My musical dilemma

I know, but I still feel hopelessly lost whenever I hit on a song outside my comfort zone that I like, without even trying to tie it into anything else. It just totally derails me because I'm like "I shouldn't like this song because it's not normally something I'd like, but somehow I am."

But either way, it still jams up my thinking. Like, I like "Radioactive". That's not usually the kind of song I like, in terms of subject matter and really not so much in terms of sound either. What is it doing right for me?

That's not a particularly unusual phenomenon. There's a fair share of bands in styles I normally dislike myself (Soul Remnants, Nevermore, Sorcier des Glaces, Blood Farmers etc.). but I focus less on "they're in a style I typically don't like" and more on "their music is actually good unlike bands in said style". Simple; the associations ultimately aren't even musical and therefore not worth one's time or consideration.

focus less on the negatives and more on the positives basically

The positives are there, but I have no clue what they are. Just "this song is good, but fuck me if I know why".

To figure out the positives you just need to listen to it more, for a long period of time. This kind of experience comes gradually. When I first discovered Primus I wasn't sure what to think of it because the music was so weird and there was little to no vocals compared to what I used to listen to back then. I knew it was good in some strange way though. So I just kept listening on and on. Frank Zappa took me half a year to figure out, but eventually it came to me. Long story short, give it time.

If you're having trouble figuring out how to word things, simply listen in on more musical discussions. You don't need to be a musician yourself to understand music but figuring out a way to convey what you think of specific musical characteristics and how they affect your enjoyment help.

edited 31st Oct '16 11:18:55 AM by StillbornMachine

I actually am a musician.

Then you have even less reason to be so bewildered.

Turns out Decoration Day is another name for Memorial Day. And now I'm even more confused because I don't see what the song has to do with Memorial Day.

I'm still dealing with a BUNCH of elements I'm radically unfamiliar with.

Something people deal with by familiarizing themselves with. Simple really. Anything alien becomes everyday once you encounter it frequently enough.

That still doesn't help with lyrics

If you're so concerned with trying to figure out what a song's lyrics mean, do some research into the song or look up the song on Genius.

We've already tried suggesting that, but he deflected it by saying that the fact that other people can somehow understand it leaves him even more confused.

why are you guys still responding, he's beyond helping

Actually, that's completely valid for lyrics, novels, films, comics and so on. Not getting it the first few times around is a completely normal thing but you don't have to actually understand something as it was intended to be a real fan of it. Again, a lot of things only make sense years later when your frames of reference have altered and changed.

I know, I've been in this thread since around its beginning dude haha.

eh, it's kinda fascinating to me.

agreed

This. Persona is one of the deepest, most confusing films I've seen. I still don't really understand what the hell it's about but it's still one of my favorite films. Figuring out the meaning is just one of the fun things about music, film, literature, whatever.

edited 2nd Nov '16 7:32:09 AM by Sedmikrasky

I still have no idea how to get myself to just stop overthinking everything. Been listening to the Black Album to see what happens, what clicks, etc.

Therapy. Literally, the only genuine suggestion I can give you at this point is therapy.