GRABBINGSAND

blogger is slow. or maybe it is just me.
i had one of those slightly humiliating moments of shifted self this morning. okay, perhaps it is not as maslovian as all that, but it was embarrassing, or at least as uncomfortable as an experience can be when you are the only one immediately present to bear witness. am i making sense here? it is about taste, musical taste. i think that everyone can look back through their musical history and pick out a double handful of artists and songs that at one time we loved and now we hate. or if we don’t exactly hate, we certainly refuse to admit any admiration. for example, i will place my standing in the hall of musical good taste in jeopardy right here by admitting that i used to rock the 8-track in my mom’s kitchen with barry manilow’s “jump shout boogie” — something i just don’t see myself doing ever again, at least not without a substantial promise of cash. but we all have them, those ghostly tunes that we thought we just the best thing at the time, but now we just deny their existence or influence. get thee behind me, new kids! turn back, o’ paula abdul! martika, take your toy soldiers and go! yet they were there and they must’ve supplied some service to us at the time. but then i get up this morning, and i have some time between brushing my teeth and walking to the car, so i look through the CDs and pull out what i thought was a classic.
i was wrong. the CD is less than 5 years old, yet its welcome is worn out and the sound is stale. i really liked it too. played it over and over. played it for other people and they told me they liked it, though perhaps they were just humouring me. billy ray martin. yeah, she was a little too techno for the time, and it is true that electronica rarely has any dependable shelf-life, but … what an odd thing. i’m listening in the car and i keep skipping, track to track, hoping there will be something that survived.
our tastes change, but they change in pieces and in parts. i loved tori amos in 1991 and i can listen to that same album now with no reservations and no less admiration. we undergo a kind of cultural evolution. it is fascinating, but when it catches you by surprise, it can be enough to ruin your morning commute. almost makes one afraid to delve deeper into the CD archives…
(sorry. this post makes less sense now than it did when i started typing. i need more coffee.)

• Share