We Don’t Listen To Music Anymore

Yet we hear it more than ever

holding a vinyl record with both hands, a woman lies down on a comfortable armchair in the midst of space, surrounded by stars in the distance, two speakers floating nearby — by DALL·E

Background Music

Generally, I write each of these articles with music in the background. One of the inconveniences of being a musician is that the more you work on music, the less music you can listen to. Indeed, a couple of years ago, I sat down to reflect on something that had been preying on my mind for some time: I didn’t listen to much music. Today, I wonder if most of us ever listen to music anymore. We certainly hear it, but do we listen to it?

The Walkman

I am aware I rarely sit to enjoy a record. I am always doing something else. The advent of the Walkman in 1979 was a tremendous shift in the history of how we consume music. It is hard to imagine a time when we couldn’t play songs while walking down the street, but it isn’t that long ago. I could ask my dad what that was like. He was almost an adult when the first Walkman appeared in Japan, never mind the poorer end of Europe! I imagine a reality in which you would lie in bed listening to your newly acquired vinyl while reading the lyrics and admiring the artwork. Perhaps you would call your friends over if you had a record player, and you would talk about the music and words that poured out of the speakers along with the crackling of the dust and wear and tear.