Do You Still Listen to the Old Classics?

[TdHabib]

I have been on a real music binge lately and I am finding a bit of a pattern: whenever I get to the old, established, dinosaur acts there is something going on: I will not listen to their most popular songs, the ones that are on the perennial "best songs ever" lists. Not only that, I am finding that I am not that fond of them anymore. Perhaps it's also the fact that they've been overplayed.

I will give a few examples: with The Who, I can trot out "You Better You Bet," "Love Reign O'er Me" and "Behind Blue Eyes" BUT NOT "Magic Bus" or "Won't Get Fooled Again" or "My Generation." I'm just bored. With The Stones, I never play "Satisfaction" or "Jumpin' Jack Flash," thankfully I can still listen to "Brown Sugar." With The Bee Gees, it's never "Stayin' Alive," "New York Mining Disaster 1941" or "Jive Talkin'." NEVER play me "American Pie" again.

Do you experience this phenomenon, and can you share examples?

[the captain]

It comes and goes, but most of the time I don't even listen to classic albums, much less the biggest hits. The albums I've loved the longest--Beatles, the entire Hendrix, Queen, and Zeppelin catalogues, certain Paul Simon, U2, Radiohead, Prince, Zappa, Beefheart or Beach Boys, etc.--I almost never play. Instead I play my "second tier" artists or albums, or explore new and new-to-me material. Every now and again I will, and even in those overplayed gems, I find great, great pleasure (despite finding myself remembering, feeling, singing, anticipating every last nuance of every last part, so ingrained are they by now). But yes, for me, "Stairway to Heaven" once every five or six years is more than enough these days.

[grillo]

Luther, you like U2!?  C'mon man! Just when I thought I had you pegged...

I definitely always skip Help Me R(h)onda and Barbara Ann.
I find all of Neil Young's Harvest hard to listen to (compared to Zuma or On the Beach)
Don't care if I ever hear a Beatles song again, and I only listen to Bobby D. from Blood On the Tracks forward these days.
so, yeah, I tend to skip the 'classics'.

[The Heartical Don]

...interesting question. Perhaps only the most 'difficult' classical music can last a lifetime in bringing new perspectives, and surprises. Bach's '48', and the symphonies of Shostakovich... Ives, Beethoven... and for me, the BBs finest work, and John Fahey fall into this category. 'Surf's Up' never fails to amaze me, and that after 37 years of knowing it.

[GoogaMooga]

I tend to ration the listening to my favorite bands, but I don't think a year  passes where I don't play the three B's in music, Beach Boys, Beatles, and Byrds. I'm really afraid that they might grow stale if I overplay them. I never listen to radio, but I sometimes surf the music tv channels for new tunes. Like Katy Perry's no.1 smash, "California Gurls". 

[Mike's Beard]

I do have periods when I abstain from listening to the Beach Boys if not I would get sick to death of them. However I broke out Sunflower last night for the first time in many months and was surprised to find lots of nice little touches in it that I had totally forgotten about. Nothing beats finding or rediscovering something new in familiar music.

[the captain]

Luther, you like U2!?  C'mon man! Just when I thought I had you pegged...

You'll note I said "certain." But yeah, when The Joshua Tree came out, I was maybe 11 or 12, and I thought it was fantastic. I still do. It's like Graceland, a real icon of that era that was both hugely popular--and I'm not sure how old you are (and thus whether you remember), but those few years were really owned by The Joshua Tree. Huge hit.--and musically interesting. It's less so now, partly because the production has dated and partly because they did that same thing a few million more times, other bands copied them, bands copied those bands, and now we have fucking Coldplay. But yeah, late '80s U2 were fine by me. Hell, any '80s U2 is OK by me, though I wouldn't call myself a huge fan in general.

[TdHabib]

What about Achtung Baby, Luther? Do ya like that?

[grillo]

Luther, you like U2!?  C'mon man! Just when I thought I had you pegged...

You'll note I said "certain." But yeah, when The Joshua Tree came out, I was maybe 11 or 12, and I thought it was fantastic. I still do. It's like Graceland, a real icon of that era that was both hugely popular--and I'm not sure how old you are (and thus whether you remember), but those few years were really owned by The Joshua Tree. Huge hit.--and musically interesting. It's less so now, partly because the production has dated and partly because they did that same thing a few million more times, other bands copied them, bands copied those bands, and now we have friggin' Coldplay. But yeah, late '80s U2 were fine by me. Hell, any '80s U2 is OK by me, though I wouldn't call myself a huge fan in general.

Not to get too off-topic, but yeah, I was 14 or so when J-Tree came out and I remember it was that and the REM album from that time (Document, I think, or maybe Green) that were the cool 'college rock' albums of the day. For some reason the cool kids liked one or the other,never both,  and though I wasn't cool I decided to side with the REM crowd. They too went the way of over-doing a good thing, and like a lot of artists from the early 80's became completely un-moored from any foundation during the ghastly 90's.
Anway....

[the captain]

What about Achtung Baby, Luther? Do ya like that?

No, not really. It had a few moments I didn't mind, but I wasn't as big a fan of it or anything thereafter.

[markcharles75]

Cannot believe someone brought this up because I was thinking of this the other day also.  My favorite album of all time: Pet Sounds.  But I rarely play it. I break it out from time to time but never listen to it on a regular basis.  Still, it is my favorite piece of music.   

I am also sick and bored of the classics.  Don't listen to them.  I stuck on some Beatles the other day and had to stop.  Flipped through Pepper, Abbey and just had to stop.  The thrill was gone.  That being said, I will never forget hearing and absorbing those albums for the first time.  They were spectacular  and continue to have a major influence on my music today. 

I consider the Beach Boys as my private personal hobby.   I don't even try to convince anyone: they are mine to relish in.  The Beach Boys catalogue (Boots, rarities, solos included) is huge.  There is always some part of their history to explore and seek out/study.  So it is hard to get sick of it ALL.  With that being said, I have taken a major break from Beach Boys music for the past 8 months or so.  Funny, I still visit this board to get all the news.

So yeah, sick of the classics, always trying to find my next musical fix.

[punkinhead]

that's why i hate popular radio.


I think we don't listen to them as much because we listened to them for years. And for me, like the Beach Boys, I'm always promoting lesser known material, as I do for other bands too

[the captain]

It's why I love radio. Not classics radio, but new music radio. We're lucky where I live to have a public radio station that plays a lot of what I consider to be interesting new music intermingled with interesting older music with nary a "classic rawk hit" to be found, so it's a great opportunity to keep an ear open for new-to-me music. It's also why it gets old to hear "I hate new music except so-and-so: they sound just like [beatles/beach boys/byrds/etc.]!!!" The greats won't be beaten at what made them great, and even perfection at whatever that was just makes a perfect karaoke band. New stuff is always happening. It's not all good and far less is great, but it keeps coming. After the fact--years after--it's always obvious how much quality has come and gone.

[Bean Bag]

Yes -- absolutely.  It's boredom, overplayedness and what I call "ownership."  In other words, if there's too many people that have been there -- and I myself have every detail absorbed -- it's over for me.


Thankfully this seems to only happen to the obvious tracks...the big hits.  I do have a fear that I'll kill some of my most favorite, life-affirming music.  Sinatra's Capitol years...I love them...and what would I do with out them?  So with that, as with any wonderfully effective chemical...you must USE IT WISELY.

That goes for about everything.  Ride it hard when you need it.  Play it!  But always treat it like a lady. -- whatever the fxck that means!  

[JK]

Not sure what an Old Classic is, but yesterday I listened to Stephen Stills' debut solo album and a few days earlier, Harvest----two flawless albums. I know David Crosby's stunning If Only I Could Remember My Name back to front, so I'll skip that. Next up (and completing CSNY) will be Nash's Songs for Beginners. "I Used To Be A King" is worth the price of admission alone:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4cvoq8ybE7o

[undercover-m]

This probably sounds sacrilegious, but I'm resistant to listening to the Eagles or Steve Miller Band because they are SO so so overplayed on the oldies station around here, as well as the Pandora station that's at work. If I hear "Hotel California" ever again...

[undercover-m]

It comes and goes, but most of the time I don't even listen to classic albums, much less the biggest hits. The albums I've loved the longest--Beatles, the entire Hendrix, Queen, and Zeppelin catalogues, certain Paul Simon, U2, Radiohead, Prince, Zappa, Beefheart or Beach Boys, etc.--I almost never play. Instead I play my "second tier" artists or albums, or explore new and new-to-me material.

I'm kind of like this, only with more of I mostly listen to "second tier" overall in the first place. I'm familiar with the classics but I honestly haven't really gotten into Led Zep, Pink Floyd, or even the Beatles as much as most other music-lovers have.
I guess I'm more into bands like America, Bread, Chicago, Simon and Garfunkel... not as overplayed on the radio.

[RangeRoverA1]

This probably sounds sacrilegious, but I'm resistant to listening to the Eagles or Steve Miller Band because they are SO so so overplayed on the oldies station around here, as well as the Pandora station that's at work. If I hear "Hotel California" ever again...

I'm with you. Both bands have 2 of the worst singers ever. They - Miller & Henley - even sound similar.

[JK]

Steve Miller is not just "Fly Like An Eagle" and "The Joker". Give his stupendous double LP Anthology a listen some time.

As for "Stairway", it suffers from being played out of context. It's perfectly placed as the last track on side one of Led Zep IV.

I never listen to pop/rock radio----except the tradition in our (Dutch) household that is the Top 2000 (between Xmas and New Year's Eve). Not for the faint of heart...

[KDS]

Since I got away from listening to FM radio, I've found that I can go back to a lot of overplayed songs (ie. Won't Get Fooled Again, Hotel California, Stairway to Heaven, etc) and really enjoy them again.

As for Steve Miller, my favorite song of his is NEVER played - Serenade. 

[SBonilla]

Nope.

[RangeRoverA1]

Steve Miller is not just "Fly Like An Eagle" and "The Joker". Give his stupendous double LP Anthology a listen some time.

Usually, if I don't like the vocals, that's the end. I stop checking their discography, don't mind the (excellent) arr., playing skills etc.

What do you mean by "Not for the faint of heart"? Is it bad music?

[JK]

What do you mean by "Not for the faint of heart"? Is it bad music?

Bad either in the sense of utterly overfamiliar, not my taste in music or just plain bad, lol----to my ears, at least.
There are good things too but the bad/boring/banal stuff outweighs them pretty heavily (all very subjective, of course).

Here is this year's list (odd that it gets published ahead of time):   

http://www.nporadio2.nl/top2000

[Outtasight!]

Just recently got the Beatles mono box so the old classics are on heavy rotation.

[Lonely Summer]

It comes and goes, but most of the time I don't even listen to classic albums, much less the biggest hits. The albums I've loved the longest--Beatles, the entire Hendrix, Queen, and Zeppelin catalogues, certain Paul Simon, U2, Radiohead, Prince, Zappa, Beefheart or Beach Boys, etc.--I almost never play. Instead I play my "second tier" artists or albums, or explore new and new-to-me material.

I'm kind of like this, only with more of I mostly listen to "second tier" overall in the first place. I'm familiar with the classics but I honestly haven't really gotten into Led Zep, Pink Floyd, or even the Beatles as much as most other music-lovers have.
I guess I'm more into bands like America, Bread, Chicago, Simon and Garfunkel... not as overplayed on the radio.

Exactly. I don't ever need to buy a Floyd or Zep cd because everytime I am in the car, I hear them on the radio. The Beatles, on the other hand, are a group I can never hear too often. But my tastes in music do run more to the softer sounds of Bread, America, S&G, Chicago...good choices. And I always love going back to the founding fathers of rock - Chuck Berry, Little Richard, Elvis, all the greats from the 50's. Still some of the most exciting music ever made.