Sunday, January 31, 2016

Music sucks. (Or...is it me?)


Sometimes Google Play gives music for free.  Recently, I've been pondering about what I was given...what I deleted, what I kept...and what, if anything, it says about:
music that has been considered commercially successful...
my personal tastes (versus that of the "masses")...
choices made by artists, and music companies...
the music I have been exposed to, and prefer, causing me to be jaded...

I consider myself to be VERY eclectic.  I like things for the reasons I do, whatever those reasons are.

After downloading and listening to as much as I could tolerate, I deleted albums from:  Sia, Jason Derulo, and Cole Swindell.

I kept:
Brad Paisley ("Moonshine in the Trunk" album)...
Michael Jackson ("Thriller"...I don't love every song, but I do respect the album)...
Foo Fighters ("Saint Cecilia" EP)...
"The Very Best of Grateful Dead" (I like some of their songs)...
"Janis Joplin's Greatest Hits" (I like some)...
and Elvis Presley ("30 #1 Hits"...some of them are fair).

The Electric Light Orchestra are one of the few musical acts I admit to being a favorite of mine.  When I learned of the plans to release the latest album, I expected to pay for it.  After hearing it (courtesy of National Public Radio) before it was available for sale, I intended to purchase the "Bonus Track Version" of the album.  After it became available for sale...I couldn't bring myself to pull the trigger.  Maybe it's because I don't have any disposable income.  It may be because there's only one song I (now) would consider purchasing...IF it were on sale at a discount.  After giving it much consideration, I know there are very few songs I would spend money for at all...

I could be a stingy person.  It could be me being very frugal.  It could be that the way things have been, and are...I don't feel the urgency and need to pay for the product.  I've been known to hover over a jukebox and review every offering before putting money into the machine...or, walking away.  It might be easier for me to put that money into an open instrument case of a street performer...