My relationship with music changes less than I thought

[andrewducker]

eatsoylentgreen posted this video containing pop music between 2000 and 2013:

"Hit Songs Through The Years: 2000 - 2013" (Watch on YouTube)

About 8 songs per year, all of which went massive (at least in the US).

And I was expecting that at some point I'd stop recognising them, as I didn't think I'd been paying any attention to pop music recently.

Watching this reminded me that I've pretty-much _never_ paid attention to pop music, and indeed my osmosis seems pretty constant all the way through - I recognised about 25% of the songs from each year.

(I have no idea how, for most of them, as I don't tend to watch music videos. And I don't think I've ever watched or listened to a chart show in my life. I assume that some things are just unavoidable if you ever leave the house.)

Comments

[andrewhickey.info]

My own result is almost exactly what you expected. I stopped paying attention to pop music before 2000 -- I quite liked some chart stuff between about 1994 and 97, but had stopped bothering by 98ish. However, the numbers go:
2000 -- 5
2001 -- 4
(Leave university, start getting crappy jobs in places that have the radio on all the time)
2002 -- 7
(spend next year on dole)
2003 -- 2
(next year is office work)
2004 -- 1
2005 -- 3
2006 -- 2
2007 -- 0
2008 -- 2
2009 -- 1
2010 -- 1
2011 -- 0
2012 -- 1
2013 -- 1

And I'm using a *very* generous definition for "recognised" -- I wouldn't be able to tell you the song titles, or artists, or how the rest of the song goes, just that I'm remembering the tiny fragment I hear when I hear it.

Also, of the 100 or so songs I heard snippets of, only two (Crazy and Hey Ya) did anything other than make me feel mildly nauseated, which suggests that I was right to stop paying attention to the charts. (NB I am not saying chart music is objectively bad, just that it makes me feel unpleasant. I see far too many people attacking those who like popular music.)

[altamira16]

2000 - 4
2001 - 4
2002 - 3
2003 - 7
2004 - 2
2005 - 4
2006 - 3
2007 - 1
2008 - 2
2009 - 6
2010 - 4
2011 - 2
2012 - 6
2013 - 3

I got married in 2007 and listened to what my husband listened to that year I think. A lot of this had to do with the artists. I do not care about Jennifer Lopez or Rhianna. I remembered most of the Black Eyed Peas stuff because I saw them live in concert. I remember Gold Digger because that was the year of Hurricane Katrina, and they redid that into a song about George Bush not liking black people. In the last three years, the songs that I remember most were songs that became internet memes which is a little scary.

[altamira16]

Also Kate Perry is like crazy glue for my brain. Her songs are just catchy.

[franklanguage]

My favorite version of Oops, I Did It Again remains Richard Thompson's version:

[Dreamwidth won't let me embed, so here's the link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V4WGsMplGxU]

[andrewhickey.info]

I like that one -- and indeed love the entire album (1000 Years Of Popular Music) it's from, but my favourite thing about it is that at the end he drops into a version of it close to the opening track on the album (Sumer Is Icumen In), and the tracklisting names it Marry, Ageyn Hic Hev Donne Yt...

[myka]

I recognized between 1/3 to 1/2 of the tunes, and really like about 5 of them, but probably wouldn't have been able to tell you the artist or title of hardly any. I reckon I heard most of these just through osmosis, as hits are ubiquitous when they are popular, but I do listen to a pop internet radio station regularly, and I think they have played a few of the more recent ones. I was wondering who Coldplay was as people I know often mention them when they need an example of a band they dislike.