With my favorite band, every new record was "not as good as what came before". But after getting used to, it got there as well.
I have concluded that familiarity brings a feeling of quality in music.
It takes a while to learn the minutia of what makes a particular song great. And the more complex and lengthy a song is, the longer it takes to fully appreciate it.
Can't confirm. Of course the first time you listen to a new song isn't the same since you don't know what to expect, but from then on you can vibe to it even better for a while since it's new. I'd even assume this is the reason for the "repeat song" feature and why some people listen to a single new song for hours.
Dunno, I have a hard time understanding your perspective.
While they aren't generally stylistically complex, some songs with complex nonsense lyrics seem, at least to me as a young American, to be the ones that are simultaneously easiest to appreciate for a great many people, and also have huge staying power, despite being quite old. For example:
American Pie
Hotel California
We Didn't Start the Fire
Don't Stop Believing
Bohemian Rhapsody (or, really, most things by Queen)
These, at least among the places I've been here in America, are the ones to which everyone in the bar starts singing along.
Sure, these have underlying meaning, or make references to specific events, but in my experience, most of the people I hear singing and dancing to these have no idea what they're referencing, and often don't even know the words. Perhaps it is simply that they are so overplayed that they get those "multiple listens" of which you speak? Or is there something inherently compelling in the seeking of meaning in complex, random lyrics, such that people are immediately drawn in?
This comment sounds so entitled. If you just wanted a "top hits" list you can play that off your phone. Live shows are whatever the musicians want to do.
People who go to concerts want to see their favourite singles and favourite tracks from the albums they already own played by the band who created them (or a really good tribute band). The concert-goer might also want to relive the past and feel like they did when they first heard that music. Note that you don't get many youngsters going to see old bands when they do a comeback tour. Nostalgia is a really big part of it.
When the band pulls out a new song, it doesn't touch any of those desires whatsoever. From the nostalgic's perspective, it's basically an ad break between all the good stuff, and people hate being pulled out of their reverie to listen to an ad.
Speak for yourself. Being a part of the debuting of a brand new track is a huge part of the concert experience to me, and some of my favorite concert memories are hearing tracks from my favorite bands for the first time live before the studio version.
Last year drag went to a concert to hear a famous band drag liked. They sucked, they were too loud and overwhelming. But one of the opening acts, a local band drag had never heard of before, was amazing. And drag is a fan of them now.
The internet continues to be a humbling experience lol. I literally had this same thought when reading the comic, and I wasn't even looking for it in the comments because I thought it was too obscure
yeah but performing it right after I Want You To Want Me? It would be very "new vibe" if they recorded it in North America. (assuming that was an accurate performance order and not rearranged in post)
but the audience at Budokan? They're going absolutely bonkers the entire time. It's so great.
A couple of years ago I was at an Asian Dub Foundation concert and at the end they played a fresh new song to the point the singer had the lyrics pulled up in his phone and rapped from that, because he wasn't sure he'd not mess it up.
I like that a lot. Don't know if it was a expensive concert but I like going to shows where the ticket price is cheap, and the musicians tell people it's a work in progress.
I love that. I get a huge dopamine hit from the novelty of seeing a new (or rare) song performed…but then I tend to obsess on a few acts rather than having a lot of bands I might go see.
Btw why is this. Why do i have to listen 10 times to a song before i start enjoying it? Some ofy favourite songs are ones that i didnt like for a while.
I posted this in a different comment thread on this post, but I would be interested to hear your perspective:
While they aren't generally stylistically complex, some songs with complex nonsense lyrics seem, at least to me as a young American, to be the ones that are simultaneously easiest to appreciate for a great many people, and also have huge staying power, despite being quite old. For example:
American Pie
Hotel California
We Didn't Start the Fire
Don't Stop Believing
Bohemian Rhapsody (or, really, most things by Queen)
These, at least among the places I've been here in America, are the ones to which everyone in the bar starts singing along.
Sure, these have underlying meaning, or make references to specific events, but in my experience, most of the people I hear singing and dancing to these have no idea what they're referencing, and often don't even know the words. Perhaps it is simply that they are so overplayed that they get those "multiple listens" of which you speak? Or is there something inherently compelling in the seeking of meaning in complex, random lyrics, such that people are immediately drawn in?
I think the thing with these hit songs is that they have a part of their lyrics that is very simple that everyone sings along to(even if incorrectly) and general sound of them is also so ordinary and simple that people get used to them fast. If you hear a song thats very different from everything else you ever heard you need time to get used to it but if you hear one of these you can relate it to something you already heard. Thats my two cents i guess.
I have discovered the objective of musicians is to create a popular enough discography that you never have to write new music again. It certainly isn’t their objective when they’re starting out, but any longstanding act pretty much plays a repertoire of greatest hits. They might throw in some “new” album stuff that nobody is interested in, people are just there to hear what they love.
It's weird. I saw Wheatus perform recently and he did a bunch of songs I wasn't familiar with. Then he played his most famous song, "Teenage Dirtbag", that they made in like 2000.
The band is like grandparents age, singing a song about teenagers. And it was incredible.
I’ve been seeing a bunch of ‘80s bands in concert lately singing their bestof’s and some newer stuff. Of course they’re old and singing songs about young person’s lives. I don’t find the disparity between their age and the subject matter offputting. The downside to older musicians singing songs they made when young is that age keeps them from hitting the high notes or anything that’s too hard on the voice. They just can’t do it. The music and being there is still fun, though.
I saw an interview from a band talking about this problem. They said it was a tough balancing act. The people there live want to hear the classics and don't want new stuff. But anyone watching remotely or watching the video later already has their favorite versions of the classics and doesn't want to hear them again, they want new stuff. You have to do both and it's hard.
Chevelle did this on their most recent tour. The album isn't quite finished yet and, according to a podcast their frontman appeared on last month, they ended up reworking quite a bit of that song.
I'm excited for it, but Chevelle is one of my favorite bands, so...