Impact of Overplaying on Quality of Song
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Forum Name: General Music Discussions
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URL: http://www.progarchives.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=126365
Printed Date: March 10 2025 at 11:22
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Topic: Impact of Overplaying on Quality of Song
Posted By: rushfan4
Subject: Impact of Overplaying on Quality of Song
Date Posted: May 12 2021 at 15:22
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I'm curious on everyone's thoughts on the impact of "overplaying" of songs and that impact on the quality of the song or the ability of the listener to judge the song. In the recent Classic Rock Showdown polls, it has been a common response to put down these songs as having been overplayed and never wanting to hear them again. While I certainly get this to a certain extent, isn't there also an absence makes the heart grow fonder aspect to this too? Hence, why some of us only spin a Selling England or Dark Side of the Moon once a year or less because of our own overplaying of them, but boy do they still sound great when we do dust them off and give them a listen. Anyhow, I'm not sure what my point is, but it seemed like something that could lead to an interesting discussion. ------------- 
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Replies:
Posted By: Catcher10
Date Posted: May 12 2021 at 15:38
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I go more in spurts than only listening 1-2x a year. I'll spin DSOtM once a month at minimum but there are times I'll spin it once a week. I will say though there are records I have not played in quite awhile. -------------   
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Posted By: progaardvark
Date Posted: May 12 2021 at 15:50
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The "overplaying" effect is indeed a real thing. It's why I stopped listening to the radio in the car. It also matters how complex a piece of music is. I find more complex music is more interesting with repeated listens, sort of like discovering something new about the piece I missed in prior listens. I suspect there is some sort of biopsychological thing going on here, probably involving endorphins or something like that. ------------- ---------- i'm shopping for a new oil-cured sinus bag that's a happy bag of lettuce this car smells like cartilage nothing beats a good video about fractions |
Posted By: Grumpyprogfan
Date Posted: May 12 2021 at 15:56
| I don't think overplaying a song reduces its quality. There is no experiation date for killer music. I don't often go back to the past and listen to my faves from years gone by, but when I do those songs bring back floods of memories. And I mostly enjoy that. |
Posted By: Man With Hat
Date Posted: May 12 2021 at 16:16
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The quality of the music stays the same regardless how many times a song is played. I would hope that people would be able to still judge the song without bias, but us humans are awful. What can change is someone's ability to enjoy it...like many things sometimes you just get tired of it. But that's not on the song, that's on the person. Obviously, certain people are more susceptible to this than others. ------------- Dig me...But don't...Bury me I'm running still, I shall until, one day, I hope that I'll arrive Warning: Listening to jazz excessively can cause a laxative effect. |
Posted By: The Anders
Date Posted: May 12 2021 at 16:22
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I think that the main reason I get tired of certain songs that are overplayed is that they aren't actually that interesting (Stairway to Heaven, Smoke on the Water). On the other hand, I have listened to Revolver or Dark Side like a million times, and they still amaze me.
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Posted By: rushfan4
Date Posted: May 12 2021 at 21:57
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There are many songs from my youth that I either hated or grew to hate because they were played constantly on the radio...but oddly enough I find myself tapping my feet and singing along to them if I happen to hear them today. Especially stuff like Michael Jackson or Prince. I hated that stuff when I was in school, but I actually somewhat enjoy it now. On the other hand, a song like YMCA from the Village People, I used to love when it first came out, but I came to loathe it...and still do to this day. -------------
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Posted By: Blacksword
Date Posted: May 13 2021 at 02:30
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An interesting topic for discussion. Overplaying doesn't reduce the quality of a song - if the 'quality' was there to start with, AND taking into account how we individually measure 'quality' - but it's a simple case of hearing something too much. If your favourite song of all time was say Tom Sawyer, you still wouldn't want to hear it every day, and even if you did, you probably wouldn't after x number of years of hearing it every day. That's no indictment on the compositional qualities of the song itself, or your love of it, just your exposure to the constant repetition of it. Radio station obviously have playlists, and have agreed with record companies to play their artists music x number of times per day, between the hours of X & Y, for optimum exposure, and to reach as many listeners as possible. Not everyone listens to radio all day, so may only hear the songs once or twice, and those who do listen all day will have the songs pounded into their consciousness by the constant airplay. A percentage of those listeners will grow weary of the song, but some will absorb it, love it and buy it! It's about throwing as much sh*t at the wall, in the hope that a reasonable amount will stick. As for the songs listed in the classic rock poll. It wouldn't bother me if I never heard any of those songs again, but I do appreciate why they are loved.... Apart from Hotel California which bored me senseless from day one..  ------------- Ultimately bored by endless ecstasy! |
Posted By: Icarium
Date Posted: May 13 2021 at 02:51
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There are certain songs that have replayabillity and it is probably caused by the brilliance of songwriters ability to create wonderfull hooks. -------------  
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Posted By: TheLionOfPrague
Date Posted: May 13 2021 at 07:53
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I hardly listen to the radio, and when I choose to listen to music I will obviously not play something till the point of boredom. I'll listen to an artist for a while and when I get bored I move to another one and then another one and so on until I want to go back to a certain artist after a while. ------------- I shook my head and smiled a whisper knowing all about the place |
Posted By: chopper
Date Posted: May 13 2021 at 08:21
| I've been coming back to certain songs and albums for years - just played Close To The Edge (album) for probably the 10 millionth time. There are times when I don't feel like listening to it, same as any song really, but if it's good enough I will come back to it at some point. |
Posted By: Icarium
Date Posted: May 13 2021 at 08:26
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I never get tired of listening to Nik Kershaws two first albums, those are one of the treets of sound dynamics and just pure positiv energy. -------------
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Posted By: moshkito
Date Posted: May 13 2021 at 08:38
Hi, I think that I am a lot more concerned about some of the mixes ... if you listen to the Doug thingy, you can learn real quick when he mentions one of the examples as "all over the place" and then shows how some of the stuff simply does not make sense, despite some wonderful moments ... and in one case, he really lashes into the mix for augmenting the guitar and drums, and lessening the power of the music instead for the noise and loudness ... sooooooooooooo pop music oriented ... even though the piece of music could be hardly considered that. But it tells you the mentality of some of the folks working with the band, although they probably will state that's what they are about ... but I specially like a moment where he tears into the drummer for doing nothing but the same thing and just pound for nothing ... when it was a great chance to add to the piece ... and this has been one of my worst criticisms ... high school drummers thinking that they are professionals, when they do nothing but the same thing over and over again ... maybe louder this time! This was a criticism I had of one band, where the drummer only knew how to hit the snare drum, and when the music tripped out, he would be hitting on it harder, as if to say ... c'mon get back to the beat ... and get away from the tripping because he didn't know how to accentuate the tripping beyond his metronomic ability! My issue, and it's more me than likely, is that it is not about the "music" and its value at that moment ... it is about the limitation of the musician at best ... and you know ... I can't find a moment in the first 5 or 6 ELP albums where Carl Palmer did not do something "different" as a way to help color the piece of music ... same for Bonzo, and Moonie ... but we forgot all that when these days, we only hear the metronome, not a drummer! As a comparison point, when you hear him do "Echoes" he immediately shows the incredible "progressive" musicianship in many of the choices the band used in that piece of music ... and even though some pieces got some nice touches, none of them spoke about "music" like he did on PF's piece. In essence, it would suggest that the musicianship included in the piece was so far outside the rock music norm, as to be not only special, but fabulous!
------------- Music is not just for listening ... it is for LIVING ... you got to feel it to know what's it about! Not being told! www.pedrosena.com |
rushfan4 wrote:Posted By: Grumpyprogfan
Date Posted: May 13 2021 at 08:47
| ^My god, man. Your response has nothing to do with the question asked. |
Posted By: moshkito
Date Posted: May 13 2021 at 08:47
Hi, I think you forgot who owns the radio stations and what the choices are ... one radio conglomerate in the old days (WEA) would not even tough a single band that they did not distribute, even if they were on top ... It redefines the "exposure" and something that radio has lost since 1977/1978 when the corporate raiders went after all the FM stations and just about stopped the entry and play of 80% of all the new bands and material out there ... and in at least one example in LA, when the staff revolted ... the next day the station was over and it restarted with new age elevator music! It's well known, but no one in the media writes about it, and shames the corporate choice ... but then, why are you not surprised? Who owns the media? The same folks ... thus an independent something or other has little if any chance ... same thing with a two party dictatorship in America! ------------- Music is not just for listening ... it is for LIVING ... you got to feel it to know what's it about! Not being told! www.pedrosena.com |
Posted By: rushfan4
Date Posted: May 13 2021 at 20:31
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Posted By: HolyMoly
Date Posted: May 16 2021 at 12:49
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Funny you should mention DSotM, Scott. I just listened to it earlier today for a very rare spin, and I got a fresh appreciation of it. Oft times I’ll “burn out” on a song or album that’s been overplayed (often by me, as I usually only listen to stuff I specifically choose to listen to). Staying away from it for a good while does in fact make it fresher when I return to it. So I don’t believe the song/album’s quality has diminished at all, just its ability to surprise me and/or sound fresh. I realize this and keep it purposely on the back burner for a bit. ------------- My other avatar is a Porsche It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle if it is lightly greased. -Kehlog Albran |
Posted By: JD
Date Posted: May 16 2021 at 16:38
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Overplaying a song is why I avoid the radio, except for CBC Radio 1. I deal with it by constantly changing the 225songs I have my iPod Shuffle every few weeks. There are some songs that got played to hell when they came out, like Gotye's "Somebody That I Used to Know". I thought it was a catchy tune so I made it a point to avoid hearing it at all costs. Now I can have it in my rotation and actually enjoy it. I don't believe the over playing changes the quality in any way...how could it. But an individuals perception of the song will change as repeated playings are hear to be sure. ------------- Thank you for supporting independently produced music |
Posted By: ExittheLemming
Date Posted: May 17 2021 at 07:29
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Whether music is heard or not clearly does not have any impact on its content. What might change however, is our own evaluation of the music's merit when we are exposed to it constantly over a relatively short period of time e.g. Bohemian Rhapsody (which I adore) was number one in the singles chart for what seemed my entire adolescence and I was bored scatty with it after a few months. I could only really appreciate it again after an enforced absence of about 20 years. The OP does raise one important idea here: the ability of the listener to judge the song (after overplaying) This places us in the realms of cultural osmosis where the music cannot be considered in its original context but only that of a shared mediated experience from radio, TV, movies, discussion etc. Using Rhapsody as our example, there is a wide ranging demographic who don't listen to Opera believe that this is what Opera sounds like unaware that it is a pastiche. Similarly, many people don't realise Ride of the Valkyries is but a very short extract from the 15 hour Ring Cycle and not a Wagner 'single' used in the soundtrack for Apocalypse Now (where the context is that of psychological warfare against the Viet Cong) ------------- 
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Posted By: Guldbamsen
Date Posted: May 17 2021 at 07:38
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It depends really...there are tracks I can always spin without tiring of them....though had they been hits over the radio and been played to death...I’m not sure my feelings would be the same. It’s a tricky subject really...and a lot of the times it ends up angering me when it happens over the radio. Mostly because longer tracks on the radio are cut down - preferably around the time the guitar solo comes on. I am not sure how many times I’ve heard half of Comfortably Numb..and then some DJ fading out as the solo starts..because well the NEWS!!! Other times it genuinely just underlines how little music these hosts know of. I am personally rather fond of The Stones...yet the only tracks ever played here in Denmark are Satisfaction, Brown Sugar and maybe just maybe half of Sympathy For The Devil sans guitar solo of course. Over the radio, internet or old school, a band/artist is only a hit...nothing more. Overplaying the hit over a bunch of just as interesting songs is to me madness. ‘You like mayo? I’m thrilled to hear! That’s basically what’s for dinner the rest of your life’ ------------- “The Guide says there is an art to flying or rather a knack. The knack lies in learning how to throw yourself at the ground and miss.” - Douglas Adams |
Posted By: I prophesy disaster
Date Posted: May 17 2021 at 08:20
This reminds me of this scene from The Simpsons: ------------- No, I know how to behave in the restaurant now, I don't tear at the meat with my hands. If I've become a man of the world somehow, that's not necessarily to say I'm a worldly man. |
Posted By: Steve Wyzard
Date Posted: May 20 2021 at 10:55
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It's funny that Blacksword mentioned "Tom Sawyer", because whenever I hear the term "overplayed", I almost immediately start thinking of Rush's Moving Pictures album. Moving Pictures was my first Rush album. I bought it when it was spanking brand new (summer of '81) on the recommendation of a cousin and hearing a few songs on the radio. I listened to it CONSTANTLY over the next few years, to the point where I eventually grew fed up and got rid of it. The band's other albums appealed to me much more, and had much longer staying power. It was only about 15 years later I bought another copy, and listened again. To this day, I enjoy the album (except for "Witch Hunt"), but only listen to it very occasionally. I don't know how much overplaying affected my experience, but unlike the prevailing view, I today see it as an "average" album by the band, not one of their greats.
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