I've always wanted to do a journal, but since the music I listen to doesn't really warrant anything interesting worth making a journal about given the context of this forum, I've never really pulled the trigger on starting one. However, I've finally come up with a theme that's usable and might actually be interesting for everyone else and especially me.
You see, I'm quite young compared to the rest of this forum. I'll be 19 in a month. I haven't been around nearly as long as you guys and I definitely haven't hit the peak of my maturity yet. I still have been passionate about great music for about 6 years now, and have stared at internet screens for many a day looking for new music to check out. Over the years, I've certainly accumulated a list of albums that people recommended to me and I just did not like. That's what I'm going to do here. I've perused my iTunes for some albums that I used to hate, and I'm going to give them another close listen to see if my opinion has changed. For each album I cover, I'll give a brief paragraph describing what I
used to think of that album, and then I'll write another paragraph describing my new thoughts. Hopefully I'll discover that I really can enjoy these albums!
To begin, I'll start with an album that's beloved by almost everyone to capture everyone's interest very quickly.
Fleetwood Mac - Rumours
What I Used to Think:
"10/10," says Jessica Hopper of Pitchfork, along with almost everyone else. "You
have to listen to Fleetwood Mac," says my father. "It's probably the greatest album of the 70's!"
I can't tell you how many times people have told me I'm supposed to love
Rumours. I love soft, catchy rock tunes with glorious harmonies. It's one of my favorite basic genres. I could just never enjoy any Mac tune besides "Go Your Own Way," probably their most 'mainstream' single-type song.
This album bored me. A lot. I didn't find the tracks catchy or interesting, and the latter half of the album blended together in a slew of slow-tempo tunes with a woman babbling uninteresting lyrics through a voice that I initially mistook as a man's. I didn't even get through the whole album upon my first ever listen, as I stopped around track 10 or 11, just not wanting to finish it. Needless to say, I disagreed with the general consensus regarding this album, as I found it horribly unremarkable.
What I Think Now:
That was about five years ago. Fast forward to today, and I've discovered that I have a lot more appreciation for the songwriting and production of this album. There are some really tight harmonies here and there are several displays of excellent musicianship. I find myself singing along to infectious tunes like "I Don't Want to Know" and "Don't Stop," the latter being a superb rock track with some rocking, classic solos.
When the album slows down, it's beautiful. "Oh Daddy" is powerful and can be related to. The record effortlessly mixes upbeat rock jams with mystical, thoughtful ballads, and it works exceptionally well.
Was I Wrong?
Simply, yes. This is a pretty magical record that I can't really stop listening to and I'm excited to continue this journal in hopes that the rest of my efforts are as fruitful as giving this album another chance was.