Sometimes You Just Need to Listen to Your Old Favorites
Sometimes You Just Need to Listen to Your Old Favorites
Plus: The Byrds, Robert Johnson, Michael Jackson, Whitney Houston, Bob Dylan, Blondie, Curtis Mayfield
I think one of the funniest stereotypes about the Millennial generation is the idea that all of us spend every weeknight watching old Friends or The Office reruns while listening to Blink-182 at top volume and sipping on a Capri Sun. The internet’s meme-ified opinion of Millennials seems to be that we’re always stuck in a nostalgic tailspin, thinking constantly about the good old 90’s and 2000’s, and constantly reverting back to our younger states when stressed.
Maybe this perception is hitting Millennials so hard right now simply because there’s no other “always online” generation that’s old enough to really have high school or middle school flashbacks. That, plus social media *gestures vaguely all around* means that Millennials just happen to have the spotlight and get the flak. We’re just victims of timing, and you know what? I’m fine with being the punchline if it makes the Almighty Algorithms show me Pokemon memes and Linkin Park remixes all day long.
But we all know this isn’t unique to any one generation. I think everybody likes to think back to their younger days, whether consciously or not, because those are the years when our personalities are forming, and the memories associated with that time are hard to shake in adulthood. Every generation shows this behavior. The only real difference to me is the pace at which things are changing for today’s younger generations compared to those before.
My parents, for example, have been listening to the same catalog of music since the 70’s. True, you could make the case that the 70’s produced some of the best music of all time, so don’t fix what ain’t broken. But there’s great music in every decade - I think this is just their “comfort zone” music, and it makes them feel like their younger selves, to a certain extent. They aren’t really interested in finding anything new (with the notable exception of my mom’s System Of A Down phase) because it just doesn’t hit the same as their comfort jams.
I’m sure everyone does this from time to time. My fellow Millennials may remember previous generations complaining about our music, our hairstyles, our new-fangled technology, all the new and scary changes that came with our generation. But guess what? Every generation thinks the one after it is going to destroy the world. That’s just such a trope of the human story that it’s become 100% predictable. My generation will largely think some of the trends and music and movies and whatever of the following generation is stupid at some point. So will your generation (if it hasn’t already done so). That’s not just a guess, that’s a locked-in prediction.
Rock and Roll was built on bucking the trends of the previous generation. Heck, almost every generation and genre of music can say the same. And even within extablished genres, you find artists constantly trying to reinvent and build upon what previous generations did, because nobody wants to mimic the past all the time. You can even see this when you read about classical music - composers fighting to outdo one another or reinvent the form. Everyone wants to outdo the previous generation to make their mark on the world. It’s only natural. And the fans and consumers who listen to the music are just as much a part of the generation-defining effort as those making the music.
But what happens once the generation has been more or less defined? I don’t know when this happens scientifically, but it’s probably sometime in the mid-twenties, when the majority of the generation has hit the workforce and confronted the complexities of adulthood long enough to get used to long for the past. By that time, the world pretty much knows how that generation acts, what it likes and dislikes, and importantly, what was the defining music of that generation’s formative years. Those answers are rarely the same as the previous generation because of the redefining tendencies mentioned earlier. And for the same reason, the next generation’s likes and dislikes will also be different (and my current generation will start to sneer at them). This leads to a crystallization of the generation’s music, both on a personal level and on a broad societal level. And at that point, when the generation is defined, when people are starting to reminisce about childhood for the first time in their lives, and when the new generation has already moved on - that’s when the desire to listen to comfort music starts.
All that is to say that listening to old music for the purpose reminiscing is perfectly understandable. I think it’s the most pretentious thing in the world to criticize someone for listening to their old favorite music over and over rather than seeking out something new. Looking down on someone else’s desire to reminisce for comfort or any other reason is just ignoring the fact that you do the same thing, just like everyone else. Could they be discovering new music that might bring them joy? Absolutely. But I’d make the case that the odds of a middle-aged person discovering new music that makes them feel like a teenager again is basically zero. The joy they feel from the new music will be connected to their present-day lives, more often than not. So if reminiscence is what they’re after, seeking new music, no matter how good, is pretty much useless.
As much joy as I’ve found in this project, and as much amazing new (to me) music I’ve discovered, I still spend a lot of time listening to old favorites. Some of the music in that category, for me, is widely considered to be pretty mediocre. Some of it is straight up mocked in knowledgeable music communities. But I’ve learned that this doesn’t bother me - it’s understandable that someone who didn’t grow up listening to Yellowcard or Red Hot Chili Peppers wouldn’t have the same bond with them that I do. Those bands, and dozens of others like them, were the soundtrack to my youth. I listened to the music of the 90’s with my best friends, doing kid stuff - in basements playing ping pong, at the neighborhood swimming pool, on the way to little league baseball games. If the critics who trash those artists listened to those songs sitting at a desk, at their day job, typing away into a typewriter (or whatever they used in critic offices the 90’s), it’s no wonder they didn’t like it as much as I did. I don’t blame them, but I also don’t care what they say. That batch of music, the songs and artists that hit my brain when it was developing into its current form, is special to me no matter how everyone else sees it.
And I think most people have that batch of formative music that’s unique to them. Maybe it’s common to their generation, and maybe it’s totally different, but the idea is the same. It’s their special playlist that will always make them feel like a younger version of themselves again, for better or worse. The act of listening to it ad infinitum to regain that feeling isn’t something to be mocked, and it’s certainly not something anyone should be shy about doing.
Sometimes you just need to listen to your old favorites, and take a break from discovering new music. And there’s nothing wrong with that.
Mr. Tambourine Man - The Byrds
An entire album titled after a cover song! I love it, but it seems like something that wouldn’t happen anymore. And what a great song it is - “Mr. Tambourine Man” is such a classic, and this seems to have become the definitive version of the song over the years. There are actually 4 Dylan-written songs on this album. The Byrds have a very innocent sound to my modern ears, a little wistful and a little “60’s BBC rock” all rolled into one.
Brain Rating: 6
Taste Rating: 7
Jams:
“Mr. Tambourine Man”
“I’ll Feel A Whole Lot Better”
King Of The Delta Blues Singers - Robert Johnson
With songs recorded in 1936 and 1937, this is by far the oldest music so far on the list. This compilation wasn’t created until the 60’s, when it helped spread Johnson’s legend across the country and the world. This was basically the 60’s version of trendy hipster music - you were only cool if you knew it, and everybody in the scene knew it. This album is great simply for how many musicians it inspired, let alone the soulful music and powerful performance.
Brain Rating: 10
Taste Rating: 4
Jams:
“ Come On In My Kitchen”
“Traveling Riverside Blues”
Off the Wall - Michael Jackson
Not my favorite MJ. It was a little more “look at me” and a little less just great music than Off The Wall. Still some classics, but not as captivating of an album experience start to finish.
Brain Rating: 7
Taste Rating: 5
Jams:
“Don’t Stop Til You Get enough”
“Rock With You”
Whitney Houston - Whitney Houston
Much 80’s, very boogie. One of the best selling albums by a black female artist of all time. It felt like the songs were designed to show off her amazing voice more than anything, but I totally get that.
Brain Rating: 8
Taste Rating: 2
Jams:
“Saving All My Love For You”
Cosmo’s Factory - Creedence Clearwater Revival
Nothing really captured me besides the hits, but that might be because most of the album is hits. They literally keep coming one after the other. I found myself wishing I could listen to this album without having heard all the songs a bazillion times.
“Long As I Can See The Light” is in my top 5 songs of all time. I get whole-body chills when I hear it.
Brain Rating: 7.5
Taste Rating: 8.4
Jams:
“Long As I Can See The Light”
“Travelin’ Band”
“Run Through The Jungle”
“Up Around The Bend”
“Who’ll Stop The Rain”
The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan - Bob Dylan
OK, I’m a huge Bob Dylan fan, but can we talk honestly about something? I know Dylan uses the harmonica like a tongue-in-cheek thing to fill in after he delivers a classic one-liner, like the ba-dum-tshh of the drummer after a comedian tells a joke. But man, it’s impossible to listen to. This album has so many amazing songs that give me full-body chills, only to have them ruined by a guy whaling on a harmonica seemingly without knowing the most basic concepts about playing the thing. I loved the album, I truly did, but I don’t know if I can listen to it again without turning the treble on my speakers as low as it can go.
Brain Rating: 9
Taste Rating: 5
Jams
“Blowin’ In The Wind”
“Girl From The North Country”
“Don’t Think Twice It’s Alright”
Parallel Lines - Blondie
I’d only heard “One Way Or Another” prior to this listen, and to age myself I’m 99% sure I heard it for the first time in the Rugrats movie that my sister forced me and my family to sit through when she was 4 (I was 6 and had far superior tastes to that childish drivel). What a weirdly specific memory. Just goes to show you how songs link themselves so strongly to moments in time, and you sometimes hardly even notice.
But the rest is super solid power pop. I was struck by the story (link) about how the album’s producer, Mike Chapman, basically wrangled the tight sound out of a super inexperienced set of musicians that the producer “describes as "musically the worst band I ever worked with."” They were fresh from the underground scene and learned their polish on the fly, which makes this tight album even more interesting to me. Although I don’t know if the idea that the musicians were only good enough to scrape together a good take after dozens of attempts makes me like the album more or less. That’s obviously not unique to Blondie, and Chapman could be exaggerating, but still it made me listen differently.
I highly recommending the Sound on Sound piece about the making of the album, though. It was fantastic. Here’s the link again.
Brain Rating: 6
Taste Rating: 3
Jams
“Fade Away And Radiate”
“Heart Of Glass”
Curtis - Curtis Mayfield
Wasn’t expecting all the harp.
Brain Rating: 8
Taste Rating: 2.5
Jams
“Move On Up”