how important is it to you?

[Six String]

It's a rare day when I don't play any music and that is usually because I have no control over the situation.
I pick out music to play practically every day. I feel like there isn't enough time in the day to hear everything I want to hear that day.

In those rare times when I don't have music I don't go crazy and it's very refreshing to return to music when I've had a break, either by my choice or someone else's.

In 1975 I had something called optic neuritis which caused me to be legally blind for about a month or so.
I could see colors and shapes but I couldn't even read the biggest letter on the eye chart. I was unable to work or do much of anything for myself but I did listen to music and play my guitar a lot. Even though I wasn't completely blind I would say based on my expierence I would prefer to be blind than deaf. Maybe I'd have to be partially deaf for a month to see how it went before I was completely sure but considering the situation I felt much happier still having my music and having someone take me out to a meal and telling me what was available to eat.

[doctorlouie]

The one thing I do know is that if I spend a few days at my parents and don't have a chance to listen to music that I have chosen then I go a little nuts and my patience wears thin.

That may say a lot about how I get wound up at my parents (God love 'em), rather than my love of music per se, but the music, coupled with the time out, restores me somehow.

[Goat Boy]

I've often thought about posting this question John, but I thought the answer I would give would be so long and take so much emotional effort I wouldn't bother.

But seeing as you are asking -

Music is everything to me. I would sacrifice everything material in my entire life if I had to to keep my music - save for the humans in my life of course.

My greatest fear in life is losing my hearing. It sounds grandiose, but I think I would rather die than not be able to listen to it anymore. I turn to music at times of great happiness, great sadness, and tepid inbetween-ness. It's my constant and oldest friend.

There isn't a day goes by when I don't listen to music. In the car if I'm driving to work, if I'm working late I play it in the office, and in bed at night. One of the reasons I love walking is I can put on my Ipod and spend hours doing a half walk half dance kind of thing with hand gesticulations. I look round to see if anyone is there and then sing along too.

I can't remember the last time I had no access to music because I avoid those situations if I can.

I need music all the time. The greatest signal to me that my ex and I were incompatible was his distaste for music - and I would be talking about music and he would be shrugging. On our last holiday he came out the shower and said 'what the fuck is this?' It was Melody Am. If you don't like 'Poor Leno' then you have no heart, I thought, and I was right.

Wonderful post, Minnie!

[Moleskin]

The one thing I do know is that if I spend a few days at my parents and don't have a chance to listen to music that I have chosen then I go a little nuts and my patience wears thin.

That may say a lot about how I get wound up at my parents (God love 'em), rather than my love of music per se, but the music, coupled with the time out, restores me somehow.

I've made my parents a bunch of CDRs of stuff that I like and that they have come round to. A lot of it is the music from when I was growing up. So we never have to be without good music when we go to stay!

[king feeb]

1. Do you listen to something you've chosen every day?
Yes, almost always. If I'm not listening to it, I may be creating it.

2. Have you ever (in your adult life) been in a place where you didn't have access to your favourite music for a while? how was it?
Yes. On vacation a couple of times. It didn't bother me much, really, because I knew it was a temporary situation. I also don't mind periods of silence either. Silence is underrated- I'd rather have it than crappy music blaring away in the background.

3. Do you ever feel you need music? before you're going out, for example, or when you're feeling low.
Not in that way. I don't feel that I need music, and I suspect that's good. After all, junkies have a love/hate relationship with their heroin because they need it. I don't want to feel that way about music.

[Leg of lamb]

1. Do you listen to something you've chosen every day?

Used to be a definite yes but it's unpredictable now. Well, I suppose I do, in that I always go to sleep listening to something. But that really feels more like sucking my thumb or something than listening. Times were that I'd almost always be on the lookout to put something on, whereas these days I'm quite likely to favour silence.

2. Have you ever (in your adult life) been in a place where you didn't have access to your favourite music for a while? how was it?

This year, January to May, in America. I got a new computer over Christmas and forgot to upload my iTunes library, leaving me with about seven albums to listen to. At first I felt the usual anxieties but now I'm glad of it - it's weaned me off something resembling a dependency. I've learned to think and function without the constant patter of my tunes in the background, and I can safely say that I'm reading more and watching more films. Coming back for summer, it's been nice to have music at my disposal again. But my appetite has diminished, something I feel ambivalent about - there are the advantages I've described but at the same time it's always sad to see an old passion on the wane. And music was really a consuming passion for quite a while.

3. Do you ever feel you need music? before you're going out, for example, or when you're feeling low.

There are times, usually times of heartbreak, when I need to listen to music. I suppose I'd manage in a world where music had never existed - obviously I would - but it would be very tough to not have that recourse now.

And of course, when I'm out at a club or whatever, it would be very strange to have no music.

[Jeff K]

1. Do you listen to something you've chosen every day?

Not always chosen as I listen to the radio often too. Sometimes I like others picking out the music for me. There isn't a single day that goes by when I don't listen to music in some format or another.

2. Have you ever (in your adult life) been in a place where you didn't have access to your favourite music for a while? how was it?

Other than the occasional vacation, no, not really. Even if I am without if for awhile, I'll make up for it as soon as I can. In fact, when I do travel I'll pack a few of my favorite CD's along with my iPod.

3. Do you ever feel you need music? before you're going out, for example, or when you're feeling low.

At first I was going to say no, I don't need it. But then I think about how much I listen to music without really realizing it. Even if I'm not studying it or geeking out to it, I'm still listening to it. It's always there for me.

Great thread, John, and some terrific replies so far. Especially Minnie's.

[Guy E]

This thread has got me thinking about my own personal journey from sitting and listening to music, just looking at the speakers, to the interactive geekdom I now inhabit.

It started with the purchase of my first cassette deck (in '77 I think). That opened many possibilities with mixed tapes, adding non-lp tracks, etc. and sharing music with family and friends. That went on for a long time and set the tone for my habit of getting all the details just right (to the point of being completely anal about it). Deejaying at Maxwell's and to a lesser degree writing for the NY Rocker changed my outlook; I became a missionary! Deejaying for a room full of potential dancers certainly opened my ears to music I'd previously had little interest in and filling the floor was a weekly challenge that I rose to with aplomb, for a few years anyway.

I also felt an obligation to record some of the shows there, which was a pain in the ass, but I did it on occasion... unplugging my cassette deck from home and carting it over to the club. In retrospect I wish I'd done that a whole lot more.

Minidisks were the first step, but the PC disc-burning boom really hit me hard. I love having precise editing and mixing skills even though I just tinker... I'm not a musician in any capacity. I didn't get the dowloading bug, but I do fart around with my iPod a hell of a lot.

And in the process, plain old listening has taken something of a back seat to all of this hobby (work) stuff. I mean, I love it all, but I find that I don't sit and listen - just staring at the speakers - anywhere near as often as I did when I was a teenager or young adult.

I gotta start carving out more time for that.

[The Write Profile]

Good idea for a thread, shame I haven't got much time to type out a reply now- I'll do so when I get home to the flat tomorrow evening.

1. Do you listen to something you've chosen every day?

Almost every day, but I'm often surprised how I can go two or three days without deliberately listening to music and not realise it. That might sound strange, but think how saturated we are with music these days- piping through supermarkets, playing over PA systems, on stereo-systems at cafes, at pubs and clubs, you name it- that's even before turning on the radio or television. Now, in a lot of cases, I might not like the music being played (though I always like it when I hear a song I enjoy "by chance", as it were), but you're forever surrounded by it, for sure.

Though I admit I think three days is probably my maximum, after that I feel like I need to take control of what IU hear and that often results in just playing album after album for hours on end. I guess I get terribly extreme withdrawal systems.

2. Have you ever (in your adult life) been in a place where you didn't have access to your favourite music for a while? how was it?

What Jeff said rings true for me. I must say though, I often bring way too much music- I remember I once packed something close to 500 albums (all in those CD pouches) for a three day trip. Madness, really- but my reasoning was I might not be able to find the right thing to listen to. I can get quite particular about it. In fact, it happened just yesterday, I had bought a whole bunch of music down but not the pouch which featured the Replacements' Let it Be. I'd just seen the film Adventureland and really wanted to hear that record (especially "Unsatisfied"), as it featured pretty prominently in the film. Instead I played bits of Lou Reed's Transformer instead, which also was on the film's soundtrack.

The couple of times I didn't bring music I at least had reading material- a novel of some sort. If I didn't have either, I would probably be forced to rectify that situation as soon as I had the chance. Which is really, really stupid, objectively, but there you go.

3. Do you ever feel you need music? before you're going out, for example, or when you're feeling low.

If I'm about to catch up with friends for a night on the town then I often feel like I need to play music to either psyche myself, or alternatively, compose myself. If I'm feeling pretty tired or stressed, I've often used music as therapy (of a sort), too, in the sense that it at least focuses me. I can't really imagine a world without music. I'm pretty sure I would hate it

As for the "deaf or blind" conundrum, that's a toughie- I'm a visual person to some degree, which explains my adoration of cinema. Indeed, I've occasionally wondered whether on some level I value cinema- or at least great cinema- more, but love how easy music is to enjoy, even when it's difficult (I hope that makes sense).
That said, I wonder whether it would be easier to communicate with someone if you're blind rather than deaf because at least you'd be more likely to find a common way of speaking- there are people who know sign language, sure, but is it tougher to learn (or re-learn) than general conversation. It's an interesting conundrum.

Actually, it's one of the great fears, short of losing my memory, that I could become either deaf or blind. The very concept terrifies me, on some level.

One final note- I've got this theory the iPod (and other portable listening devices), on some level has made music seem more ubiquitous (count the number of people on the street- especially people my age and younger- who wear them on the street. I reckon it would be at least 60 per cent or more at any given time), but more personal perhaps (you call the shots- even on random, it's taken from your selection). Maybe this is hardly a new phenomenon- the walkman was "born" more than 30 years ago, after all- but the iPod seems to have made an impact greater than even those in terms of sales alone, not to mention branding.

[The Modernist]

1. Do you listen to something you've chosen every day?

No. I remember we had a similar discussion a few years ago and people were saying things like 'I need to hear music all the time', I really don't feel that way. Sometimes I prefer silence.

2. Have you ever (in your adult life) been in a place where you didn't have access to your favourite music for a while? how was it?

With mp3 players that situation has now disappeared hasn't it? But certainly in the past it was quite commonplace particularly when I was travelling. I remember hearing quite ordinary things and they sounded fantastic simply because I'd gone a month or whatever without hearing any pop music at all.

3. Do you ever feel you need music? before you're going out, for example, or when you're feeling low.

Yes sometimes, although when I'm depressed I actually go off music a bit.
I think overall music is more important to me than it is to most people, but at the same time I can probably do without it for longer than many people on this board.

[yomptepi]

[quote="Sir John Coan"]
1. Do you listen to something you've chosen every day?

Yes, but not a great deal. I burn off cds to play in the van, and I play the records I get sent. I try out new stuff, but I do enjoy silence a lot more these days.

2. Have you ever (in your adult life) been in a place where you didn't have access to your favourite music for a while? how was it?

Only whilst on holiday. I don't have an ipod or a ny portable music player, as I don'r get on with headphones. So when I am away, I hear very little music.

3. Do you ever feel you need music? before you're going out, for example, or when you're feeling low.

Absolutely. Music has always puncyuated the major events in my life, and if something big happens, I nearly always play a song to celebrate.

The big change in my music listening habits has been my inability to stay awake. Instead of getting comfortable and enjoying an album, now I put it on, and doze off almost immediately. I am the same with films. So I tend to play stuff on the computer whilst I am faffing about, or waiting until I am out driving to play the things I really want to hear.

[Bungo the Mungo]

I remember hearing quite ordinary things and they sounded fantastic simply because I'd gone a month or whatever without hearing any pop music at all.

Yes! It's interesting how that works, it's a bit like sex

The big change in my music listening habits has been my inability to stay awake. Instead of getting comfortable and enjoying an album, now I put it on, and doze off almost immediately. I am the same with films.

This rings very true, too. Especially with films.

[This Was]

1. Do you listen to something you've chosen every day?
Yes.

2. Have you ever (in your adult life) been in a place where you didn't have access to your favourite music for a while? how was it?
Yes, when traveling. I usually had other things to occupy me.

The longest period I was away was a year, and although I had a handful of cassettes with me, I did miss music then. In contrast to what other people have said, when I came back and could listen to my collection, yes, there was some stuff that sounded great, but there was a larger proportion which sounded completely rubbish and I took a lot of things to the 2nd hand shop or gave them away to friends in the few months after that.

3. Do you ever feel you need music? before you're going out, for example, or when you're feeling low.
Sometimes, yes, though that would probably have been a stronger "yes" a few years ago. I tend not to want to listen to music if I'm depressed though.

[sensi]

1. Do you listen to something you've chosen every day?

I don't choose stuff...I just fancy listening to it...sometimes I just feel the need to hear something and I just have to put it on...I have to listen when I want to...I can't do forced listening

2. Have you ever (in your adult life) been in a place where you didn't have access to your favourite music for a while? how was it?

Not since I got my ipod...the last two weeks have been bad because I never took my ipod to Manchester and I really bloody needed it to soothe me

3. Do you ever feel you need music? before you're going out, for example, or when you're feeling low.

I always feel I need music...it's the one thing I crave and need...if my GP were to tell me I was going deaf I would feel bereft

[Leg of lamb]

I may periodically chime in away from the main questions because the diminishment of music has really been one of the main stories in my life over the last year. I'm short of time right now but here's one quite important factor...

The threat of tinnitus. For several years I resisted getting an iPod because I knew I'd develop a dependency - I'm a bit awkward and dreamy at the best of times, so the prospect of having on tap one of the things that makes me awkward and dreamy, at times when I should be concentrating on walking and generally navigating through the world, was not only worryingly intense but a safety hazard. I really thought I might get run over.

For my 21st birthday my family got me an iPod... Nano, I think - one of the smaller ones, anyway. At that point I couldn't very well reject the temptation, so I started listening on it and, sure enough, I was soon using it for every trip outside the house. This wasn't a bad thing at all: indeed, I began to enjoy mundane journeys on foot because I had the pleasure of setting them to music.

Moving to New York a year ago, I was suddenly bombarded with a consistent degree of noise unlike anything I'd had before, certainly on a regular basis. The subway was the most troubling thing - the sheer amount of whistling, rattling, screeching and general cacophany beggars belief if you stop to think about it. And of course, to drown that out I was turning my music up, which at least doubles the stress on your eardrums. Quite quickly I found myself tossing and turning in bed, distracted by a high pitched buzzing that, while quite low level, boded badly.

As with most people, and seemingly everyone here, I'm terrified of sensory depredation, and tinnitus represented a step in that direction. So I made a hasty decision to dispose of my iPod, at least while I was in New York, and fortunately the buzzing subsided. After that intervention on health grounds, I began to think about the way music cuts you off from the world that you're moving in, and I didn't like the conclusions. I've not picked up the iPod since.

The more complex story has been how I've come to phase music out of my homelife, but this was probably a catalyst of sorts. I think I'll come back and talk some more, if people don't mind the indulgence!

[never/ever]

My relationship with music is a bit ambivalent- it surrounds me every day as I make my living out of it. Even though I love the job it's hard work too and at times when business has been booming I feel like switching off from all music for a while...

But at other times music has been my saviour, my method of destressing, my daily wake-up call, my stop/revive/survive, my sanity and my lover. It's pulled me out of the deepest holes, out of shit and mud and transported me to parts unknow, heaven, space and beyond. Sometimes a well-chosen song turns me around and make me forget my worries or does exactly draw the tears out of me. No movie has ever done that. Music has sharpened my senses, educated me and showed me different cultures in this wonderful world. Music has connected me to so many great people all over the world. It's like sex without the tristesse afterwards, a party without having to clean up the dishes. So it is very important to me.

[Insouciant Western People]

The threat of tinnitus!

Yeah, I don't use headphones at all because of it, and I don't have an iPod nor do I want one. Like most of us, few things terrify me more than losing my hearing. I don't go to many gigs now for the same reason, and the gigs I do get to tend to be more folky or acoustic stuff, rather than loud thrashy guitars and whatnot. I've seen Mogwai, Motorhead and MBV before and I wouldn't care to subject my ears to them again.

I've had blockages of wax on and off in my right ear for about two months or more, and for the last four weeks it's been completely blocked up, solid. It's like it being constantly underwater. I've tried using warm almond oil to soften it up and that hasn't shifted it, and I've been to the doctor twice and they advised me to try Otex and Earex, which I've used for two weeks and still no joy.

It's REALLY fucking me off, as it's like being almost completely deaf in one ear, but I also have really bad tinnitus in it too which never goes away. When I get home on monday I'm goingg to make an appointment to go and get it looked at again, and maybe get it syringed as a last resort, because I can't go on with this. On top of everything else it's just one more thing driving me up the fecking walls.

[The Prof]

Music's alright. It has it's place.

[Harry Webster]

[quote="Sir John Coan"]

1. Do you listen to something you've chosen every day?

Yes Of course. For example yesterday I chose to listen to Simon Bates on Capital Gold. He played "Kids in America" by Kim Wilde which was an excellent choice.

2. Have you ever (in your adult life) been in a place where you didn't have access to your favourite music for a while? how was it?

Many times. For example in the sauna, in the swimming pool, queueing up for the smorgasbord at the Oslo Hilton in 1978, on the football pitch, in the dentists chair, on the cable car to Ben Nevis. I am sure there are many other ocassions but it's difficult to recall everything you know.

3. Do you ever feel you need music? before you're going out, for example, or when you're feeling low.

I find Dr Hook to be perfect for all these moods and more!