music Albums: Listen to it all? Or just select songs?

[OkBuddy 586]

Ever since the advent of iTunes, more and more people have dissed listening to entire albums just to make way for their favorite songs.

I'm one of those people who both like to listen to entire albums and select songs. Only question is, what is your style of listening to music?

[Champion RD92 8,655]

Depends on the album. If I overall enjoy most of the album, I will buy the whole album. If I only like a song or two, I just buy those songs. Lately, I've been buying albums on CD so I can have a physical copy to add to my collection. But I wouldn't buy a whole CD if I only like a couple songs.

[Scootalove 10,685]

For me, it depends on the song that I'm listening to. I don't care much about the genre, if I like the certain artist I will listen to their albums or each song individually.

[TheBronyHeart 2,640]

This really depends on the Album itself. Take for example A pink Floyd or Neutral Milk Hotel Album. Those tell a specific story and not to mention are Godly scores of music. I always listen to the entirety of the albums and in the order they come in. For other bnds which make albums with songs that have no real connection with each other, I could care less which order I listen to them in.

[Dzastur 1,719]

Albums bring up a lot of bad memories for me.

 

"Ten for the price of one with nothing more to buy, ever!...and now we own your soul" memories.

[Le Kvlt Dawn 2,364]

I will ONLY listen to full albums, I also enjoy going to the record store to buy CDs. Honestly, if one song off an album is good than the rest of the album is worth checking out. I'll never understand people who have like one song by an artist in their iPod, such a thing is alien to me. As for listening style, I like a variety of stuff. My two favorite genres are death metal and emo (proper emo, not that scene kid garbage).

[FoxyCryptid 4,328]

For me it depends, there's quite a few albums that I only like one or two songs from(and artists as a whole that are that way) I will say one thing though. I can put Johnny Cash's Hundred Highways album on repeat and just keep listening over and over again. 

[ASocialyAwkwardPony 299]

I mostly listen to one song at a time and pick what I feel like listening to at the time, though I also like full albums from time to time. Nothing's like listening through The Downward Spiral by Nine Inch Nails for some depressing sad time, Chuck by Sum 41 for some frustration release and Ziltoid The Omniscient by Devin Townsend for a big bunch of tounge in cheek Prog Metal comedy epicness.

[Moog the Kvlt 1,460]

It depends for me, when I'm sitting at home or when I'm drawing I'll either throw on an artist/band's concert video or I'll go song by song, but when I'm in a car or taking a long walk I prefer to go by album.

Edited September 24, 2013 by Peaches

[Geek0zoid 1,467]

I try to listen to new songs by my favorite bands such as Skillet and Shinedown, but I often just buy my favorite songs. If I want to listen to one of their new songs, I'll look up the music video for it on YouTube, and if I like it, I'll buy the song.

[Dusty Soul 2,611]

Usually I'll listen to the entire album.  I usually buy an album for a couple of songs, so when I actually listen to all of the others I'm surprised.  My last album was one by the Foo Fighters.  I had bought it for Monkey Wrench and My Hero.  While listening to it, I fell in love with "See You" "Everlong" and all the other awesome songs on that album.

Edited September 24, 2013 by Dusty Soul

[Scootaloodle 1,621]

It can depend:

 

I have some albums with really great tracks on and the rest aren’t my thing: but are worth buying for that one song or two.

 

Even if there all good song’s I sometimes just play a few song’s then play a few song’s on another record/MP3 then change to another artist again.

 

I do sometimes play through whole albums though: it can just depend on stuff like mood

[DaReaper 1,943]

Depends on the album like Linkins Park's Hybrid Theory or System of a Down's Toxicity and Pink Floyd's "Dark Side of the Moon" i can listen to whole album no problem but mistakes like Dragonforce's Inhuman Rampage or Volbeats i cam only listen to select songs

[Psych Ward 377]

My parents buy albums and I have my iPod for on the go needs.  That being said, we'll listen to an entire album when it first comes out, and on select nights we'll listen to a few CD's out by the fire.  If I really like a CD I'll listen to the whole thing, but sometimes I'm only in the mood for a song or two.

[Zygen 6,065]

I use to just buy a a few songs i liked, but i've found that normally buying the album i get more and end up growing to like other songs on the album.

 

Assuming its from an artist i listen to multiple different songs from.

 

So it depends, but lately its been full album.

[CornBreadGang 513]

I'll usually listen to a whole album once, and if there are songs I don't like, I skip them.

To give an example, in Skillet's album "Alien Youth" let's pretend I didn't like the song "Alien Youth". I'd listen to it once, and maybe man ever again.

[fimdash 1,196]

I usually just skim around or listen to certain songs, since it's too time-consuming to sit through albums that are almost an hour long. However, if it's an album that I've been looking forward to, or if part of the experience is to listen from beginning to end, then I'll devote some time toward listening through the whole thing.

[Thuja 3,658]

It would really depend on the artist and the album.  Some artists I could listen to one of their CDs the whole day but there could be another album by that very same artist that I might only listen to a few songs...  It would also have to depend on my mood at the time.  I could listen to Deftone's album Saturday Night Wrist all day but when I'm not in the mood I might end up skipping around.

[GhostPony750 958]

Well, I usually listen to my favorite songs on the album, then I listen to the whole thing. And most of the time I find even better songs.

 

The best albums I own is Selling England by the Pound - Genesis and Octopus - Gentle Giant, also.

[Dark Moon 965]

Depends on the album I guess. I listen to full Pink Floyd albums quite often, as well as Radiohead Albums. But other stuff I usually just make playlists of songs I like to shake things up a bit so I'm constantly listening to different bands.

[Brony Number 42 10,045]

I used to listen to crappy classic rock until I discovered fantasy metal from Europe. Now I can't even listen to crappy American music. If a band can make only a couple of good songs then they aren't worth supporting. I will not buy an mp3. I will buy only CDs. I like all of the songs from the bands I like. Nothing can compare to epic fantasy metal. I like collecting CDs. I will buy different versions of an album to collect. I have some rare ones.

 

It really annoys me when people have just a couple of good songs from a band. I hate it when people say they "listen to anything." I know it's very cynical of me to say it, but if you "listen to anything" then you have no taste.

[Le Kvlt Dawn 2,364]

 

I used to listen to crappy classic rock until I discovered fantasy metal from Europe. Now I can't even listen to crappy American music.

I know this is unrelated, but what's so great about Europe? (I'm not trying to sound all nationalistic here, I swear) They didn't give the world The Velvet Underground, Swans, the Pixies or any god tier emo bands like Sunny Day Real Estate, Knapsack, Texas Is the Reason, and Mineral. In terms of metal America and Europe are at a stalemate, both had amazing death metal scenes (Florida and Sweden), Norway had black metal, America had southern sludge, and both have great doom bands. But America had nu metal, which I dislike, and Europe has power metal, which I also dislike. Either way, you're just limiting yourself by ignoring a region that is home to a lot of great music. I personally don't care where a band is from, as long as they're good I'll listen to them. 

 

Back on topic:

I find that sometimes I don't really like an album when I first listen to it. It's not that I don't like it, it just means it's a grower. Trust me, once an album grows on you, you get hooked onto it. Sometimes, there are albums that are addictive from the very start and then you just want to listen to them 10x a day.

Edited September 24, 2013 by Akari Akaza

[Soundgarden 2,757]

I used to listen to crappy classic rock until I discovered fantasy metal from Europe. Now I can't even listen to crappy American music.

How is the nationality of a band related to quality? This is literally the dumbest thing I've ever read, especially since you're being so unspecific. "American music"? You do realize that not every artist from USA all play the exact same genre, right?

 

And to address the "you have no taste" part, could you explain? Like, where's the logic? Because someone enjoys a wide array of genres, they all of a sudden don't have any taste? If anything, people who listen to anything has better taste than people who isolate themselves with a single genre

[Brony Number 42 10,045]

That can't possibly be literally the dumbest thing you've ever heard. Misuse of the word "literally" is ignorant. It just turns out that all the metal I like is from Europe or Brazil. It's not like I specifically boycott American bands. I admitted I was being cynical when I said a person has no taste if they select random songs from bands. It's similar to liking random episodes of a TV show without liking the rest of the show. It indicates to me that the band isn't good. It's easy to make a good song out of every 20. But try making consistently good songs. That takes real talent.

[Venomshank 120]

With itunes and stuff like that in the modern world, it's become much easier to sample, you know? I mean, I have a broad and sometimes conflicting set of interests, and so it's much easier to get stuff one at a time. The only full album that I'll buy is one by city and colour. You tend to know what you're getting.