# Overfamiliarity makes you hate the things you once loved? A Rant!



## Belowpar (Jan 14, 2015)

This could just as well go on one of the Classical forums except...

I blame this on the radio but there seems to be an increasing preponderance of "Smooth" FM stations that take favourite pieces and repeat them over and over again. It's not the artists fault but I find I can only hear simple pop songs so many times.

The net result of this is:

If I never hear the Beatles again I just wouldn't care! What was once so fresh and new seems facile and predictable.

The first album I ever bought was Bridge over Troubled Water by S&G. The title song has now been adopted by a station favoured by my wife and daughter and it's driving me nuts! The last verse was always an add on in the studio and didn't fit and the big production value of the drums, so widely copied, now just grate! A memory of my youth ruined.


So is this a problem with modern life or does repeated exposure show up the flaws or am I now a certifiable grumpy old man or all of these things?

End of rant, thank you for your patience.


(PS this has a good side effect as its driven me form the Radio back to exploring the huge amount of quality material out there that you never hear on the radio.)


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## Weston (Jul 11, 2008)

I stopped listening to the radio decades ago except when forced to endure it, not for this reason exactly, but a nice side effect is I don't get that overexposure and those awful ear worms. Radio will not go away, but I have a feeling FM will go the way of AM soon and be relegated to talk shows. Streaming is the future -- no, the present really.


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## Dr Johnson (Jun 26, 2015)

There's nothing to be ashamed of in being a grumpy old man. It's a status I milk for all its worth.

As to your radio woes, Radio 6 provides a wide range of popular (whoops, rather a contentious word at the moment) music.


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## Ukko (Jun 4, 2010)

Your 'heard too often' problem must be pretty common with 'pop' music, because it's so difficult to avoid in urban settings. I manage quite well most of the time because of relative isolation (the bowling alley is the exception; Ring Of Fire is low grade torture). The dread of losing the lift some music provides me definitely applies to classical music too, so I do not indulge myself by listening to favorite works often.


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## Ingélou (Feb 10, 2013)

Yes, it can happen with anything. But you can get the freshness back after several years, if you avoid the tune or piece in the mean time. 

My mother used to tell me about an experiment once conducted with a 'captive audience'. They played 'Londonderry Air/ Oh Danny Boy' and another obscure tune, and asked the audience to vote which one they liked best. They liked 'Oh Danny Boy', predictably. Then they repeated the experiment and took the vote again - over and over, all day. At the end, everyone preferred 'the other tune'.

I once told this to a class of clever girls, and they pointed out that it proved nothing: the audience, by that time, would have voted any way they thought would get them out of that darned lecture theatre. :lol:


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## Guest (Aug 2, 2015)

Well if you're a grumpy old man you should have received your badge and certificate so maybe it got lost in the post? Send the Society an email and they'll sort it for you (after a terse and taciturn exchange).


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## Ingélou (Feb 10, 2013)

dogen said:


> Well if you're a grumpy old man you should have received your badge and certificate so maybe it got lost in the post? Send the Society an email and they'll sort it for you (after a terse and taciturn exchange).


Is there a Woman's Section? I'd like a badge, and pronto, if you could be bothered to take the trouble, yet...


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## brotagonist (Jul 11, 2013)

Stop listening to the radio, then :lol: I only listen to the radio, when I'm in the car and, even then, not that often any more.

All the rock stations seem to play is those old sixties hits and I've heard them to death. I sympathize. It doesn't happen to me with classical music. I have favourites I've been listening to for decades and they're still going strong (but I do have quite a few albums, so repeats, alternate recordings exempted, only occur every few years). I think that says something about the music! CM is designed to be actively listened to and, if it succeeds, it holds up; pop is just a simple jingle to keep your feet tapping, get you dancing, something to put on at a party—when people aren't listening.


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## starthrower (Dec 11, 2010)

brotagonist said:


> pop is just a simple jingle to keep your feet tapping, get you dancing, something to put on at a party-when people aren't listening.


A bit condescending, don't you think? Pop music is not all one thing, and it is an art form in it self. I've been listening to classical radio for decades, and these stations are just as guilty for ignoring a huge diversity of music. It's always Beethoven, Mozart, Dvorak, and Tchaikovsky. I never hear Honegger, Berg, Lutoslawski, Penderecki, Ligeti, Schnittke, or Ives.

As for commercial stations? They have nothing to do with music. In the states they are all owned by media conglomerates, thanks to the corrupting of the FCC. They use brand name music to sell brand name products.


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## brotagonist (Jul 11, 2013)

Have no fear: I have a good number of rock albums and nearly all of them are from the sixties and seventies :lol:


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## Ukko (Jun 4, 2010)

Rock started to go 'off' in the 60s, about the same time bluegrass did. The difference was that rock tried to plow new ground, while bluegrass tried 'fusion' with jazz - and in some cases even New Age. I will be kind and say that the results were mixed.


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## Guest (Aug 2, 2015)

Young whipper-snappers like me are of the humble opinion that rock really got going in the 70s!


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## GreenMamba (Oct 14, 2012)

One of life's little glories is hearing a song you hadn't heard since you were young. It really brings back the nostalgia. I'd advise teenagers to set aside some of your favorites tunes and don't listen to them for decades.


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## brotagonist (Jul 11, 2013)

At risk of sounding condescending, yet again, I concur that nostalgia adds much to pop music :lol:


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## Guest (Aug 2, 2015)

GreenMamba said:


> One of life's little glories is hearing a song you hadn't heard since you were young. It really brings back the nostalgia. I'd advise teenagers to set aside some of your favorites tunes and don't listen to them for decades.


When Spotify first came on the scene I listened to some stuff I'd not heard in decades. It was amazing how different it now sounded to me.


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## Ingélou (Feb 10, 2013)

There were some terrible pop songs in the 1950s & 1960s:
http://www.talkclassical.com/30753-most-irritating-20c-pop.html?highlight=


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## Dr Johnson (Jun 26, 2015)

Ukko said:


> Rock started to go 'off' in the 60s, about the same time bluegrass did. The difference was that rock tried to plow new ground, while bluegrass tried 'fusion' with jazz - and in some cases even New Age. I will be kind and say that the results were mixed.


I feel that rock got going in the 60s (whatever wrong turning bluegrass may have taken).

For example: The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, The Byrds, Jimi Hendrix, Led Zeppelin, Frank Zappa, Humble Pie, Jefferson Airplane, JethroTull, The Doors, Yes, Genesis, King Crimson etc etc


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## norman bates (Aug 18, 2010)

Belowpar said:


> or does repeated exposure show up the flaws


this for me (not just the flaws obviously). Listen to the same piece a lot it's like putting it perfectly into focus.


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## Belowpar (Jan 14, 2015)

dogen said:


> When Spotify first came on the scene I listened to some stuff I'd not heard in decades. It was amazing how different it now sounded to me.


In a good or a bad way?

For myself much of what I listened to as a youth makes me smile but is not nearly as great as thought it was.

But some is much better. E.G. I get more from listening to the pre 72 Rolling Stones now, than I ever did then. But every disco I went to at "Uni" finished with Brown Sugar and that's now dead to me.

PS the grumpy old man in me thinks "Uni" is one of the dumbest 'new words' he's ever heard!


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## Guest (Aug 2, 2015)

Good and bad, depending. eg:
Bad : Judas Priest. 
Good: Man.


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## Ukko (Jun 4, 2010)

Belowpar said:


> In a good or a bad way?
> 
> For myself much of what I listened to as a youth makes me smile but is not nearly as great as thought it was.
> 
> ...


"Uni" was once a 'shorty' for 'union suit'.


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## starthrower (Dec 11, 2010)

brotagonist said:


> At risk of sounding condescending, yet again, I concur that nostalgia adds much to pop music :lol:


Maybe for some, but I'm not into nostalgia. As for rock, yes, much of the interesting stuff was developed in the late 60s/early 70s, but there is still interesting stuff going on if you know where to look. Just visit sites such as ReR or Wayside Music.


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## Lucifer Saudade (May 19, 2015)

Anything that becomes too predictable fails to remain stimulating.

Even if there's a piece or a song (or a video game, anything) that you play 10 times in a row without getting tired of it, it's bound to lose it's sheen eventually. More often then not, sooner rather then later. 

The only solution is to set it aside for a couple of days/ months/ decades until it sounds fresh again to your ears. 

Of course, it's possible that your original opinion of the song might change, but I find this to be rare in my own experience. I think "Hotel California" really exemplifies this phenomenon to the utmost.


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## DeepR (Apr 13, 2012)

Long term repeated exposure doesn't make any pop and rock music better.


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## arpeggio (Oct 4, 2012)

I mentioned this once before.

I used to play with the 75th Army band when I was in the service. After playing Sousa's "Stars and Stripes Forever" two or three times a month for 2½ years, I got sick of it. I still hate it.

And there are many copy cat marches that use big piccolo solos. I hate those too.


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## Dr Johnson (Jun 26, 2015)

Belowpar said:


> In a good or a bad way?
> 
> For myself much of what I listened to as a youth makes me smile but is not nearly as great as thought it was.
> 
> ...


I agree. University is the correct term. Possibly college.

Although in the USA they seem to refer to university as "school" which has always seemed very odd to me. "School" was the place I was delighted to get away from and move on up to university.


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## GreenMamba (Oct 14, 2012)

Dr Johnson said:


> I agree. University is the correct term. Possibly college.
> 
> Although in the USA they seem to refer to university as "school" which has always seemed very odd to me. "School" was the place I was delighted to get away from and move on up to university.


In the US, it's "college." Sometimes people will say "school," because college is a type of school. If context isn't clear, we say "college."


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## Dr Johnson (Jun 26, 2015)

GreenMamba said:


> In the US, it's "college." Sometimes people will say "school," because college is a type of school. If context isn't clear, we say "college."


Thanks. I knew that I'd heard it referred to as "school" on a few occasions.

One of them being the lyrics to Zappa's "Bobby Brown".


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## Lucifer Saudade (May 19, 2015)

A couple of teenagers talking to each other:

"I'm going to take physics at x uni this year" - sounds stupid to the ears of old people, but completely normal from the teen's perspective. 

"I'm to take physics at x university this year" sounds too long, dry and nerdy from the teen's perspective, but completely normal from a mature adult's point of view.

Who is right? Who is wrong? Questions, questions.


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## Belowpar (Jan 14, 2015)

Lucifer Saudade said:


> A couple of teenagers talking to each other:
> 
> "I'm going to take physics at x uni this year" - sounds stupid to the ears of old people, but completely normal from the teen's perspective.
> 
> ...


The Grumpy Old Man is always right, you'll see that as you get older.


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## Dr Johnson (Jun 26, 2015)

Belowpar said:


> The Grumpy Old Man is always right, you'll see that as you get older.


Absolutely!..................................


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## Lucifer Saudade (May 19, 2015)

Belowpar said:


> The Grumpy Old Man is always right, you'll see that as you get older.


If wisdom does not make the old grump any happier - why, I'm afraid it's no good! The young man relishes in his folly, happy until old age, when her realizes old gramps was right all along! But secretly, he yearns for youth and it's adjacent stupidity. He just ain't in on the joke no more.

I'm awaiting my enlightenment with vehement impatience. :tiphat:


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