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Post by mtm4319 on Jan 16, 2012 5:06:01 GMT -4
Now this is a spontaneous conception... It has struck me that, overall, my decision to dive headlong into music chart enthusiasm in 1997 may have been one of the worst I've ever made. Not that I haven't enjoyed it -- it has expanded my musical horizons exponentially and allowed me to meet several of you fine people -- but I just think about all the time spent on this and wonder, what else could I have done with my life? I mean, I'm talking literally thousands of hours here. Making over 500 weekly personal charts, 10 year-end charts (going on 11) and a decade-end chart, starting and moderating Pulse for several years, keeping up the Pulse 100 for a few years, making over 16,000 posts between there and here... I have spent a hell of a lot of my life on this. And yet it's not even something I share with my friends. For fear of it being received as too weird of a hobby. They say it takes 10,000 hours to become a master of a given field. 20 hours a week for approximately 10 years. I'd be well on my way at this point, if not approaching the 10,000-hour mark. It was 11 years and 6 months ago that I first registered on the R&R forums. What could I have done in that time? Become a master of web design or computer engineering? Gotten my doctorate? Made my first million? Instead, I'm writing this post for maybe 5 people while Gotye's "Somebody That I Used To Know" plays on my Grooveshark playlist. I know that it's rapidly rising within the top 20 on Mediabase's Alternative chart. But who really cares? And is knowing that fact really worth it? |
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Post by crash46 on Jan 30, 2012 12:56:13 GMT -4
I've actually been thinking about how to reply to this for a couple days now, since it really is some kinda conception. Can't really put it all together like I normally could, though. But first and foremost, there's a whole lot worse one could do with his or her time besides enjoying life. I started making charts midway through 2000. I consider 2001 the most important year of music in my lifetime. I don't think it's a coincidence that these two events took place around the same time. Making music charts defined my music interests and set me upon my ways, and if there's anything I regret about it, it's that I stopped keeping track a couple years ago. I think of it as like I started my 'timeline' 11 years before Facebook made it hip to do that type of thing. Finally, posting in places like these gets my thoughts in order so that I'm more prepared for real-world encounters. So it doesn't bother me at all that only 5 people are reading. But I don't disagree with a single word you said. Just the overlying cynicism of it all.  |
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Post by halo19 on Feb 15, 2012 1:03:14 GMT -4
smh & lol at the online response to the Bon Iver win for Best New Artist. (& when are they going to change it to breakthrough artist?)
Not like he/they (depending on if you call Justin Vernon BI or not) weren't featured twice on an album that got a couple of awards from a fairly prominent rapper.
Some indie snobs I know are bugged at this, but by this point, I'm rather numb to it. Usually people don't like something until it's accepted into certain cool and trendy circles anyway (something I used to be halfway guilty of, but I no longer make the mistake).
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Post by mtm4319 on Feb 23, 2012 0:24:56 GMT -4
I've actually been thinking about how to reply to this for a couple days now, since it really is some kinda conception. Can't really put it all together like I normally could, though. But first and foremost, there's a whole lot worse one could do with his or her time besides enjoying life. I started making charts midway through 2000. I consider 2001 the most important year of music in my lifetime. I don't think it's a coincidence that these two events took place around the same time. Making music charts defined my music interests and set me upon my ways, and if there's anything I regret about it, it's that I stopped keeping track a couple years ago. I think of it as like I started my 'timeline' 11 years before Facebook made it hip to do that type of thing. Finally, posting in places like these gets my thoughts in order so that I'm more prepared for real-world encounters. So it doesn't bother me at all that only 5 people are reading. But I don't disagree with a single word you said. Just the overlying cynicism of it all. I was in the middle of a week-long string of s***ty days when I posted that. Coming back now, I don't really disagree with what I wrote, but I think I was laying it on too thick. I'm glad I didn't get blasted by anyone. |
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Post by halo19 on Feb 23, 2012 1:45:12 GMT -4
I think it's easy sometimes to agree. I've always shamelessly enjoyed it on one hand, yet I'm well aware of all of that.
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Post by crash46 on Feb 24, 2012 15:48:12 GMT -4
I just decided out of the blue to pull out my tapes of 89x's top 89 of 2000, and man, this is awesome. Starting from the beginning:
89. At the Drive-In - "One-Armed Scissor"
88. SR-71 - "Right Now"
87. Long Beach Dub All-Stars - "Saw Red"
86. Queens of the Stone Age - "The Lost Art of Keeping a Secret"
85. Korn - "Somebody, Someone"
84. Godsmack - "Bad Religion"
83. Coldplay - "Yellow"
82. Everlast (featuring Santana) - Put Your Lights On
81. Everclear - "When It All Goes Wrong Again"
80. Strait Up (featuring Lajon) - "Angel's Son"
79. Marilyn Manson - "Disposable Teens"
78. P.O.D. - Southtown
That was just one side of the tape. Now I'll have to find the others. I've heard maybe four of these songs so far over the past 5 years without playing it myself: Godsmack (still a regular gold), ATDI (on an all-request hour), and Everlast and Coldplay (on Triple-A), but I still remember all of them very distinctly, except P.O.D.
This is exactly why I record these things.
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Post by Pipa on Feb 28, 2012 10:03:38 GMT -4
I've actually been thinking about how to reply to this for a couple days now, since it really is some kinda conception. Can't really put it all together like I normally could, though. But first and foremost, there's a whole lot worse one could do with his or her time besides enjoying life. I started making charts midway through 2000. I consider 2001 the most important year of music in my lifetime. I don't think it's a coincidence that these two events took place around the same time. Making music charts defined my music interests and set me upon my ways, and if there's anything I regret about it, it's that I stopped keeping track a couple years ago. I think of it as like I started my 'timeline' 11 years before Facebook made it hip to do that type of thing. Finally, posting in places like these gets my thoughts in order so that I'm more prepared for real-world encounters. So it doesn't bother me at all that only 5 people are reading. But I don't disagree with a single word you said. Just the overlying cynicism of it all. I was in the middle of a week-long string of s***ty days when I posted that. Coming back now, I don't really disagree with what I wrote, but I think I was laying it on too thick. I'm glad I didn't get blasted by anyone. This is probably something you never thought of, but could you imagine what would've happened if you bought your own domain, hosted your own forum and put up your own ads? Hell, you'd probably pay for your tuition. |
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Post by blahblahblah on Feb 29, 2012 0:45:11 GMT -4
Become a master of web design or computer engineering? I was wondering if that sentence was supposed to be about me.  On a much lighter note, while I have stopped compiling my own charts for a few years, it's from meeting you guys from the chart music boards that I was able to land a job and move south of the border to New York in 2 weeks. |
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Post by mtm4319 on Mar 2, 2012 21:01:00 GMT -4
Become a master of web design or computer engineering? I was wondering if that sentence was supposed to be about me. On a much lighter note, while I have stopped compiling my own charts for a few years, it's from meeting you guys from the chart music boards that I was able to land a job and move south of the border to New York in 2 weeks. Umm... actually no, haha. They were just things that I could have theoretically delved into if I had applied myself more during college. Moving to New York? That's awesome! Who was it that played a part in your new job? I don't know of anyone (from SMB, at least) that lives in the NYC area. |
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Post by blahblahblah on Mar 3, 2012 14:01:05 GMT -4
Moving to New York? That's awesome! Who was it that played a part in your new job? I don't know of anyone (from SMB, at least) that lives in the NYC area. I was referred by Chris (Adonis/astericky from Pulse) for a job at the New York Times. I'm mad that because of the move, I had to sell my Foster the People concert ticket to my friend, and I've already missed them 3 times! They have 3 shows in NYC scheduled and they're all sold out! :mad face: |
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Post by halo19 on May 15, 2012 23:51:55 GMT -4
Referring back to the initial thread post, I know that I don't consider my full-blown obsession with hearing music the most wise thing, but frankly, if it wasn't that I'd get obsessed with something else, knowing myself.
Sometimes I feel like deactivating my accounts on various sites, since these days I feel like my use for most of them has peaked already. I'd probably get out more quick if I avoided all of these places, and that's just an easy thing to remember. Years ago, I would have thought of doing this with little hesitation, but I don't even talk with people much on the same sites now as a few years ago, so I doubt it's really much of a loss.
I probably won't do that with this site and Pulse, but I find that usually I only really need to browse both once a week at most anymore.
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Post by Pipa on Aug 26, 2012 11:46:51 GMT -4
Joe (The Man) of all people made a comeback on Pulse today. Sadly, none of his posts are nearly as moronic or nonsensical this time around.
^ Why did I post that in the birthday thread? It wasn't his birthday.
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Post by Pipa on Sept 9, 2012 22:27:05 GMT -4
If anyone cares, I've downloaded each Alternative song to hit the top 10 since 1988. Problem is it's an insane amount of files and I don't have nearly the upload speed to do anything with it. But it's there.
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Post by halo19 on Dec 21, 2012 12:06:37 GMT -4
sometimes hearing Rihanna makes me feel prematurely old. You see, she's been on the radio every year she's been around with every song she's made and even the beginning of "Pon de Replay"-s chart run coincides basically with the end of high school for me, meaning last time she didn't have much of anything was during then.
I looked at the official pop chart stats and noticed how she was basically on the chart every week until "Rehab" fell off the charts. (no, not "basically" - literally! 193 weeks at that! during her first 13 entries.) Hell, if the Chris Brown controversy hadn't happened, maybe there would have been less of a "dry spell" circa 2009 (well, for her anyway - 6 months away even as a featured artist and a couple more months as a primary artist).
actually, there was kind of another break after the Rated R singles charted.. though it was much shorter because she'd release a new album sooner. However, that was just 2 months long.
There were only 4 weeks between the recurrent removal of "Where Have You Been" and the debut of "Diamonds."
I've ignored releases at the time because of not keeping up with every one of her hits, too.
post-script: being that I'm now 25 and wasn't quite 18 yet when PDR first charted, she's essentially been around on the airwaves for 1/3 of my life.
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Post by crash46 on Dec 27, 2012 23:55:45 GMT -4
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Post by radical347 on Dec 28, 2012 16:54:33 GMT -4
Now this is a spontaneous conception... It has struck me that, overall, my decision to dive headlong into music chart enthusiasm in 1997 may have been one of the worst I've ever made. Not that I haven't enjoyed it -- it has expanded my musical horizons exponentially and allowed me to meet several of you fine people -- but I just think about all the time spent on this and wonder, what else could I have done with my life? I mean, I'm talking literally thousands of hours here. Making over 500 weekly personal charts, 10 year-end charts (going on 11) and a decade-end chart, starting and moderating Pulse for several years, keeping up the Pulse 100 for a few years, making over 16,000 posts between there and here... I have spent a hell of a lot of my life on this. And yet it's not even something I share with my friends. For fear of it being received as too weird of a hobby. They say it takes 10,000 hours to become a master of a given field. 20 hours a week for approximately 10 years. I'd be well on my way at this point, if not approaching the 10,000-hour mark. It was 11 years and 6 months ago that I first registered on the R&R forums. What could I have done in that time? Become a master of web design or computer engineering? Gotten my doctorate? Made my first million? Instead, I'm writing this post for maybe 5 people while Gotye's "Somebody That I Used To Know" plays on my Grooveshark playlist. I know that it's rapidly rising within the top 20 on Mediabase's Alternative chart. But who really cares? And is knowing that fact really worth it? I realize this post is almost a year old, but... d00d. Don't be so hard on yourself. A few things to consider: - Instead of spending all that time doing music stuff, would you have spent all that time doing Engineering or Ph.D.? It's most likely not an either/or.
- As crash46 said there are worse ways to spend 10,000 hours than to enjoy yourself.
- I'd think that if you spent all that time doing something you didn't like and/or care about, then 10,000 hours still wouldn't make you a master.
Finally...why not share your fantastic hobby with others? (I know, I've traditionally been the same way.) There may be some people who think you're weird, but you're allowed to think that they're weird, so it evens out. You're living in a metro famous for music fans, there's got to be many others who think it's cool. Many of your friends probably already would, if you'd make them aware. |
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Post by mtm4319 on Dec 31, 2012 4:52:33 GMT -4
I realize this post is almost a year old, but... d00d. Don't be so hard on yourself. A few things to consider: - Instead of spending all that time doing music stuff, would you have spent all that time doing Engineering or Ph.D.? It's most likely not an either/or.
- As crash46 said there are worse ways to spend 10,000 hours than to enjoy yourself.
- I'd think that if you spent all that time doing something you didn't like and/or care about, then 10,000 hours still wouldn't make you a master.
Finally...why not share your fantastic hobby with others? (I know, I've traditionally been the same way.) There may be some people who think you're weird, but you're allowed to think that they're weird, so it evens out. You're living in a metro famous for music fans, there's got to be many others who think it's cool. Many of your friends probably already would, if you'd make them aware. Wow, old-ass post is old. LOL. Anyway, I don't even know what was going on with me back then, but after going back through my Facebook posts from 2012, I know I was in some huge funk whenever I posted this here because two days after that, I made some melodramatic "Are you there, God" bulls*** post on my Facebook page. It was probably something about a girl. But the good news is I'm generally in a better place now. Not to say that'll never change, because I'm sure it will, but overall, 2012 has made me a happier person. At the very least, it's progress. The s***ty thing about the Internet, especially public forums, is that whatever you put on the Internet will live on in perpetuity even if you delete it later. And it's burned me before because I'm generally less guarded online than an average person. The fact that we use screen names here mitigates that somewhat, but I'm sure if someone really wanted to find out who I am "here", they could figure it out. But getting back to the post itself: interestingly, my favorite breakout artist of 2012, Seattle's own Macklemore, opens his album with a song called "Ten Thousand Hours" (which is decidedly about the Gladwell quote). One of the lyrics states: "The greats weren't great because at birth they could paint, the greats were great because they'd paint a lot." Another way to look at it is, what if I made it to 10,000 hours doing whatever it is I've done here? With some more focus and dedication, the Pulse 100 could have been quite the well known property online. Several years ago when I had big dreams for it, I imagined getting it into a magazine like Spin. And now? Spin Magazine doesn't exist anymore. You can never really tell. But you know, whatever. Maybe it's for the best. I'm not even sure where I'm going with this reply, and none of it even really addresses what you've said, but I think it's because I'm more at peace with how all this has run its course. I'm pretty sure the Pulse (and Pulse 100) ship has sailed for good now, and I haven't come on here nearly as much lately. I'm still doing my weekly charts, but that's pretty much all there is left. I was 16 the first time I discovered the R&R message boards, and I'm 29 now. That's insane to think about. Pretty much everything about my life has changed in the past 12 1/2 years. It's kind of impressive that I'm even around here at all anymore. Anyway, you guys be good. Happy New Year. |
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