Every year I compile a top 10 list of songs that was significant to me for that particular year. I’ve done so since 2011, and it’s quite interesting to look back at these lists and see what songs are on there. The music provides a symbolic window into what sort of year I’ve had, and what kind of feelings I was contemplating throughout. Similar to the 365 challenge that I’ve also been doing since 2011, it’s great fun to look back at the times gone by, which is precisely why I do this record keeping, if you will.
A few days ago I took a look at the song list from 2019, and I was surprised to find that even though the songs were important enough to make the top 10 list, the amount of times I actually listened to each track were vanishingly little - one of the songs a mere 15 times! This made me realize how drastically I’ve decreased in music listening; the top 10 lists of earlier years featured songs I’ve played hundreds of times, so it was shocking to find one that made a list with a play count in the teens.
For a guy that used to relish listening to music on the bus to and from school, oh how the times have changed indeed. Surely the available explosion of podcasts in recent years have absolutely obliterated opportunities for music listening. I’m big on always striving to learn new things, so podcasts have dominated my casual hours; why waste the precious minutes on repeating tracks when there’s so much to learn from many interesting people and subjects.
I don’t exactly regret listening to podcasts: some of my mental health breakthroughs in regards to dealing with anxiety is owed to information gleamed from them. That said, in this time of continued sheltering at home and running out of proper things to do, I shall endeavor to indulge in music far more often than I’ve had in the past years. In the moments where I’m searching for stuff to do to pass the time, why not put on the set of Bose noise cancelling headphones and press play on iTunes.
It sure beats looking at the horror show on twitter for the umpteenth time.
That’s a lonely bench.