music just like "the old days" with multiple listens for each album, studying our liner notes, etc? As an extreme example, what happens when I buy a boxed-set of classical music with 15 CDs or 80 CDs or a Mozat box of 200 CDs! Returning to classic rock, what happens when I buy a bunch from the "Origin Album Series" with 5 albums per set? Summing up, if we buy a lot of these classic stuff, then we need to listen them full-time. I've got a decent music system in a dedicated music room and a nice recliner (assuming we don't doze off!), I can also bring along some iPod stuff with headphones and listen while on a plane (usually 3+ and 8+ hours per flight) and listen. But we have to remember how to listen!

[@alvillanueva2525]

I just sit and listen to music all the time. That's how I've done it since I was a kid. The problem with doing that with new music is that, for the most part, because of the low quality, you ARE pretty much wasting your time.

[@benntura]

I’m sorry TJR, what did you say? 😜

[@mutantryeff]

Were you talking?