A Glimpse into Musical Tastes of Days Past

It is funny to get a glimpse of what you were like mentally in the past. Sometimes you get those insights from reading old journal or blog entries, sometimes you get it from looking through papers and tests you wrote in school or flipping through sketchbooks or notepads from your youth, and I've done all those things.

But I never thought an online music service would also provide me with that same kind of image.

You see, I took a break from Launchcast/Yahoo! Music for almost 2 years, and in coming back to the service over the last few weeks, well, I discovered something. I had some weird taste in music back in 2002-5.

For instance, if you would have asked me today about, say, Brazilian music from the 1960's and 1970's, well, I would say it was ok and all, but not something I would actively seek out, nor would I want every fourth song to be that. Yes, I like Astud Gilberto, I admit it, but wow... Tropicalia and Bossa Nova and MPB- Oh my! And of course, that net also pulls in a lot of other fish from the Latin/Spanish-language music community onto the boat with it. It isn't a bad catch mind you, and it is my fault as I had those setting up a little too high back when the algorithm was different.

And do I have to hear a Bread song every time I listen to my station. Yes, I know I can banish the band from my station entirely, but I don't mind hearing them every once in a while, but EVERY TIME I listen to my station. That's too much. And ditto for the Black Eyed Peas. Just because I liked the stuff before Fergie doesn't mean that I've been drinking the koolaid these past few years.

And when did I ever like Prince, Suzanne Vega, Tangerine Dream and Jill Sobule that much? I don't remember rating a lot of his stuff... but apparently I did. In ten thousand ratings, I am sure that a few can get lost, but wow... to lose track of more than a few artists' catalogs that one has evaluated and given preferences to is sort of ridiculous.

I know that if I had continued to listen to my station, ratings would have slowly shifted with the times so I wouldn't be left with something so embarrassing now.

Listening to your old Launchcast station now is sort of like listening to a mix tape you made for yourself many years ago. Yes, you still enjoy most of the songs, but you've moved on and they no longer hold the same magic for you that they once did. It is going to be a long and hard rehabilitation for my station I guess. Then again, if I had left a well-trimmed bush for a couple of years, it would also probably be a little gnarly upon returning to it as well. And like a bush, all it needs to be respectable again is just a few good snips.

Tags: launchcast, psychology, yahoo music, prince, suzanne vega, tangerine dream, jill sobule, bonsai, mix tape, bread, tropicalia, mpb, bossa nova, black eyed peas, fergie