Help! I am in a digital rut! --- by Michelle @ Indian School

I have been in a rut lately, a musical rut. Typically if I find myself in a rut it is from a lack of something, not an excess of it. I think I may have too much music, on too many formats. How did something as simple as spending a couple of hours listening to some tunes become a burden? I came to the realization that I was in a musical rut when I found myself hitting skip whenever I had my i-pod in shuffle mode. That is how it started. Then I was skipping the tunes my “high density linear converter” cd changer was picking for me on random. My turntable is innocent and in no way responsible for my musical rut.

Like many problems, I was totally unaware of it in the beginning. If I could have looked into the future, and saw the oncoming dilemma, I would have avoided it. But I was deep in the rut before I realized it. The dark void of too many choices, a digital A.D.D. of sorts.
When this first started I would skip the last few seconds of a song. Now I find myself, quite often, skipping before the first chorus starts. It is not that I do not like these songs. I loaded them onto my i-pod. I obsessively picked 300 CD’s for my CD changer. I took the time to program all the titles in. This took quite awhile, because if it was not a Sony artist, or if it was not encoded, the title would not pop up on the display. I realized through this process that I do not have a lot of music by artists distributed by Sony. I do, however, like my Sony CD changer.
Somewhere along the way, the promiscuous amount of recorded music I own has rendered me helpless to listen to a single song straight through. Perhaps I had a deeper appreciation of music when I had less of it. I was talking to a friend about my dilemma. He said that when he was younger and had to save up for an album, even if it sucked, he would listen to it anyway. Sometimes he would actually end up liking the album. I can think of quite a few albums and artists that on first listen, I did not really care for that I now love.

When I was around 8 years old I got into buying records. 45’s. The cool kids call these 7” now. I would save my allowance to buy three 45’s. New 45’s were 3 for $5.00, or $1.99 each at my favorite local record shop. My $5.00 a week earned by doing dishes and cleaning up dog poop in the backyard was never wasted. I truly can never recall being disappointed with my choices. Of course with a 45 I knew what I was getting, but my love of the “b-side” grew into a desire to hear the entire album. I had to pick up a lot more dog doo-doo if I wanted to hear more than two songs. It was worth it. I found myself reading everything on the jacket, over and over. I was thrilled when a lyric sheet was included. They were not obligatory back in the day. I was an introverted only child (a geek), music was my best friend. How could I ever have too much?
When I hit the skip button I always anticipate the next tune will be “the one”. The one I will get lost in. The one where I will hear the flourish of a fill I had not detected earlier or a flicker of anger or joy in the vocals that will make me re-interpret the lyrical meaning of the song. Those songs you get lost in and inhabit, that you become part of.
I am going to break this habit. I am going to pull myself out of this rut. Baby steps, 10 songs, random/shuffle, no skipping. I will not be bullied by the high density linear converter system! Here we go…

1. XTC “Senses Working Overtime”
2. Mark Lanegan “All Night Long”
3. Jeru the Damaja “Me or the Papes”
4. Ike & Tina Turner “Shake a Tail Feather”
5. Dandy Warhols “Last High”
6. Bantam Rooster “Run Rabbit Run”
7. The Jam “Going Underground”
8. The Dramatics “In the Rain”
9. Heavy Vegetable “Abducted by the Work Aliens”
10. Eddie Floyd “Knock on Wood”

Wow! Not as hard as I thought it would be. I am going to get through this. I think the cure for my ills is a record only listening regimen. Records make you interact with your music. Laying the needle in the groove. I will listen to entire songs again. Hell, I will listen to ALBUMS! Start to finish, the way the artist wanted me to experience their music.
Records will get me out of this rut! If not I may seek out a support group for those of us that suffer from digitalism. Hopefully full on analogue will cure my ills. VIVA LA VINYL!
-Michelle @ Indian School