Certain songs become maddening after only a few hearings, others (maybe most) get maddening if they're repeated a lot, but others seem to stay good even if you hear them over and over. What songs do you find bear repetition? What qualities do you think make a song bearable or not bearable for repeated hearings?
The Board Administration Team
(hapax, Kit Whitfield and mmy)
I try not to listen to songs too often after the third mix CD Mom made. She's played it over the car speakers dozens upon dozens of times over the decade or so of its existence. At first, there were some songs I liked, and some not so much. After so much exposure, though, everything evened out. I couldn't really like or dislike any of them anymore; they were just background noise. I don't want that to happen again.
For a while when I was younger, I liked "Look Through My Eyes", but eventually I decided it wasn't worth having it stuck in my head for a week afterward and stopped listening to it.
There's been a couple other songs like that, too. I was surprised when I didn't mind having "Never Let Me Go" stuck in my head for a week, and didn't dread the thought of having it happen again.
Posted by: Brin | Aug 22, 2012 at 10:08 PM
You know, I have heard of this phenomenon of people coming to hate songs due to repetition, but for me, it just doesn't happen for some reason. I'll hear a cachy song and have no problem with leaving it on repeat all night. Even songs I intelectually know aren't very good.
That all said, I didn't like 'Waterfalls' even the first time I heard it, and hearing it play more or less continuously for about 15 years in the mid-90s did not improve my opinion of it.
I am also fond of saying "Yeah, I like Dave Matthews okay, but I went to college in the late 90s, so I've pretty much heard enough Dave Matthews to last me the rest of several lifetimes."
Posted by: Ross | Aug 22, 2012 at 10:12 PM
I tend to like repeating songs. The repeat button on the music player is my friend. Dar Williams is one of my favorite artists, but when I buy her albums, I have to listen to them three or four times before I really warm up to them.
However, there was one time when I was a kid, home sick from school, and I had the radio on all day. There was a bagpipe version of Amazing Grace that was popular at the time. It was probably on a 90 minute rotation, but it seemed to me like it was playing ALL THE DARN TIME!
Posted by: Glenda | Aug 22, 2012 at 10:51 PM
Almost dead, now. Almost so bland and pointless that even the regular puddingheads aren't commenting.
Posted by: Paula Deen | Aug 23, 2012 at 06:21 AM
We have a number of mix CDs for the car--60s, 70s, 80s, 90s, 'driving music', 'instrumental'. The criteria for selection were: 1) songs must not get annoying after only a few repetitions, and 2) songs must not contain lyrics that would be embarrassing if a four-year-old were to start singing zir version of them in public. The current youngest's version of Bohemian Rhapsody is kind of interesting...
Posted by: cjmr | Aug 23, 2012 at 09:20 AM
So, a while back I put about 13 hours of music on my work flash drive so I could listen to it while I worked. Then I got a new computer, and it turned out the security software on the flash drive was not compatible with any OS after Windows XP.
So for about 3-4 years now, those 13 hours of music have been the ONLY music I can listen to at work. Slowly, as I get sick of a song, I take it off the playlist, and it has finally shrunk to about 4 hours that has been pretty stable for over a year. The survivors don't seem to have much pattern to them, other than being extremely nerdy:
*Odds and ends from the Xenosaga soundtrack--Yasunori Mitsuda and Yuki Kajiura
*"Through the Fire and the Flames"--Dragonforce
*"The Will of One" and "Unrest in the House of Light"--The Protomen
*"Hall om Mig"--No idea, it was used in an AMV I liked
*"'Libera Me' from Hell" and "Sorairo Days"--Whoever did the music for Gurren Lagann
*"Behind Blue Eyes"--The Who
*Assorted odds and ends from the Smash Bros. Brawl soundtrack--Various, mostly Koji Kondo
*"Twilight"--ELO
And a bunch of other stuff.
Posted by: Froborr | Aug 23, 2012 at 09:49 AM
@Froborr: Did you get the email we sent you?
Posted by: The Board Administration Team | Aug 23, 2012 at 09:53 AM
I did, just replied. Sorry, my weekend was full of sound and fury and I just outright didn't notice your first message...
Posted by: Froborr | Aug 23, 2012 at 10:34 AM
Froborr - Princess Tutu? (The AMV, I mean.)
Posted by: PastyAndUnhealthy | Aug 23, 2012 at 12:11 PM
@PastyAndUnhealthy: Yep. It helped sell me on watching Princess Tutu, as well, and I am very, very glad I did.
Posted by: Froborr | Aug 23, 2012 at 12:24 PM