Quote:
Originally Posted by MusicDude
When I get into a band or an album, I listen to it pretty much exclusively, and this can last for weeks. Then I will decide I'm done with it and often never listen to it again or listen to it rarely. And on to the next obsession. Do you all do that too, or do you have a bunch of artists you like at once and kind of rotate through them?
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I never become obsessed with a band or an album, although I occasionally experience a keen interest in a genre for several days.
However, I do become obsessed with particular
songs. My song obsession most closely matches Limetless' description:
Quote:
Originally Posted by Limetless
I'm like this with songs. I pick one song and I leave it on repeat until it just becomes irrelevant noise. But no joke, I will listen to that song and each time connect with it even more until I just stop. Become exhausted from it. Usually I'll just drop it and then pick it up again months later and the feeling will still be there as to why I connected with it in the first place but not as intense to want to listen to it all day, everyday.
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My song obsessions usually last about a week. I might listen to the same song fifty times during that week before the intensity fades somewhat into affection and appreciation. I then file the song away in my personal, internal list of song favorites, pleased to have another. Months or years later, I might think of the song and reacquaint myself with it, listening to it ten times or so during one day, but the obsession isn't as strong.
I think the obsession and its fading occur because something about the song resonates with an emotional state or situation I am in at the time I first hear the song...yet as time goes by, my mood and situation change so that the song is no longer such a close fit.
On a biological level, I suspect song obsessions are caused by an innate human desire for emotional connection with people (for which songs act as substitutes), and this obsession is mediated by a spike in serotonin and dopamine levels when listening to a song with which we connect. The music thus results in improved mood and addiction-like interest in it, as described in this short article about the relationship between song obsession and dopamine:
Addiction to Music Has Biochemical Basis - Softpedia
My obsession songs are like journal entries, reminding me where my mind was at during different timepoints in my life. Listening lets me reenter those mind states just a bit, which is fun to do...like living life over again. Music is a good drug. Not as good as love, but still pretty good.
Here are three songs that I have been obsessed with in the past:
The Outfield - "Your Love"
I was very obsessed with this song when I was a teenager.
The Outfield - Your Love - YouTube
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Naked Eyes - "Always Something There to Remind Me"
I became obsessed with this song after my first major break-up.
When I listen to this song, I have flashbacks of walking despondent at night along streets in Berlin.
Naked Eyes- Always Something There To Remind Me - YouTube
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The Raconteurs - "Steady As She Goes"
I became obsessed with this song three years ago, and I still like it for the sound of the song and the unappealing description of shallow relationships that deaden the spirit:
The Raconteurs "Steady, As She Goes" - YouTube
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Oh what the heck, I'll break my "only list three things" rule and add another song, one of my most recent song obsessions:
Get Well Soon - "Angry Young Man"
I became obsessed with this song around a year ago because of its wash of pulsing sound and its subject matter, which deals with issues of cruelty and mortality. The sense of tragedy in the song still gets to me. Actually, I think (now that I think about it) that the reason I liked this song so much is the mood it evokes in me matches fairly closely how life often feels to me:
Get Well Soon - Angry Young Man (Official Video) - YouTube