2007年 01月 5日 金曜日 10:19
Wow. Time flies sometimes, and 2006 was certainly no exception. This last year though I had a new preoccupation–music.
I'm no stranger to music however, and I am by no means, a stranger to preoccupation. When I was younger, I was enveloped by it. It was a part of me. As I grew older though, it began to slip away from me, bit by bit.
I grew up in the era of the Walkman, and I thank Sony sincerely for that. Thanks to them I was able to bring along with me, wherever I happened to go, hours worth of entertainment, and should I wish, with the help of a decent set of ear phones, isolation from the rest of the world.
But when you get older things change. Eventually, I was no longer able to listen to music all day long, every day, as I used to. I forgot what that was like.
For me, Apple Computer helped turn that around with the iPod. Now, rather then hours of entertainment, it is possible to bring along entire music collections, in your pocket!
That was the first ingredient to my new musical journey. Eventually I was promoted at work, which allowed for more time to actually spend listening to some of this music, as I was able to have a desk, and a place to enjoy it.
And then, as if by magic, I stumbled upon Last FM. It was a random click on a link in the signature of an internet forum member, which brought me here. At first I was intrigued, and then I was enraptured. It was the next ingredient that I needed to explore a new musical world.
Through Last FM, I was able to make new discoveries–new discoveries of music, and new discoveries within myself! Without Last FM, there are many artists that I would not, at this point, have even realized that I could be a fan of, and it is possible that I never would have discovered this.
Also, I've been able to become reacquainted with old favorites. Many artists that I have either forgotten, or simply brushed aside, are now, once again, a part of my musical repertoire.
That leads me to the final piece of this article–chart manipulation. Maybe this is a confession, although I have never denied it, or perhaps it's simply an observation of myself… I often times find myself looking at my charts, and asking myself, "What's missing?" And that is how I decide what to listen to next. Don't get me wrong here, I am not talking about faking scrobbles! This is music that I truly enjoy and listen to! It is a way that I have found to round out my Last FM persona. I have created custom tags, and iTunes playlists, based on where music appears in my Last FM charts!
In short, I have been able to bring music back into my life. It is once again, a part of me. I've said it before, but I'm saying it again, thank you Last FM for helping to make this possible!
I eagerly look forward to the next year to see where this journey takes me. I have developed a very open mind to music, and I have been soaking up a lot of it. My latest discovery, The Grateful Dead, is proving to be a worthy listen, and I suspect that they may be climbing very quickly up my charts.
Happy New Year! :)