I recently realized I haven't actively listened to music for almost a decade. Some life stuff combined with a job I've had for awhile that really exhausts me, and I guess I hit a dead end without realizing it.

Back in the Before Times, the local radio stations played exclusively power trio stuff, and I sort of came to the conclusion that... I didn't like music? Which is obviously dumb, I just had a limited window on things.

Then Pandora happened and life was good. You could throw thumbs up / down at stuff and it would figure out what you liked. It was around this time I figured out that I liked stuff like Thievery Corporation, but since there wasn't any way to export your history, I don't recall many names from that period.

Pandora kept getting worse until I stopped using it. No idea what email I even used at this point. For some reason, probably stubbornness, I never picked up a Spotify account. And so here we are today: I don't listen to music much, and I don't even know what I like.

So like, what do? When I hit up Youtube for some search like "focus music" for getting stuff done, or "viking music" for playing Valheim with friends, I usually enjoy it, but that's a far cry from actually having a taste in things.

  • Mardoniush [she/her]
    ·
    3 years ago

    I wouldn't know. Listening to the local alternative music station used to help back when it played things like SoaD before they were cool but is now kind of trash. But Pandora et al were always trash since I'm into classical and hearing 5 consecutive recitatives from different pieces is not my thing. (Idagio is alright though for classical, has kind of a mood wheel thing that works well most of the time.)

    One way is to notice when you enjoy a particular track in "Viking music" of whatever, favourite it, and then look up the band as the mood takes you. Eventually, you'll work out what genres work for you (or you'll realise you only like 17th century sea shanties).

    Don't sweat it too much, you're allowed to like what you like and hate what you hate, even if they're "close" genres (I love folk and hate country, for example.)