Albums you really like...for about a month

This is something I've been experiencing a lot over the past few years. I'll get a new album and I like it right away, I play it frequently for a few weeks or a month...then I just lose interest in it and file it away.

The tendency for me is albums that I need to really absorb, the ones that slowly improve each time I hear it, that are a little challenging, those are the ones that stick with me for months, years, etc. While albums that I really like the first time I hear them I get burned out on them very quickly.

Anybody else experience this kind of thing? I would chalk it up to old age but there are plenty of albums that stick with me for a long time.

Oh yeah all the time. It seems like the ones that I instantly dig have no staying power. Yet the ones that grow on me over time are there for good. One that really comes to mind is Core Device- Our Fellowship Eternal. I remember Eyesore turned me on to this several years ago and at first I couldn't really enjoy it. I left it in my car and would listen to it while going to work and it started clicking. Still a great album that I listen to today.
An example of one that I liked right off then shelved would be Reverance- When Darkness Calls. It's really good US power metal but didn't have much staying power for me. Most power metal has that effect on me.

I know pretty much right away whether I like something and will come back to it months (or years) later; and on the flipside for something I don't immediately like and know I will not come back...ever. In my case, it's usually something new that comes along to take the spot in the CD tray. I would still have the new Queensryche in there if it were not for the new W.A.S.P.; and then that will get squeezed out by Stryper or Saxon come this Friday. It's more about time and purchases for me than staying power I guess.

I buy too much music, that's the biggest problem. I really like a record and then something newer, shinier and different comes along and my head is turned.

I guess I'm a bit of a music slut! 

This tendency to burn out on things quickly really changed my purchasing habits. Now I preview albums via streaming several times before deciding whether or not it's something I really need to add to my collection.

This happens to me with shorter albums.

If it's 70 minutes long, there's usually enough stuff to discover and keep me interested even after a couple of months. My attention span isn't long enough to digest it all at once, within the first few listens.

Yep, I'm guilty of this as well.  A lot of stuff sounds great when I first buy it, but then as time passes I find that it doesn't have the necessary 'staying power' to become part of my permanent rotation.

For example, I'm playing the hell out of Queensryche's Condition Human right now, and I'm diggin' it, but it occurred to me that I did the same thing in 2013 when the first ToddRyche album came out. I played the crap out of that thing for a few weeks, sang its praises from the rooftops and blah blah blah, but now here it is two years later and I can't even tell ya the last time that one came off the shelf. Hell, I don't think I can even name a song from it off the top of my head. Time will tell if C.H. suffers the same fate.

Similarly, Iron Maiden's Book of Souls ruled my play list for two or three weeks after I bought it, but then it went on the shelf and it's been there ever since. This pattern has repeated itself for the last several Maiden albums, now that I think about it.

I'm not saying that the above examples are BAD albums per se, but obviously they're not having the same effect on me as the classic material from the same bands. Once the "newness" wears off I tend to go back to the oldies but goodies. I guess I'm just an old crank. Now if you'll excuse me, there's a cloud outside my window that I want to yell at.

That said, I *do* keep going back to several new/recent releases that I've bought in this past year, like Raven's ExtermiNation, Stryper's No More Hell to Pay, Sweet/Lynch's Only To Rise, and Prong's Ruining Lives, so I guess they have some of that "staying power" I mentioned earlier,

S.D. wrote:

This tendency to burn out on things quickly really changed my purchasing habits.  Now I preview albums via streaming several times before deciding whether or not it's something I really need to add to my collection.  

Yeah I'm way more selective nowadays when it comes to purchasing an album.

S.D. wrote:

This is something I've been experiencing a lot over the past few years.  I'll get a new album and I like it right away, I play it frequently for a few weeks or a month...then I just lose interest in it and file it away.  

The tendency for me is albums that I need to really absorb, the ones that slowly improve each time I hear it, that are a little challenging, those are the ones that stick with me for months, years, etc.  While albums that I really like the first time I hear them I get burned out on them very quickly.  

Anybody else experience this kind of thing?  I would chalk it up to old age but there are plenty of albums that stick with me for a long time.  

I've definitely experienced the "grower" phenomenon.

For instance, I don't think I've ever heard a Jethro Tull album and upon first listen thought "Yeah! This is great!". On the other hand, a lot of the AC/DC clone bands I like such as Airbourne generally hit me right away but they stay with me.

I think the only way I tire of an album I initially like is if I make myself sick of it. Which is probably what I'm doing with the latest WASP offering.

I very rarely overplay an album after I buy it; therefore I don't make myself sick of it.

I don't think what I'm talking about has anything to do with overplay. It's more like I find an album that fits a particular craving at that moment...but once the craving passes I may not need to fulfill that particular need again for years.

It's like when Megadeth put out Endgame. I hadn't bought a Megadeth album for years (since Rust In Peace) but when I first heard that album I was like HELLYEAH! because it just happened to fit a particular craving. But then after a couple weeks the yay! became a meh and a couple weeks later I traded it in. Instead of getting better each time I listened to the album, it seemed to get worse. I haven't felt the urge to hear it since so I'm not really questing my decision to dump it.

Doesn't mean I think it's a bad album, just not anything I need to have.

Ghost for me, I burned out on them quickly.

13 by Black Sabbath - the first 100 times I listened to it I loved it, now I can barely get through it. Endgame was similar were I liked it a lot on the first 50 or so listens, then it just lost me.

thejokeriv wrote:

Ghost for me, I burned out on them quickly.

Yeah. I agree with that.

The first album I really liked for about 6 weeks.
The second album I thought was "okay" and only listened to it all the way through 3 times.
The latest album I thought was pretty damn good but after 2 weeks I was done.

Happens to me all the time, but I think it has less to do with the albums than it does me. My tastes are just so varied I'm constantly getting sick of albums, bands, even entire genres of music, only to eventually come full circle. It's just a cycle.

There are, of course, some albums/bands that I've simply fallen out of love with.

I went back and looked at my "albums of the year" selections from the past 5 years or so and realized there were several that I haven't listened to since I chose them. While others from the same year have remained in constant rotation.

I'm finding that about 5 "essential" albums per year is just about what I end up with regardless of how many tickled my fancy at the time.

Pretty much all my favorites are albums I had to listen multiple times, gradually getting into them and discovering new layers each turn. These are always welcome in my playlist - they happen to still sound fresh and energetic.
I don't even bother with stuff I like right from the start, unless its a band that I already know for sure have this depth in their records.
As for examples, haven't listened to Judas Priest in years, while Maiden, whom I initally disliked, were able to grow on me through repeated listens. Pretty sure somebody here had the same feeling about IM, being able to find new pieces and bits in albums turning 30 years of age.

Quote :

It's like when Megadeth put out Endgame. I hadn't bought a Megadeth album for years (since Rust In Peace) but when I first heard that album I was like HELLYEAH! because it just happened to fit a particular craving. But then after a couple weeks the yay! became a meh and a couple weeks later I traded it in.

That's the exact opposite of my experience with Endgame. I actually failed to see what all the whoopy doo was about over the previous album, United Abominations (which everyone else seemed to love, but I found "meh" at best)... but I still listen to Endgame regularly to this day.

My problem is my time is so limited these days that I whenever I have a free hour I go for whatever has had the least spins. And that's a lot of music, so nothing stays in the player for long.

I remember being younger (read: no children and few responsibilities) and devoting a month to a new release. But eventually it would get shelved.

S.D. wrote:

thejokeriv wrote:

Ghost for me, I burned out on them quickly.

Yeah.  I agree with that.  

The first album I really liked for about 6 weeks.
The second album I thought was "okay" and only listened to it all the way through 3 times.
The latest album I thought was pretty damn good but after 2 weeks I was done.  

Same here, except I haven't even listened to the latest album

thejokeriv wrote:

S.D. wrote:

thejokeriv wrote:

Ghost for me, I burned out on them quickly.

Yeah.  I agree with that.  

The first album I really liked for about 6 weeks.
The second album I thought was "okay" and only listened to it all the way through 3 times.
The latest album I thought was pretty damn good but after 2 weeks I was done.  

Same here, except I haven't even listened to the latest album

The last Ghost album has held me for longer than the last one, I really like it.

The Black Sabbath album I knew I would put on the shelf for all time. It's good but when I'm in a Sabbath mood there's a whole load of great to choose from, why would I want good?

The Black Sabbath album will come off the shelf just to hear Tony & Geezer play together on Damaged Soul, I had been waiting to hear those guys play the more blues oriented stuff for years. I also like most of the rest of the album. There were only 8 albums with the Ozzy/Tony/Geezer together so I'm perfectly content having another one to play now and again.