We learned about music within the inconvenience of the album.
I returned to my hometown for the first time in a while, and I went out for a meal with some old friends to catch up.
I don't remember how the conversation started, but for some reason, we ended up talking about music,
and we arrived at the topic, "We learned about music within the inconvenience of the album."
Back when we were students, there were no music streaming services like there are today, so if we were interested in an artist, we would "buy or borrow a CD."
Even if the goal was just to listen to a famous single, if it was a single, it would have a B-side, and a full album would contain many other songs, so the opportunity to listen to those other tracks naturally arose since we had them on hand.
And because of that, it was a common occurrence to think, "I like the single, but the other songs don't really resonate with me."
However, as you listen to these "unfamiliar songs" over and over, you find that they eventually become "favorite songs."
We started talking about how perhaps this was the key to knowing music deeply.
This is just a theory that came up during that conversation, but
The foundation of an individual's musical taste is built by the music they are exposed to in childhood, and while music built on that foundation feels comfortable even when heard for the first time, different sounds or rhythms feel jarring.
Music that feels jarring should be stressful, but if it's on an album by a favorite artist, you naturally end up listening to it more often, and through that, new musical circuits begin to form like emergency construction work.
Once it starts to become familiar to the ear, that means the circuit has been opened.
Perhaps after that, even if you listen to songs with a similar vibe, you might find them easier to listen to than before.
That was the theory.
(I haven't looked into any evidence based on expert knowledge. It is purely speculation.)
We ended up talking about how, in this way, we were able to learn about music deeply because of the inconvenience unique to albums, which forced us to listen to songs we didn't initially like.
In fact, because of this, while I only knew popular J-POP until high school,
after entering university, I gradually became able to listen to many eras and genres, starting with Japanese and Western rock, then metal, jazz, techno, EDM, soul, funk, R&B, Showa-era pop, and so on, allowing me to enjoy a wide range of music.
Even if you don't understand it at first, once your ears get used to it, there's a mysterious moment when you think, "This song is cool...!"
Recently, with the advent of music streaming services like Spotify, the number of times we listen to songs as albums has decreased significantly.
It is a very convenient world for music lovers, where you can access and interact with a wide variety of music, and it recommends songs of a similar style.
The necessity of that analog style of listening to an album until you love it is beginning to disappear, and with CD sales declining these days,
honestly, the conclusion is not about which is better or worse,
but it is a fact that our generation learned about music through that inconvenience unique to albums.
There was a lot of learning to be found in that inconvenience, we agreed,
and that is where the conversation landed.
In a world that is becoming increasingly convenient, while it is good that inconvenience is disappearing,
it was a conversation with an old friend that made me realize we must not forget that there were many things we gained precisely because of that inconvenience.
Before I knew it, we were so absorbed in our chat that about four hours had passed.
Starting with small talk, catching up, talking about music and movies, and then talking about the future.
We were able to spend a lot of fun time together.