Jan 31, 2022 3 min read

Tell me, what music is on your iPod, your phone or other preferred listening device? What’s on your various Spotify playlists? Now, a related question: What music are you listening to? I ask because I think that not many people really listen to the music they play.

I’ve been a musician since I was 12. I’ve bought more than my share of music in many forms – vinyl records, cassette tapes, CDs and, now, digital downloads. I have so much music that I can no longer name everything that’s in my collection. But I know what I’ve been listening to, and most of it was produced in the last century. In this, I’m not alone.

“The new-music market is actually shrinking. All the growth in the market is coming from old songs,” Ted Gioia writes in the January 23 issue of “The Atlantic.” In fact, he states, “old songs now represent 70% of the U.S. music market.” I’m not surprised.

As we age, we become musical curmudgeons, many times finding comfort only in those songs that we grew up with. They bring back memories: happy, sad, bittersweet. This is nothing new: Each generation seems to hate the music produced by the ones succeeding it. But it worries me that people may not be seeking out new music. Because they’re not really listening.

It has long been my contention that since the mp3 format became the overwhelming choice for delivering recorded songs, music has become, for many people, merely background noise. We play it while we jog or work out at the gym. We have it chugging away thorough earbuds while we write book reports or play video games. We play it while we are at work. We play it when we go to bed, oftentimes falling asleep one or two tracks into a 12-track album. But when we wake, can we remember what we heard?

In the 1950s, the worst slur that could be hurled at any musician was that he produced “elevator music.” The term evolved from the Muzak brand of recorded music supplied to department stores, music that was often played in elevators or over the speakers in the ceilings. The tunes were often bland, generic arrangements of popular songs, arrangements designed to blend seamlessly into ubiquitous thrum of everyday life. Our current mp3 delivery systems provide today’s elevator music.

Even worse, an entire generation has grown up listening to compressed music on earbuds. It’s music that in many cases has been “leveled” so that there are no dramatic, distracting changes to volume during the track. Subtleties are lost; emotional ebb and flow is lost. The trend is reflected even in live music performances by rock bands. Nuances do not exist. Loud equals “exciting.” Our ears rings after the show. And over time, we become accustomed to the drone of music we don’t really hear.

I have a favor to ask of you: No matter your age, pay attention to the music assaulting your auditory nerves through those earbuds. Even better, take out the buds. Listen through honest-to-God stereo speakers. Let the music travel a few feet before it hits your ears. Savor it.

And seek out new music. To be sure, you’ll hate a lot of it. But there are some really great artists populating the indie radio stations that, for the most part, broadcast only on the internet. Don’t keep your car radio tuned to that oldies station.

Push all the buttons! Get off on all the floors!

Don’t get stuck in the elevator.