Are you too stuck in a musical rut?

[Ashenden]

We don’t usually associate the word ‘boredom’ with listening to music. For a major part of my music listening past, I used to stick to artists/genres I knew and liked growing up and never tried/bothered to venture too much out of my comfort zone. As a result, I knew most of my CDs inside out, even to the point as to where the scratches were located in a particular CD! Now, I know that the music is still good, but somehow there was no excitement or a real interest in playing them over and over again (now, all this must be sounding similar to being stuck in a boring marriage ).

This was the time when I was experimenting with streaming services like Spotify. Initially, I didn’t like the way the application was designed, as it was primarily meant to give away control and let them choose what should play next. So, there too I added my previous bunch of albums I’m used to, to the 'library' and listened from the first to last track in sequence(Old habits die hard ). But, thanks to their playlists, I started developing a liking for Indie Singer-Songwriter/Bluegrass and new age Jazz artists, a vast majority of them relatively unknown. Surprisingly, these new artists were writing songs which had substance, depth and musicality, which was giving some big name artists/bands from yesteryear, a real competition and in some cases even bettering them. Instead of listening to albums, I switched to the “Daily Mix” playlists and found it odd that the earlier boredom had vanished, I was enjoying several of the recommended tracks and looking forward to their "daily mixes" and "discover weekly" lists. I gathered that the entirely new music was affecting my brain centers in a positive way, which my previous collection of CDs failed to achieve. I was listening to a lot more music than I had in my entire life, and really enjoying them too!

I did a little bit of reading on this and found this BBC article, pointing to a research, which mirrored and supported my experience. Quoting from the article (emphasis mine):

"But what's cool is that you're anticipating and getting excited over something entirely abstract - and that's the next sound that is coming up."

Now, I’m out of my musical rut, I don’t obsess about how my speakers/amplifier/DAC sounds anymore, but am more interested in listening to more artists and genres and discovering new music.

I would love to hear more from FMs experiences. Are you too stuck in a musical rut or are your musical tastes eclectic, non constrained and free to experiment? OR you find all this gibberish?

 

[kapvin]

Hi Sandeep,

i completely empathise with your journey, having gone through the same a few years ago. the key is music discovery and access, which streaming services provide. For me discovery happens from multiple sources: conversations here and on other music /audio forums about nice albums, Last.fm, where one can understand what people with similar tastes are listening to; similarly on apple music; Roon recommendations via tidal, and lastly my two teenage kids. my music collection is truly eclectic now; from Dua lipa to benny golson but the core of my interests are still 60s and 70s rock and (horrors!) 80s pop.

 

[Nitin K]

Hi Sandeep,

I too was stuck in my collection of musical CD's. I like a particular genre of music for hindi & english with good lyrics & good voice ( mostly found in the songs 0f 70's & 80's). Like you I also know which CD's are scratched & which are not. So much so I remember the track nos also of my favourite songs.
Just 2 years back after heaing some of the new well recorded hindi & english songs, found that my tastes are gradually expanding. Found Spotify good to find songs of different artists & other genres. Although the quality of a lot of tracks on Spotify sound mediocre with the highest settings & CD's with good mastering to be better. Anyways I guess change is a part of life & no harm in experimenting with other genres.

Regards

 

[firearm12]

For me i like to remember the lyrics of soongs i listen to, with my memory getting weak each coming day, i am stuck at what i know in my permanent memory, i tend to forget what i was listening to in the morning if it was new for me.

 

[Deleted member 15865]

We don’t usually associate the word ‘boredom’ with listening to music. For a major part of my music listening past, I used to stick to artists/genres I knew and liked growing up and never tried/bothered to venture too much out of my comfort zone. As a result, I knew most of my CDs inside out, even to the point as to where the scratches were located in a particular CD! Now, I know that the music is still good, but somehow there was no excitement or a real interest in playing them over and over again (now, all this must be sounding similar to being stuck in a boring marriage ).
This was the time when I was experimenting with streaming services like Spotify. Initially, I didn’t like the way the application was designed, as it was primarily meant to give away control and let them choose what should play next. So, there too I added my previous bunch of albums I’m used to, to the 'library' and listened from the first to last track in sequence(Old habits die hard ). But, thanks to their playlists, I started developing a liking for Indie Singer-Songwriter/Bluegrass and new age Jazz artists, a vast majority of them relatively unknown. Surprisingly, these new artists were writing songs which had substance, depth and musicality, which was giving some big name artists/bands from yesteryear, a real competition and in some cases even bettering them. Instead of listening to albums, I switched to the “Daily Mix” playlists and found it odd that the earlier boredom had vanished, I was enjoying several of the recommended tracks and looking forward to their "daily mixes" and "discover weekly" lists. I gathered that the entirely new music was affecting my brain centers in a positive way, which my previous collection of CDs failed to achieve. I was listening to a lot more music than I had in my entire life, and really enjoying them too!
I did a little bit of reading on this and found this BBC article, pointing to a research, which mirrored and supported my experience. Quoting from the article (emphasis mine):


Now, I’m out of my musical rut, I don’t obsess about how my speakers/amplifier/DAC sounds anymore, but am more interested in listening to more artists and genres and discovering new music.

I would love to hear more from FMs experiences. Are you too stuck in a musical rut or are your musical tastes eclectic, non constrained and free to experiment? OR you find all this gibberish?

@sandeepss, you seem to be referring to two distinct phenomena here:

1. Boredom arising out of listening to a limited set of music
2. Overthinking or tinkering with audio components/accessories in pursuit of better sound.

Now, is there necessarily a causality between 1 and 2? Does 1 lead to 2? May be in some individual cases like yours there was a correlation (2 following 1 in time), but I cannot see a generalIsed cause-effect relationship.

So, while widening one’s choice of music sourcing - platforms, artists and genres can lead to reduction in boredom (1 above), it doesn’t necessarily lead to reduction in 2 above. In my case it didn’t. I am working separately to control 2 above, by prioritising music appreciation over audio enhancement.

In fact, I see myself overdoing the sourcing diversity at times - deliberately exploring unknown/lesser known artists in genres relatively newer to me. And at times get myself in that ‘musical rut’ (the opposite of yours). And then I have to get back to my carefully curated CD collection and remind myself that the attentive listening to a favourite album end to end is renewed joy every time I play it!

I guess we keep going in cycles, like all of nature.

 

[Ashenden]

I cannot see a generalIsed cause-effect relationship.

Sachin, this is not a generalized statement, but something I have observed in my case. You can term it as a favorable side-effect I had encountered while experimenting.
Now, can 1 lead to 2? perhaps (not necessarily). When we are listening to several new songs every other day, we will never know for certain as to how it was supposed to sound, so I guess that should help in bringing down the tinkering (as the focus rests on the music)

But, again, if we suffer from a high degree of Audio OCD (rhymes with 'Audio CD' ), then we will be back to our tinkering even before we know it

 

[Bhaskar Jyoti Talapatra]

Hi
Sandeepda
I am stuck with the songs that I have been listening to over the years. I started listening to songs when I was a child . My home environment helped me to live with music. My elder sister learnt the art of singing and she used to do her riaaz early in the morning and almost every day our HMV fiesta record player was used. Another medium was Akashbani which also catered to various kinds of songs specially on Sunday. Besides this a disciple of Ustad Salamat Ali Khan was our neighbour and I saw many well known artists singing and playing instruments in his house. This nodoubt exerted influence on me. Later, when I could collect some basic and humble rigs I tried my best to procure those songs which I used to listen to. This is a nostalgia to me. Even today when I choose any vinyl, I like to spin those which once my father liked or the songs that I listened to umpteenth. I don't get bored with those because I have some personal emotional attachment wth those vinyls, cassettes and CDs. Like you I also know which vinyl has scratch or which CD skips . As we are getting more and more options to listen to songs, I welcome them all but there again I search the same songs which I already have or some others which I don't have but listened 20 or 30 years ago in Radio. I am more in to gana than Spotify and I like to have a playlist to have songs that I like but I always want to embrace vinyls, cassettes, and CDs and ruminate my bygone days.
Regards

 

[Nikhil]

This is a great topic Sandeep. I don't think the others have quite understood what you are describing i.e. new music discovery via the auto suggestion algorithms of streaming services like Spotify and TIDAL. Traditionally audiophiles were limited to their music collections. Many still are.

These new streaming services have completely changed the game. Never before have we had this kind of access to massive libraries of music. The other day I did a deep dive into old Hindi movie music and I was surprised to find really old movie albums on TIDAL. In the old days we would not be able to get past the usual suspects. In my opinion this is an exciting time that is unprecedented.



.

 

[skroderider]

We don’t usually associate the word ‘boredom’ with listening to music. For a major part of my music listening past, I used to stick to artists/genres I knew and liked growing up and never tried/bothered to venture too much out of my comfort zone. As a result, I knew most of my CDs inside out, even to the point as to where the scratches were located in a particular CD! Now, I know that the music is still good, but somehow there was no excitement or a real interest in playing them over and over again (now, all this must be sounding similar to being stuck in a boring marriage ).

This was the time when I was experimenting with streaming services like Spotify. Initially, I didn’t like the way the application was designed, as it was primarily meant to give away control and let them choose what should play next. So, there too I added my previous bunch of albums I’m used to, to the 'library' and listened from the first to last track in sequence(Old habits die hard ). But, thanks to their playlists, I started developing a liking for Indie Singer-Songwriter/Bluegrass and new age Jazz artists, a vast majority of them relatively unknown. Surprisingly, these new artists were writing songs which had substance, depth and musicality, which was giving some big name artists/bands from yesteryear, a real competition and in some cases even bettering them. Instead of listening to albums, I switched to the “Daily Mix” playlists and found it odd that the earlier boredom had vanished, I was enjoying several of the recommended tracks and looking forward to their "daily mixes" and "discover weekly" lists. I gathered that the entirely new music was affecting my brain centers in a positive way, which my previous collection of CDs failed to achieve. I was listening to a lot more music than I had in my entire life, and really enjoying them too!

I did a little bit of reading on this and found this BBC article, pointing to a research, which mirrored and supported my experience. Quoting from the article (emphasis mine):


Now, I’m out of my musical rut, I don’t obsess about how my speakers/amplifier/DAC sounds anymore, but am more interested in listening to more artists and genres and discovering new music.

I would love to hear more from FMs experiences. Are you too stuck in a musical rut or are your musical tastes eclectic, non constrained and free to experiment? OR you find all this gibberish?

I can totally identify with what you are saying about new music, especially because it is Spotify which played a big part in the same journey of discovery for me too. I have started exploring genres like Hindustani/Carnatic classical - which a few years ago I would not have even dreamt of listening to.

 

[bornfi]

We don’t usually associate the word ‘boredom’ with listening to music. For a major part of my music listening past, I used to stick to artists/genres I knew and liked growing up and never tried/bothered to venture too much out of my comfort zone. As a result, I knew most of my CDs inside out, even to the point as to where the scratches were located in a particular CD! Now, I know that the music is still good, but somehow there was no excitement or a real interest in playing them over and over again (now, all this must be sounding similar to being stuck in a boring marriage ).

This was the time when I was experimenting with streaming services like Spotify. Initially, I didn’t like the way the application was designed, as it was primarily meant to give away control and let them choose what should play next. So, there too I added my previous bunch of albums I’m used to, to the 'library' and listened from the first to last track in sequence(Old habits die hard ). But, thanks to their playlists, I started developing a liking for Indie Singer-Songwriter/Bluegrass and new age Jazz artists, a vast majority of them relatively unknown. Surprisingly, these new artists were writing songs which had substance, depth and musicality, which was giving some big name artists/bands from yesteryear, a real competition and in some cases even bettering them. Instead of listening to albums, I switched to the “Daily Mix” playlists and found it odd that the earlier boredom had vanished, I was enjoying several of the recommended tracks and looking forward to their "daily mixes" and "discover weekly" lists. I gathered that the entirely new music was affecting my brain centers in a positive way, which my previous collection of CDs failed to achieve. I was listening to a lot more music than I had in my entire life, and really enjoying them too!

I did a little bit of reading on this and found this BBC article, pointing to a research, which mirrored and supported my experience. Quoting from the article (emphasis mine):


Now, I’m out of my musical rut, I don’t obsess about how my speakers/amplifier/DAC sounds anymore, but am more interested in listening to more artists and genres and discovering new music.

I would love to hear more from FMs experiences. Are you too stuck in a musical rut or are your musical tastes eclectic, non constrained and free to experiment? OR you find all this gibberish?

I too have been through the same path. In the beginning I would never listen anything outside fo my CD collection hated online streaming and lossy formats as garbage. But with refinement of my system, I started enjoying online streaming primarily for the quality of recording they offered. And today, I listen to anything. e.g I have a radio station for the artiste Coralie Clement that plays only french songs and I will admit that I understand 0 of the lyrics but I remain hooked just for the sake of recording, soundstage, purity of instruments. So, yes, there are people like you, Sandeep!

 

[Deleted member 15865]

This is a great topic Sandeep. I don't think the others have quite understood what you are describing i.e. new music discovery via the auto suggestion algorithms of streaming services like Spotify and TIDAL. Traditionally audiophiles were limited to their music collections. Many still are.

These new streaming services have completely changed the game. Never before have we had this kind of access to massive libraries of music. The other day I did a deep dive into old Hindi movie music and I was surprised to find really old movie albums on TIDAL. In the old days we would not be able to get past the usual suspects. In my opinion this is an exciting time that is unprecedented.

Nikhil, I did understand Sandeep’s post, but wanted to confront what I thought was a tenuous generalisation (it wasn’t, as he clarified).

Coming to the article and the way exposure to newer objects stimulates different parts of our brain and creates newer associations in it, that’s undeniable. Exposure to newer places, cultures, people, philosophies, arts, environments - all of it helps stimulate and develop our brains increasing our capability to adapt and grow. Broadening our music listening to newer genres and newer artists is one example of this. In psychology, this amounts to ‘Openness’ - one of the the big five traits.

I was actually pointing out (from my personal experience) the opposite rut which some of us - especially those too keen on exploring newer music (even newer subjects) all the time could get into - endlessly scouting for newer genres, sub-genres and performers, discovering their best albums on Allmusic.com, creating playlists, looking up ‘similar artists’ in apps, doing the same for them - it also gets into a kind of rut. A rut where the ‘listening to music’ takes a backseat to ‘learning about newer music/all music in the world’. That could be someone’s purpose, but when it’s not, then it does come at the cost of deep diving into listening to favourite genres, artists and albums for pleasure of attentive listening and joys of nuanced appreciation. The ease of access created by the streaming platforms only exacerbates thIs peculiar problem. I find extracting myself from this self-induced predicament time and again.

Ideally, breadth exploration and depth exploration need to be balanced. I believe there are different aspects of brain (and personality) development to be gained from both.

 

[Ashenden]

Thanks to all for reading & pitching in your viewpoints!

Coming to the article and the way exposure to newer objects stimulates different parts of our brain and creates newer associations in it, that’s undeniable.

Allow me contradict myself
From what I had read online, the vast majority of the research (like this) supports the fact that familiarity increases the enjoyment, due to the mere-exposure effect. The article I had linked earlier, had a unique and different view.

------------------------------
A little bit of context/background for this discussion:

Personally, I do not mind the format in which I listen to music. As long as the perceived quality of music (which is subjective) is good, I don't mind the source (compressed files are perfectly fine for me) nor the playback method (even earbuds direct from phone will do the trick). Same goes for movies, when I'm watching a movie from the likes of Dardenne brothers, Fatih Akin, Kelly Reichardt, Maren Ade, David Lean, Satyajit Ray et al, the display medium doesn't matter much, be it a movie theater (film festival), TV, laptop or even an iPad, the visceral and emotional impact is equal across board. Again, all these are not generalized statements, but from my own experience.

Spotify was mentioned as an example, as I liked the algorithm. The same is possible through the intelligent radio and discovery algos on competing services as well. Also, the discussion was not meant to highlight which format, artist or time period the music came out, is better.

The need for experimentation came sometime back, when I noticed that my taste in movies was eclectic, with no real boundaries set on genres/time period/ language, but in music it was limited by my nostalgia and the resultant CD collection. I was trying something new here and there, but nothing as drastic as with movies. Also, from my movie watching experience, I know the joy of discovering a new director and exploring his/her works, which was definitely missing with music.
So, with this discussion, I was wondering if say we split our listening time to 50% our collection and 50% newly discovered artists/genre, over a period of time which will stay for good? Will the new ones dominate and take a larger share (or vice versa)? I don't know the answer, as I'm just starting out. But, with movies, I know where I want to be

As Sachin pointed out, openness is key here. Where will it lead us to? we never know, but there is no harm in experimenting as long as the results are enjoyable (again, IMO)

Who knows, as T.S.Eliot puts it,
"We shall not cease from exploration,
and the end of all our exploring
will be to arrive where we started
and know the place for the first time."

 

[Deleted member 15865]

Thanks to all for reading & pitching in your viewpoints!


Allow me contradict myself
From what I had read online, the vast majority of the research (like this) supports the fact that familiarity increases the enjoyment, due to the mere-exposure effect. The article I had linked earlier, had a unique and different view.

------------------------------
A little bit of context/background for this discussion:

Personally, I do not mind the format in which I listen to music. As long as the perceived quality of music (which is subjective) is good, I don't mind the source (compressed files are perfectly fine for me) nor the playback method (even earbuds direct from phone will do the trick). Same goes for movies, when I'm watching a movie from the likes of Dardenne brothers, Fatih Akin, Kelly Reichardt, Maren Ade, David Lean, Satyajit Ray et al, the display medium doesn't matter much, be it a movie theater (film festival), TV, laptop or even an iPad, the visceral and emotional impact is equal across board. Again, all these are not generalized statements, but from my own experience.

Spotify was mentioned as an example, as I liked the algorithm. The same is possible through the intelligent radio and discovery algos on competing services as well. Also, the discussion was not meant to highlight which format, artist or time period the music came out, is better.

The need for experimentation came sometime back, when I noticed that my taste in movies was eclectic, with no real boundaries set on genres/time period/ language, but in music it was limited by my nostalgia and the resultant CD collection. I was trying something new here and there, but nothing as drastic as with movies. Also, from my movie watching experience, I know the joy of discovering a new director and exploring his/her works, which was definitely missing with music.
So, with this discussion, I was wondering if say we split our listening time to 50% our collection and 50% newly discovered artists/genre, over a period of time which will stay for good? Will the new ones dominate and take a larger share (or vice versa)? I don't know the answer, as I'm just starting out. But, with movies, I know where I want to be

As Sachin pointed out, openness is key here. Where will it lead us to? we never know, but there is no harm in experimenting as long as the results are enjoyable (again, IMO)

Who knows, as T.S.Eliot puts it,
"We shall not cease from exploration,
and the end of all our exploring
will be to arrive where we started
and know the place for the first time."

@sandeepss, discussion with you is intellectually delightful and enlightening as it’s usually with polymaths.

 

[arj]

Reading through this I realize all of us are quite different in how we listen to music.

While I love to experiment with food all the time and prefer eating something i have not eaten before, with music I am different I zone out listening to Old Hindi ( Kishore/asha/lata/rafi and Hemant kumar) as my comfort place along with the classic rock ( Dire straits/PF etc) and some Pop

Again, I do not call it a rut since i dont mind listening to new albums eg Disturbed , Imagine Dragons, some western classical, jazz ... and of course some of the newer Hindi songs for extended periods. Prime Music and Spotify of late have been interesting and these do relax the mind but the first is my Comfort food (Oops) and relaxes my soul

Maybe I should rethink my food analogy

 

[mpw]

Reading through this I realize all of us are quite different in how we listen to music.

While I love to experiment with food all the time and prefer eating something i have not eaten before, with music I am different I zone out listening to Old Hindi ( Kishore/asha/lata/rafi and Hemant kumar) as my comfort place along with the classic rock ( Dire straits/PF etc) and some Pop

Again, I do not call it a rut since i dont mind listening to new albums eg Disturbed , Imagine Dragons, some western classical, jazz ... and of course some of the newer Hindi songs for extended periods. Prime Music and Spotify of late have been interesting and these do relax the mind but the first is my Comfort food (Oops) and relaxes my soul

Maybe I should rethink my food analogy

For me it's the reverse..

I am less experimentative with food as compared to music.

Fortunately my music collection is eclectic enough to make me discover things when I play them again after a while...

 

[firearm12]

This thread has made me realise that i have not listened to much new music since i ventured into sound category from music category. In my music days i was more receptive to unknown music

Reading through this I realize all of us are quite different in how we listen to music.

While I love to experiment with food all the time and prefer eating something i have not eaten before, with music I am different I zone out listening to Old Hindi ( Kishore/asha/lata/rafi and Hemant kumar) as my comfort place along with the classic rock ( Dire straits/PF etc) and some Pop

Again, I do not call it a rut since i dont mind listening to new albums eg Disturbed , Imagine Dragons, some western classical, jazz ... and of course some of the newer Hindi songs for extended periods. Prime Music and Spotify of late have been interesting and these do relax the mind but the first is my Comfort food (Oops) and relaxes my soul

Maybe I should rethink my food analogy

You reflect my thoughts over food and music. I can listen to any music but music that i already know and like only takes me to heaven.

 

[Nikhil]

Nikhil, I did understand Sandeep’s post, but wanted to confront what I thought was a tenuous generalisation (it wasn’t, as he clarified).

Coming to the article and the way exposure to newer objects stimulates different parts of our brain and creates newer associations in it, that’s undeniable. Exposure to newer places, cultures, people, philosophies, arts, environments - all of it helps stimulate and develop our brains increasing our capability to adapt and grow. Broadening our music listening to newer genres and newer artists is one example of this. In psychology, this amounts to ‘Openness’ - one of the the big five traits.

I was actually pointing out (from my personal experience) the opposite rut which some of us - especially those too keen on exploring newer music (even newer subjects) all the time could get into - endlessly scouting for newer genres, sub-genres and performers, discovering their best albums on Allmusic.com, creating playlists, looking up ‘similar artists’ in apps, doing the same for them - it also gets into a kind of rut. A rut where the ‘listening to music’ takes a backseat to ‘learning about newer music/all music in the world’. That could be someone’s purpose, but when it’s not, then it does come at the cost of deep diving into listening to favourite genres, artists and albums for pleasure of attentive listening and joys of nuanced appreciation. The ease of access created by the streaming platforms only exacerbates thIs peculiar problem. I find extracting myself from this self-induced predicament time and again.

Ideally, breadth exploration and depth exploration need to be balanced. I believe there are different aspects of brain (and personality) development to be gained from both.

Sachin,

What you are describing is the process and motivation for new music discovery. What I was describing was the ease and success at finding something new that suits your ear. These new algorithm driven auto suggestions are based on what you like to hear and difficult to do manually.

Here is an example where I built a playlist based on Mukesh's "Awara Hoon"
See the song suggestions in the list below Recommended Tracks below



After I play "Babuji Dheere Chalna" by Geeta Dutt see the revised Recommended Tracks



You can go on like this and build a playlist that would be very difficult to do manually.
Keep in mind I did all this in a span of a few minutes.

Regards



.

 

[moktan]

I have a separate music room with some passably decent gear. However it’s very rare that I listen to music there. But I listen to music all the time on my iPad - through iPods sometimes and occasionally through the Bluetooth speakers.
I don’t think I am in a musical rut because I mostly listen to jazz and the good thing about this type of music is that your are always discovering newer sounds in an album you are hearing for the umpteenth time. Every hearing is like climbing up a learning curve.
Sometimes as a fellow member has mentioned above ,I dig out more information on an album by reading reviews on allmusic.com , pitchforkmedia and the like. This can get quite interesting. For example an early Rolling Stone review had panned Van Morrison’s Veedon Fleece but a more recent review ( relatively ) had a much more positive appraisal of that album. Thinking about what could have changed is very intriguing.
Also another thing that prevents me from getting into a musical rut is that I have a good set of musically inclined friends with whom we are exchanging information on new and old music. The “what I am listening to” and “jazz” threads in this forum are also excellent sources of discovering both old and new music.
Lastly I have two kids - a 12 year old son and a 17 year old daughter with whom I can share the joys of good music and help them discover genres and acts.
It’s interesting to see their responses at the opposite end of the spectrum sometimes.

 

[arj]

..
Lastly I have two kids - a 12 year old son and a 17 year old daughter with whom I can share the joys of good music and help them discover genres and acts.
It’s interesting to see their responses at the opposite end of the spectrum sometimes.

I have a 17 year old who is so much into the 80-90 rock that we have some fun times listening to spotify once in a while and talk music..rediscovered Def Leppard & Slash through him and also heard some of the heavy metals i had never heard before, and yes kids can help you reach out to new music and also enjoy some music

We actually watched Bohemian rhapsody as a family on a projector and music via my rig some months back...was almost magical !

 

[drkrack]

My Musical Rut was AR Rahman which continued over a decade when Cassettes were a most popular media, I detested any music which didn't have Rahman name on it, only other music I listened during that decade apart from ARR was from old bollywood, Michael Jackson and hindustani classical ( from a family legacy). I could sing all ARR Tamil songs from 1992 -2002 by heart without understanding an ounce of Tamil.


It all changed in 2004, when I moved to Kerala when a Senior opened his huge Rock and World Music CD Library to me. I was fascinated with Cds and had a discman for long. Rock dominated that decade . But after 2004 I've never been shy to experimentation to all kind of music and the attitude still continues. Now I listen to almost any genre other than Rap. Tidal with its library of few million songs at a finger tip has changed the scenario very much. Yes I support experimentation "carpe diem".