Can You Force Yourself To Like A Record Through Blunt-Force Repetition?

*think ffs

james blunt obv, I assume you've only heard the singles which in no way represent what he's capable of

can you force yourself to like a blunt through blunt-force repetition

No, that's not how it works. You have to choose something that you already know you don't like. I don't think it works if other people choose for you.

ffs I almost had him listening to a james blunt album

Led Zeppelin - Physical Graffiti, LJ. You're always dismissive of them.

I'd really rather if this thread didn't degenerate into "LOL it would be funny if X listened to Y" or people trying to get others to take on their particular baby. The idea, if there is one, is challenging yourself on your preconceptions,, not being sold on stuff (or pushed into for a joke) by others. That just strikes me as kinda lazy.

i find the thought of someone doing this pretty pathetic. i used to do it when i was a kid and my entire music library consisted of like 6 cd's. if i bought one i didn't like i would still listen to it a hundred times because there was nothing else to do. and yeah, eventually you do get hooked in a weird way... i guess if you were feeling burnt out on your music it could be a fascinating experiment. but there's so much good music to listen to it's hard to imagine an adult finding time to do this

That's one of the good things about being treated as a middle aged woman - since you are presumed to have no taste, you can therefore have *any* taste without embarrassment.

haha that's kind of awesome :)

I suspect anyone hired to master or remix a record does this as an occupational burden

I find the idea of dictating to adults what experiments they should or shouldn't find the time for pretty pathetic, myself, to be honest.

so there's no chance of you ever listening to a jazz record due to your hatred of that cymbal sound? :)

I'm going with my first impulse as being the right one.

I'm torn. There's the 'canonical" album I can't abide, or there's an album I know I hate and I'm listening to it at the moment, and the thought of having to hear it 22 times fills me with such horror that the canonical choice seems like an easier option.

I say do the canonical one coz I want you to like it, but go with what you feel.

Why not remix it so it is better? I wonder if this was impetus behind grey album.

The church organ solo at 13 minutes has made me turn off my alternative choice. Canonical choice for me then.

Was it Close to the Edge?

Correct!

My experience of being subjected to 'Mambo Number 5' and 'Livin' La Vida Loca' several times a day via the radio while working as a painter and decorator in 1999 suggests to me that there's no way I can grow to like a record by repetition. Hate even more, maybe, but not like. However, I'm prepared to give it a go.

I might try this with Zappa or the Residents. That's the closest to visceral aversion I get with music.

I'm going to have to scour second hand shops tomorrow because iTunes wants £7.99 and I'm not paying that for an experiment!

I suspect anyone hired to master or remix a record does this as an occupational burden

This was my thought. I don't think repetition on its own will force anybody to like a record, but when that record placed in new contexts (esp. film and commercial) it'll take on new shapes. [insert personal anecdote]

Is this cheating?
https://m.soundcloud.com/rc428/side-1-x-100
The link to it said this makes Beatles sound like residents

I'm now going through my canonical choice and already feel I was unfair on it 20 years ago and quite like it already. So that's out of the window too. Drat.

I'm going to have to scour second hand shops tomorrow because iTunes wants £7.99 and I'm not paying that for an experiment!

used copies of Turn On The Bright Lights are currently going for 42p on amazon

God I hate Amazon and don't even want to give them commission on 42p so I'll try the charity shop first but cheers!

Rob, keep going. I've listened to that album well over 100 times & find new things to love each time.

I'd really rather if this thread didn't degenerate into "LOL it would be funny if X listened to Y" or people trying to get others to take on their particular baby. The idea, if there is one, is challenging yourself on your preconceptions,, not being sold on stuff (or pushed into for a joke) by others. That just strikes me as kinda lazy.

― I'd rather be the swallow than a dick (Branwell Bell), Sunday, January 26, 2014 7:52 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

this is fair, but what if some people just aren't capable of challenging their preconceptions particularly well? or to put it another way, what if they hedge their bets a little and whether subconsciously or otherwise they pick something they have an inkling they *could* like? certainly i feel like i'd do that if pressed to choose.

really imo this would be best suited by a randomised assignment of music. is there a way to generate a random spotify artist? :D

lol or I could get really hard into Sublime *suddenly doesn't want to play any more*

Just go back through the 77 singles list and pick whatever artist you had the strongest "I just don't understand why people even like this!" reaction to.

That'd be Betty Who. Ok, then. You win this round, Johnny Fever

i wanted him to try led zep :(

Not sure she has an album out yet, but that's the spirit.

jordan s had a thread where everyone recommended him something to check out. I'd love it if imago did that

I'd love to subject myself to this experiment, but considering the albums rollout is this week and I will be doing my best to immerse myself in those results, I hope this thread can continue for a while as a rolling thing.

Ok, sure, bad timing - but there's no start or end date on the experiment. Pick it up whenever you have the listening space.

Considering that for years I had a knee-jerk loathing of Kanye West -- I think I will do this with the new Kanye album.

thats a good point. experiment will need to wait a week

xps

or should i pick something else?

That was one of my other considerations, Sarahell, so am interested to see how you get on with that.

it's possible to like anything when blunts are involved

This is such a great idea. I've done similar experiments in the past, like two summers ago when I forced myself to understand country music by checking out every c&w record in our local library system. I'm not sure what album I'm going to pick, but starting with something I hated from the singles poll results seems like a good idea.

i might try this with savages

at the very least it will make for interesting conversations with friends -- "sorry, I'm gonna have to skip your droney noise show, have to get home to listen to the Kanye album for the sake of science."

I am particularly looking forward to my upstairs neighbours absolutely *hating* me for the course of this, but I guess they put up with 2 solid weeks of The KLF over Xmas, so...

but the KLF are awesome

I think being subjected to music you didn't choose for that intensity is never fun. (Granted I think they were away.)

well yeah, my downstairs neighbor would practice funky keyboard jams for hours at a time a few years back.

the worst example of this was a roommate when i was in my early 20s who listened to "The Girl from Ipanema" over and over again, and ever since that song evokes the anger and anxiety of a trapped animal.

Imago Listening Club with his permission.

I find the idea of dictating to adults what experiments they should or shouldn't find the time for pretty pathetic, myself, to be honest.

― I'd rather be the swallow than a dick (Branwell Bell), Sunday, January 26, 2014 3:03 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

sorry i was just being a dick & hadn't actually read the thread now that i have its actually a cool experiment good luck

i've done this several times btw

Forks, which ones have worked for you?

I think if I listen to anything long enough I will eventually love it or hate it (more often the latter). I don't really force myself to listen to stuff I don't like or am indifferent to, but this has happened a bunch with stuff friends or people I lived with listened to a lot.

Listening to Spotify with ads, still waiting on appreciating the vocal-fried "So you're listening to Spotify..." female announcer after a few hundred listens.

But that's just it: if you're going to derive any entertainment value out of an ad, it's almost certainly the first time you hear it. With movies or tv shows, the first viewing is almost always going to be most impactful.

But music works differently on the brain. There are definitely records where I know on first listen that I'm going to love it, but those are the exception. The peak is more like 50 listens, and usually the appreciation steadily deepens over that time. Granted, these have to be paced out, or I can easily burn out on it. So if this blunt force idea is possible, I think there's a window for it, and if it doesn't happen within that window, the record would just grow more and more annoying.

If you scrap from existence everything I've ever liked, given enough time I am sure I can reconstruct a new taste. And so on and I am not sure if there is a parallel universe where the general quality of music is too low that I'd rather be horse-riding.