It's Growing On Me

I'm not sure where I was exactly, but somewhere between last Wednesday and today I had an idea for my next blog post. Now, if you've been following my last two to three entries you would know that I've been coming up empty when it comes to ideas. Which happens to all writers, and people in general. Even to the best of us! But this week is different. This time I have com prepared. So, let me begin!

Unfortunately this fact may be universal but have you ever heard a song played on the adio so much you actually started to like it? Even though the first time you heard it you instinctively shut the radio off? Or perhaps you just convinced yourself that you liked it, or sometimes even forced yourself to like it just so you wouldn't have to endure that odious sinking feeling whenever it first starts playing...over...and over again.

I've been there before, and yes, I've actually convinced myself to like a song just so I wouldn't have to switch stations every time I heard it. Sometimes I let myself believe that I'm just being closed minded about new songs. After all, if you know me you'll remember that I love country music, but mainly the stuff from the 90's. Today's country music has blended so seamlessly with modern, main stream pop and rock it's like there was never a dividing line to begin with! so maybe it's not such a surprise I'm subsequently so turned off - no pun intended - to today's country music. What's even more depressing is that whenever I do hear an older song played on the radio I'm momentarily taken aback. It shouldn't be that way. Today's radio stations, country or not, shouldn't be dominated by whatever was just released. If I still listen to the old stuff, why shouldn't it still be played?

Another aspect of this doesn't involve radio, but long forgotten songs on albums you bought in the store. Now obviously before iPods, CD's were the reigning source of music for people, and I was no exception I liked one song on an album I would buy said album and then listen t all the other songs. Sometimes I'd like all of them, sometimes none, sometimes just a few. IT was like playing a game of cards. You took a chance on not wasting your money by buying an album where you'd only like one song.

But if you did happen to like one or more songs on that album, then you gained that much more music to enjoy. Once the iPod arrived though artists could no longer sell the album as a whole, but rather rely on singles released months, sometimes a year in advance of the album it was supposed to be on. Therefore fans of said artist and song could go to iTnes and download, all while sampling other songs on the album. Now you have the power to pick and choose, instead of buying the entire package and taking that chance. I think this has inadvertently eliminated something that I've found myself doing the past year or so.

When I would buy albums by certain artists because I liked one or two songs, listening to the ones I didn't already know was like an adventure. If I liked all of them, or even some, then great! If I didn't, well, that's the cost I paid I guess. But what I'm trying to get at is this. After falling into the habit of literally bringing my iPod and listening to it everywhere my CD's lay forgotten in their case stashed in my closet. Sometimes while cleaning my room or tiring of the radio's incessantly airplay of shabby, cross-over country songs I would pull out said CD case and riffle through it, popping a few into my stereo.

Have you ever bought a CD, listened to it a handful of times, then forgotten about it completely? Then a few months, or even years, later you unearth it and pop it in? Perhaps when you first listened to it you didn't like most of the songs and wrote the album off as a waste of money. But now, listening to it you find...you like some of those songs! That's what I experienced with one of Jo Dee Messina's greatest hits albums. I bought it because there were about three or four songs on it that I really loved and because although iPods had invented for a while then, I didn't yet have one. I listened to it completely through and ended up mildly liking a few other songs that I didn't know. This is another thing, you may decide that, yeah okay, I might grow to like this song eventually but...I don't like it as much as the others. Then, presto! a few years later you dig it back out, pop and in and find...man! That song, or songs, I didn't really care for back then is amazing now! And you find yourself putting it on your iPod and listening to it.

With Jo Dee Messina's album I had popped it into my stereo to listen to while I was taking refuge from the radio's blatant disregard for the era in country music that I love, and found out that...songs I didn't really allow to grab me per say had now firmly taken hold and weren't letting go. Said songs are now on my iPod and I'm left to wonder, why didn't I like them sooner? Why did it take this long for them to grow on me? Or for me to realize that I like them after all? Perhaps it's the timing, or perhaps it's just not the right time for us to her that song and really appreciate it for what it is. Now, that may seem ludicrous to you because after all it's just a song right? Yeah, it is. But you can't look at such a scenario and not consider the time factor in it all.

Speaking of factors, after typing all of that I'm really starting to wonder why exactly I write so much about music. I mean, obviously I love it, although like I mentioned before, no way am I one of those people that unconditionally loves all types of music. Nope, I'm pretty closed minded when it comes to that! I stick with country and rock. In fact I could narrow that further and say I stick with country, and most recently ventured back into rock.

That could be another thing! My tentative journey back into rock music. Just as when I first listened to Jo Dee Messina's album I vaguely noted that I liked two or three songs, but never acted further upon it, when I would ride around with my Dad and brother and they would be listening to older rock music I noted that...okay, I like some of this stuff. But of course never acted upon it until late last year. Now that had more to do with the fear of what my parents and brother would say to me about it, then anything else! After all, my reasoning was that that was the type of music they listened to, not me. Obviously I have shed that notion ad now am glad for the refreshing change in music. Does my brother think it's odd? O course he does! but only because he's accustomed to me listening to country music.

Well, somewhere along the line I had intended to talk about other things that have a tendency to grow on us. Like perhaps, the notion of signing up for a Facebook account - like I did somewhere late in 2009, or starting to accept one of your annoying, snobbish cousins and actually making an effort to be kind to her. Or even attending a different school that at first you had gladly snagged every effort to resist said change and resented everything about it. Or it could be something simpler, like receiving a sweater or shirt for Christmas that at first glance you thought I'm never wearing this! but a few months later found that it matched a pair of your earrings perfectly and you received warm comments when you wore it.

Whatever has grown on you throughout your life, I would love to hear about it! I regret that I've just rambled on about music - again - but such is the case with my blog! At least, that's what I'm coming to believe. Perhaps I relate to music more than I know, or love it more than I know. Perhaps I should just ask a shrink or something and end this mystery! Either way I'm glad some songs have grown on me, and other things as well. Because most of the time, it's for the better.