In the mid-nineties, I discovered Crowded House. Right off the bat, I fell in love with them. Their tunes were catchy, their lyrics light and all in all, I was hooked. It was back in the days when if you wanted music you had three options;
1) Buy the tape;
2) Buy the CD;
3) Wait for a song to come on radio and tape it on your cassette player, all the while hoping that the stupid DJ didn't interrupt the song.
I was fortunate enough to be earning a wage at that point so I opted for the expensive choice and bought their CD.
It was absolutely fantastic and for a week I was in seventh heaven. Crowded House and I were on to a good thing. However, as quickly as it had started, my love affair with the band died. To this day I hate the lyrics, 'There's a small boat made of china, going nowhere on the mantle piece...' blah blah... Who cares whether you always take the weather with you? Certainly not me!
I think I gave the CD away and to this day believe that my life is all the richer for having done so.
Now at about the same time, a friend of mine was raging on about a band called Pink Floyd. I had no idea who these fellows were. So off I went to my local music store, found the CD and asked the sales guy to let me listen to it. I think he was a Satanist. He wore docs and had pierced a heck of a lot of his face. His lip, tongue, eyebrows and ears were all studded with a lot of earrings, and I do mean a lot. He also sported an assortment of tattoos. Over and above this, he had a very big pentagram on his black t-shirt. For all of this he was soft spoken and friendly. I had no idea that Satanists were so polite.
In any event, I remember him nodding his approval at my choice and naturally I felt apprehensive. However, it's not every day that one get's to impress a devil worshiper and so I let him play it for me.
What was strange was that I remember not really enjoying the music but, and it is a very big BUT, I thought that it had potential. So completely out of a desire to impress the servant of the dark lord I bought the album.
Some fifteen years later, I still listen to the, 'Division Bell' and I swear that as the years go by, my appreciation for the music grows. Subsequent to this, I have used the exact same technique to purchase all of my music. If I love it, I will not buy it. Instead I will wait for radio to kill it for me. But... if I don't really like it, yet get the feeling that it may grow on me, I buy it without a second thought.
This strategy has served me very well. I am happy to say that the music collection I own, although clearly not everyone's cup of tea is, in my opinion, second to none. I listen to all of my music on a regular basis and as the years go by, I develop a deeper appreciation for it.
So what is the point?
I think the point is that sometimes things and people just need to be given time to grow on you. We are all finite beings and can expect to die. Our desire for instant and lasting gratification is completely understandable. I mean, if I only have seventy years to live, well then let the good times roll and let them roll quickly please.
But what if we don't have to always choose that which has the greatest appeal? What if, like my music collection, we allow people who don't immediately please, but who have potential to grow on us, into our lives? What if we exchanged instant gratification for lasting and increasing contentment?
Now I am not blind to the fact that the relationship between me and my music collection and relationships between two or more humans are not in the same ball park. Heck, it's not even the same game. But what I'm suggesting is using a somewhat variant mental process to give those we normally wouldn't, a chance to build a relationships with us.
Who knows, maybe the album that goes platinum is waiting for you, dressed in docs and sporting a large pentagram on a black t-shirt...
1) Buy the tape;
2) Buy the CD;
3) Wait for a song to come on radio and tape it on your cassette player, all the while hoping that the stupid DJ didn't interrupt the song.
I was fortunate enough to be earning a wage at that point so I opted for the expensive choice and bought their CD.
It was absolutely fantastic and for a week I was in seventh heaven. Crowded House and I were on to a good thing. However, as quickly as it had started, my love affair with the band died. To this day I hate the lyrics, 'There's a small boat made of china, going nowhere on the mantle piece...' blah blah... Who cares whether you always take the weather with you? Certainly not me!
I think I gave the CD away and to this day believe that my life is all the richer for having done so.
Now at about the same time, a friend of mine was raging on about a band called Pink Floyd. I had no idea who these fellows were. So off I went to my local music store, found the CD and asked the sales guy to let me listen to it. I think he was a Satanist. He wore docs and had pierced a heck of a lot of his face. His lip, tongue, eyebrows and ears were all studded with a lot of earrings, and I do mean a lot. He also sported an assortment of tattoos. Over and above this, he had a very big pentagram on his black t-shirt. For all of this he was soft spoken and friendly. I had no idea that Satanists were so polite.
In any event, I remember him nodding his approval at my choice and naturally I felt apprehensive. However, it's not every day that one get's to impress a devil worshiper and so I let him play it for me.
What was strange was that I remember not really enjoying the music but, and it is a very big BUT, I thought that it had potential. So completely out of a desire to impress the servant of the dark lord I bought the album.
Some fifteen years later, I still listen to the, 'Division Bell' and I swear that as the years go by, my appreciation for the music grows. Subsequent to this, I have used the exact same technique to purchase all of my music. If I love it, I will not buy it. Instead I will wait for radio to kill it for me. But... if I don't really like it, yet get the feeling that it may grow on me, I buy it without a second thought.
This strategy has served me very well. I am happy to say that the music collection I own, although clearly not everyone's cup of tea is, in my opinion, second to none. I listen to all of my music on a regular basis and as the years go by, I develop a deeper appreciation for it.
So what is the point?
I think the point is that sometimes things and people just need to be given time to grow on you. We are all finite beings and can expect to die. Our desire for instant and lasting gratification is completely understandable. I mean, if I only have seventy years to live, well then let the good times roll and let them roll quickly please.
But what if we don't have to always choose that which has the greatest appeal? What if, like my music collection, we allow people who don't immediately please, but who have potential to grow on us, into our lives? What if we exchanged instant gratification for lasting and increasing contentment?
Now I am not blind to the fact that the relationship between me and my music collection and relationships between two or more humans are not in the same ball park. Heck, it's not even the same game. But what I'm suggesting is using a somewhat variant mental process to give those we normally wouldn't, a chance to build a relationships with us.
Who knows, maybe the album that goes platinum is waiting for you, dressed in docs and sporting a large pentagram on a black t-shirt...
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