In a recent post by eminent Townsperson funoka, we were asked what albums we initially hated but learned to love. A neat idea and one that just begs for the reverse – albums that you once loved but no longer tickle your fancy. We all have at least one that fits the case. In my case, it would have to be Pink Floyd‘s Dark Side of the Moon.
I remember the first time I heard DSOTM. It was early 1973 and I was a freshman in college. I was sitting in a dorm room with a friend and we were both cruising along nicely on magic psilocybin mushrooms (absolutely vile tasting but brain-twisting too). A mutual acquaintance rushes in brandishing a black album with a curious prism-diffracting-light design—the clear plastic was still on the cardboard sleeve. We slap the brand new record on the stereo and I slipped on a pair of headphones while my friends listened via the speakers. Having been transported beyond infinity as “On The Run”‘s synthesizers burbled along, I nearly went out the window when the alarm clocks hit. Surviving that moment of mental shock, I fell in love with the album and bought it for myself the next day.
Since then, I must have heard DSOTM seemingly thousands of times on turntables, in CD players, via MP3 files, and over the airwaves. I have “reference” copies in both CD and digitized form in my music collection. By now I know every nuance, every ka-ching sound, every bit of mad laughter, and every note. It’s been quite a few years since I voluntarily put it on. Frankly, I don’t care if I ever hear it again. It remains a great album but I’ve become hopelessly bored with it. I still listen to other Pink Floyd albums on occasion but DSOTM seems to have dropped off my playlist forever.
So there you have it—my tale of a once-great musical love descending into ennui and indifference. Now it’s your turn. What album that you once loved have you become bored with?
I guess a similarly obvious one that may come to mind for a number of us is Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. I wouldn’t say it bores me, but it went from being a benchmark Beatles album, in my mind (despite only being maybe my fifth favorite Beatles album when I was a kid), to being an album I often take for granted.
I agree with you on Sgt. Pepper’s. In fact, I very nearly chose it as the subject album for my article. It’s been a very long time since I’ve played it, and my opinion of it has dropped somewhat over the years. There’s no question of the album’s tremendous influence, but there are only a few truly outstanding songs on it.
Pink Floyd in general doesn’t interest me anymore for some reason. I used to like them, but these days they mostly bore me.
I was just talking to someone about this kind of thing the other night, though. I haven’t had Jethro Tull’s Aqualung for decades. I got a bug up my ass to get a copy and found one that looked great, but played beat so I didn’t keep it. Then I found another copy that was pretty nice. I loved this album in high school and I was pretty excited to see what I would think of it.
I put it on and after a bit my wife says, “What the hell are you listening to?”
I said, “This is a record i used to love when I was a kid, and I’ve been trying to figure out just what the fuck was wrong with me.”
It’s in the for sale pile.
I really don’t get the love for Sgt. Pepper. Sure, from a technical standpoint it shows just how much you can use a studio as an instrument. The songs are mostly dumb. Mr. Kite, Lovely Rita, When I’m 64 – yuck. I’d have thought it more impressive as a 45 with Lucy in the Sky and A Day in the life. I’m more than happy to never hear any other song on that album again. Revolver is a million times better.
Is there a woman on Earth who likes or ever liked Jethro Tull? They seem to be one of the most dude-centric bands of all time.
Actually, I knew a girl in high school who loved Jethro Tull and she was the one who turned me onto Aqualung and Benefit. She wasn’t very pretty but she had earned a reputation for being “loose”.
All right, I can picture her now.
When I saw this post I immediately had a flashback of going through my stacks recently and thinking — “How much money would somebody have to pay me to play these two bad boys?
It’s a U2 two-fer.
“The Unforgettable Fire” and “The Joshua Tree” — I wore them out at the time, and haven’t listened to them in 20+ years. I still put on “Boy” and “War” — hell, I may pull out “How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb” but my old stand-bys and U2’s big two of the mid-80s — no thanks!
Most of them.