JUMPING DARKNESS PARADE: EYAL ON GETTING BURNT OUT ON MUSIC YOU LOVE
Friday, October 9th, 2009 at 4:13pm by Eyal Levi
I’m in my bunk. Everyone else is asleep. We’re riding through some windy dark mountain roads somewhere in Germany on the way to the next show. I’ve got “Ghost of Perdition” by Opeth blasting on my headphones. Figured that I would give that a spin. I haven’t really listened to them very much lately. I kinda burned out on them for a while. I never stopped loving their music, but I think I just had more than my brain could handle. When I got into after the release of Blackwater Park, all the way through the release of Ghost Reveries, I’d say that Opeth were on my iTunes at least once a day. They are a band that I’ve listened to, and listened to again, and again, and again. There’s always something new to find in their music. Not only did I listen my ass off but I went to their shows whenever possible. I saw them at least six times before I even met them. I ended up dating a member of their crew for a little while, so that meant more and more Opeth shows. Basically, I know my Opeth, and from the musicianship to the composition I think that they are one of the greatest bands of all time.
That said, I haven’t decided to listen to them in about a year before tonight. I just couldn’t bring myself to do it. Albums that I just absolutely love, I would consider and just be like, naaah. Maybe it’s the mental equivalent of a water-soluble vitamin like C. Once you have your dosage, the rest just gets released with your urine. Maybe your brain can only handle so much of one type of stimulus for so long before it shuts off to it. I mean that’s happened to me with other bands.
It happened to me with Muse. Same deal. I listened and studied my ass off with that band for a few years, and for awhile now I haven’t been able to put one of their records on (besides the new one). Thing is, I ALWAYS will go back to bands like Muse and Opeth. Or The Beatles, or Pink Floyd, or Radiohead, or any band that is/was great that I just had an O.D. on.
Man, this Ghost Reveries record is so fucking great. It’s really been so long since I listened and I really remember why I love it.
Anyways, do you guys do this, too? I betcha that you do. What bands do you find yourself going back to? What bands did you wear out permanently? Do you find a difference? I usually think there’s a difference. It’s in how deep the music really is. Some bands just put out ear candy. Some of the big bands of today are nothing more than guttural ear candy. Sure, I like listening to them, and sometimes I listen to their better songs on constant repeat when I’m working out or something like that, but I eventually get tired of them. And I usually DON’T go back. There’s always a newer and better candy out there.
But timeless records are, y’know, timeless. You may need a moment or two away from them, but when you come back to them, they’re still there for you. You can still drown your sorrows and get lost with them, learn from them, love them.
I want to know what bands you guys have ditched along the way. Please don’t be afraid to admit which bands you’ve enjoyed in the past but won’t go back to. I also wanna know whom you always find yourselves going back to. Do you guys go through what I just described with the music you listen to?
-EL
Daath’s MySpace page is pretty timeless.
Man, one time I listened to nothing but “Sickman” by Alice in Chains, over and over again, for about 10 hours straight. I thought that song was bad as fuck. Then I took a break from that ablum for about…10 years. Lately I’ve picked it up again, and it’s still awesome. Plus, there’s things I notice and appreciate it now that I didn’t 10 years ago. So..there you go i guess.
This has definitely happened to me. I have a short attention span for music, to the point where I can’t even finish a song without moving onto the next. But once I listen to a song enough, Im done with it for a pretty long time, since Im always updating my music. Good point.
pantera, vulgar display and far beyond driven. faith no more, the real thing and angel dust.
That happens all of the time to me as well. By the way, I saw you play in Cincinnati,(Bogarts) a little while ago with Dragonforce and it was an awesome show…I find the classics like And Justice for all tiring, but after a year or so, I wonder why I ever stopped listening to it. Avenged Sevenfold,’s City of Evil, The Faceless–Planetary Duality, and pretty much every CD that I have at one point in time will get to be that way.
I had a buddy that would just play Pantera non-stop. Every hour, every day. I love the band to pieces and worship Dime, but there’s only so many times you can hear Walk and not want to rip off the face of the douchbag who’s got it on repeat. And if they were in town? Fuggetaboutit! You were gonna be pummelled by their tunes until the day of the show, on the way to the show, while in the parking lot of the show, and forced to listen to shitty karaoke versions of the songs in between bands while at the show. Needless to say I’m not friends with him anymore.
Only recently did I pick up my copy of Far Beyond Driven and give it a good spin. After several years from being away from it, it sounds as good as the day I bought it.
That happened to me with Kalmah’s “The Black Waltz”. I used to play that album endlessly and just had to put it down for months. One day I had my iPod on shuffle and a song randomly came up reminding me how much I love that album. I’m listening to it again, but wisely nowhere near as much as I used to.
Definitely their best release, every song is good.
Slayer and Cannibal Corpse are two bands I can’t bring myself to sit down and listen to anymore, if they’re in line in the shuffle then generally sure I’ll listen but I can’t put a Slayer or Cannibal Corpse CD on anymore.
Agreed, not so much cannibal, because i didn’t play them as much as i did slayer. But last year there was like 2 months where i JUST listened to slayer, havent really sat down and listened to an album since.
Bands i Used to love/Have ditched over the years:
Poison the Well
Unearth
In Flames
Soilwork
Metallica
Soulfly
Norma Jean
Opeth(except for Blackwater Park)
NOFX
Pennywise
Anticon
A lot of old 90s hardcore that just doesnt hold up
Bands i always come back to:
Pantera
Radiohead
Smashing Pumpkins
Converge
Vision of Disorder
Deftones
Meshuggah
Mogwai
Massive Attack
Down
Sunny Day Real Estate
Saw the SDRE reunion in ATL other night.FUCKING PHENOMENAL!!! Took me back to being 15 & listening to pretty much only “Diary”,”Far Beyond Driven”/”Great Southern Trendkill” by Pantera & “Infernal Love” by Therapy?(one of the most underrated bands on the ’90s IMO) that summer…ahhh good times,good times
Well, it’s not metal but probably my favorite band of all time is the Allman Brothers Band. Saw them for the second time this year at an AWESOME music festival in the Florida panhandle. My buddy and I listened to them for quite some time to get psyched up for the trip. Then they beat our asses in two nights in a row at 2.5 hrs each set. Then we jammed them all the way home. Then we finally received our copies of the live-recordings of the two sets (6-discs…awesome) and I listened to them until I can puke the Allman Brothers.
And I haven’t been able to listen to them at all for the last month or two. i know I’ll go back, but that’s probably the most saturated I’ve ever been with one band though. I guess Warren Haynes and Derek Trucks will do that to you though.
Other bands I’ve worn out and always go back to:
Pantera
Down
Megadeth
Type O Negative
Thin Lizzy
Sabbath
Skynyrd
CCR
Danzig
how do u wear yourself out of type 0 ?!?!!?!?! i cant wait to see them on the 27th !!!
Great topic. I listened to Zeppelin to death when I was younger. Between that overdose plus many years of working at job where we listened to strictly classic rock radio, which meant a ton of Zeppelin, I haven’t willingly put them on in 10 years. I know they had great songs that I love, but I don’t know if/when I’ll ever be in the mood to listen to one of their albums again. I hadn’t listened to Alice In Chains in years either, but after playing the new album for a few days I went back and listened to Dirt for the millionth time and it sounded as great as it always did. A good, new album (if possible) usually helps freshen up the stuff I was burned out on.
That happens to me all the time with food! haha
Master Of Puppets, …And Justice For All, Peace Sells, Killing Is My Business, Vulgar Display Of Power, Far Beyond Driven, The Great Southern Trendkill, L.D. 50, Leviathan, Blood Mountain, Crack The Skye,, The Dethalbum, Iowa, all Zep, As The Palaces Burn, Ashes Of The Wake, La Sexorcisto, Astro Creep, and the White Zsmbie remixes….i could go on for longer but i doubt anyone cares.
In Flames. People hate on that band, but they got me into metal and for that I’m forever grateful. I know their music inside out, and from time I try learn another IF song. But even though they always dominate my last.fm chart, I don’t listen to them as much as I used to.
Backed. I love that band so much, they started me down the wonderful road of metal years ago and in that sense I owe them big time. Still love everything they have released, but just dont listen to them as much as I used to.
I was just thinking of this last night. I think I burned myself out on Maiden this summer after I purchased Flight 666. It was like constant Maiden and that’s all I played for a couple months, haven’t listened to a single Maiden song since then. They’re a good enough band that I know I’ll always come back to them when the time is right and they sound fresh again. Zeppelin is another band like that. I’ve been listening to Zeppelin at least a few songs per day every day for months, but I’ve since discovered Rory Gallagher. For me, having listened to Rory it’s hard to go back to Jimmy Page because Rory blows him out of the water. So now I’m afraid that I’ll burn myself out on Rory Gallagher since he’s all I’ve listened to in the last few weeks. All those artists I think I have a deep enough affection for where I’ll keep returning no matter how much I listen to them. One band I may have permanently burned out is Rush, I just can’t get back into them no matter how much I try. I always think when I get really into an artist whether they have the staying power, and especially if it’s one I really like I’ll think “I need to give these guys a break or I’ll get sick of them”.
You pretty muched nailed it with Maiden for me. I got through phases where I listen to them all the time, then don’t for a couple months. They always pull me back in eventually, just too good to be ignored.
fucking + 1, i clocked up like 500 plays of maiden in the span of 3 months
I’ll always go back and listen to the first few black sabbath albums from time to time becouse they really dont get old, same with bands like electric wizard and the mars volta.I listen to them from time to time and love it then give it a rest for however long.
I had a period where all I listened to was “Shogun”, “Beating On Death’s Door” and “Vicarious”, and I just had a couple of weeks where I was listening to Gorillaz “Demon Dayz”-album plus some Carpark North and Mew (anyone know them?). I also occasionally get back to Lamb Of God, and then I simply won’t listen to anything but them for three weeks.
another thing I know I always get back to, and I’m truly sorry about this guys, is the Fueled By Ramen-bands. sorry…
Dude Mew is awesome.
Portishead, cant forget them. Awsome band that i always go back to.
Totally agree w/ you there.Beth Gibbon’s voice makes me feel all funny…like when i used to climb the rope in gym class
This has only happened to me three times that I can recall, and in all three cases – the Butthole Surfers, Radiohead and Pink Floyd – it was after seeing them live that I suddenly became burned out on them. I came home from the show and it was like the urge to listen to the albums had just oozed out through the soles of my feet. I saw Pink Floyd in 1987 (the first reunion tour, without Roger Waters) and for over 15 years didn’t listen to one of their albums. I only went back to their studio recordings in the past couple of years. Same thing happened with the Butthole Surfers – I saw them in 1990 and 1991, and then just kinda lost interest in their albums, even though before that I’d listened to them all the time. And I’ve seen Radiohead twice, in 2001 and 2003, and after the 2003 concert my enthusiasm dampened considerably. That last one may just be because Hail To The Thief and In Rainbows sucked so hard in comparison with everything they did before, though…
I listened to Carry Me Home by The Living End 106 times in a row once, maybe 4 or 5 times since
I fucking love The Living End… Chris Cheney is criminally underrated as a guitarist.
I might put him in the top 50 all time
Fuck yes! That’s an album I come back to after long periods without – “Roll On”.
I’ve since discovered Rory Gallagher
I just discovered Gallagher earlier this year while on a trip to Ireland. Holy fuck, can that guy play guitar.
I listen to Irish Tour ‘74 in its entirety every night before I go to sleep, and discover something incredible that man did with his guitar on each listen. Especially live, I don’t think there’s a blues-rock guitarist that can touch him. Not Page, not Clapton, not Stevie Ray Vaughan. I think Hendrix would be outshined by Rory without his effects. Rory Gallagher is hands-down my favorite guitarist of all time.
I recently got burnt out on all things Max Cavalera, I have a feeling it may be permanent. It was fun while it lasted Max.
I have a ton of bands that I only listen to with the changing of the seasons, but there’s too many to list. I will say that AIC is THE definition of Autumn. Great release date for the new album.
Whew. Goddamn, there are so many… this happens all the time.
SYL
CCR
Hendrix
various eras of Zappa
Pantera
AIC
Nirvana
Carcass
Death
Sublime
Clutch
Down
Tower of Power
Nick Cave
COC
Devy
Eels
Ween
Opeth
Melvins
Enslaved
Mastodon
GnR
Pink Floyd
Toadies
Tool
Radiohead
Stevie Wonder
Beatles
Kyuss
The Meters
Ian Moore
That’s just a few of the get-burned-out-on-but-always-come-back-to-at-some-point ones off the top of my head. I could go on forever, probably.
A few things I almost never listen to voluntarily/on purpose much anymore (except maybe when they drop a new album):
Slayer
Anthrax
In Flames
SOAD
Slipknot
The Doors
Led Zeppelin
Metallica
Grateful Dead
Phish
Weezer
Fu Manchu
QOTSA
Entombed
LOTM
Pelican
Lamb of God
I was really into Biohazard long time ago…then there are bands where I go back every once in a while such as Sick of it All, Nirvana, Bad Religion, Slash’s Snakepit…
My iTunes play count says “Fixxer” (60) by Metallica, “Written in Stone” (52) by Fu Manchu and Plenty Strong and Plenty Wrong (49) by Maylene and T.S.O.D are the most played tracks…I guess some songs find heir way through your head and reward you with details that make you regard that song as an awesome one.
Un saludo!
Wow, well put.
Not metal, but I burned myself out on Oingo Boingo. Listened to just about nothing but them nonstop for like a year. I still go back to a few songs that will likely turn out to be some of my favorite songs from anyone of all time, but it’s like I listened to everything so much that I don’t even hear it when it’s on anymore.
I whip out “Dead Man’s Party” every year for my Halloween playlist. \m/
I rock that song at every one of my halloween parties.
i can probably never listen to nirvana again, i listened to them non stop when i was like 13, im twenty now, and still cant listen to them, but to be honest i really dont want to.
I always go back to Murderdolls and Wednesday 13.
I’ve only been listening to metal for about 3 years now so over the last year or so I have burnt myself out on a lot of bands that I first started listening to like Lamb of God, Slipknot, Iron Maiden, Arch Enemy, Children of Bodom although I recently saw them live and have been listening to them a bit again mainly the older stuff. Overall I feel like these bands have offered me everything they can and they just don’t entertain or challenge me the way they use to.
Mastodon for sure. Love them, but burned them. I’ll be back though.
And Holy Fuck was Crack the Skye so good that I burned it quick. However, I bet I come back quick too.
Mastodon is soooooo fucking good it makes my head spin.
Hey Eyal :)
I go through that with Opeth as well as i have listened to every album well into the 500+ times each, bu i go in spurts with them time off time on etc.
these bands ruled my world i couldn’t now force myself with 20 shots and 10 joint s to listen to them:
Rush
Ac/Dc
Led Zepplin
Iron Maiden
Dillinger Escape plan
Ozzy
Queens of the stone age
Tool (sadly) to much time between albums …
Death
Hope to see you all soon man!! keep in touch bro ;)
I haven’t given AC/DC many spins lately either, mainly cuz I lost my Powerage cd…
Man, that is the one album of theirs that I keep coming back to. Brilliant stuff.
DUUDE you cant get tired of Death?! Symbolic?? forget about it. Non-stop rotation.
AC\DC is the worst band since the beginning of recorded history.
No lie, this is seriously one of the most offensive things I’ve ever read.
I can’t be offended by it, because I know it has no basis in fact whatsoever. AC/DC is in my top 5 favorite bands.
I’ll definitely agree with that, kind sir. But it really takes a lot of ignorance to claim that they are “the worst band since the beginning of recorded history”. Especially when bands like Emmure and The Devil Wears Prada are a part of recorded history.
Not to mention the rock and roll powerhouse that is Limp Bizkit
lol Well, I can’t actually talk to much shit on Limp Bizkit ’cause they pretty much ruled my CD player in my younger days. I have, however, moved on. lol We’ll put them in the category of bands that I got burned out on that I won’t be returning to.
Okay you’re right…I’m gonna put all my Disney Sing-a-long tapes in that category too. They ruled my VCR in my younger days.
No, I still return to them from time to time.
There are a lot of bands that I get excited with and listen continuously until I can’t stand them anymore. But some records come in mind that I keep coming back to after a year or so :
Megadeth – Rust in Peace
Death – Human
Cynic – Focus
Just when I think I’ll never listen to these records again, after a certain amount of time, I happen to hear a song and the magic starts flowing again.
Yeah, I ALWAYS come back to Cynic and Death. Same with Arsis, August Burns Red, All Shall Perish, and The Black Dahlia Murder. It doesn’t matter how much I listen, it never loses its luster.
I love Agalloch. In fact, I would consider them the second greatest band in the universe (Cynic being my number one) and by far the best live show I’ve ever seen (…Not to say that Daath weren’t also fucking sick). In the weeks before I saw them in Chicago, I listened to Pale Folklore and Ashes Against the Grain almost constantly until the day of the show (bad luck to listen to the band on the way to their show, you know). Then I saw the best performance of my life and met John Haughm. That show was on September 12 of this year and I still haven’t listened to them.
ya im gonna see them (Agalloch)in Oregon and i have stopped listening so its really gonna be good :) can’t wait to meet them as well i see Aesop here in the Bay area though cool, dude.
Be prepared for the best live performance you will ever see.
Definitely Napalm Death… listened to them since Scum, but every couple years I just need a break…
I always come back to Megadeth, Children of Bodom, Devildriver and Arsis.
This doesn’t happen as often for me with individual bands as it does with sub-genres… I’ll immerse myself for a month or two then move on. Classics, Sludge, Post/Gaze, Stoner Rock, Am Rep Noisecore stuff…etc. Then repeat.
Dammit, I missed this comment when I posted mine. Same sentiment, and I totally agree.
Bodom.
Music is an addiction man. You’re always looking for something better, something harder. Then when a band like Opeth comes around and you have committed every song to memory you start to think “That’s it, it doesn’t get any better than this… we have reached a plateau”; that’s when you get burned and everything else is a disappointment. That’s when you have to take a break and just distance yourself from all music to reset your baseline. I’m currently in the same boat. I find myself listening to NPR and pop radio lately just because it’s not what I usually go for… it’s so foreign that it feels new. But metal is always my #1, and now I’m left sitting, waiting for the next big thing to come along and ‘wow’ me. Dethklok Dethalbum 2 is damn good so far, but it’s only getting me through ’till the next huge thing.
…..anxiously awaiting Devin Townsend’s follow up to Ki.
I would have to say Metallicas Ride the Lightning….
Listened to it everyday. Learned how to play ALL the songs. Then one day,
I just said, fuck that. lol
2 days ago, I was blasting that shit like nobodies business! And I still remember how to play Kirks/Daves (lolz)
guitar parts! haha
P.S. Germany is the best, and I cant wait to go back! lol
I always go back to anything Devin Townsend touches – from Strapping to his solo stuff.
For me though, when it comes to things I get burned out on, it’s more a whole genre than just one band. I’ll be on a death metal kick for a while, then I’ll want to move to jazz, then thrash, then… etc.
5(well,actually 7) bands I always go back to:
Neurosis
Melvins
Down/Pantera
Kyuss/Queens Of The Stone Age(1st 3 albums)
Slint
I feel if you’ve done this to a band like i’ve done to many bands I just wait till the inspiration strikes me. What is this Arch Enemy your calling me back? I wonder why.
I do the same thing Eyal. I listend to Tool to the point where I could not touch ANY of their stuff for a loooong time. I’ve recently returned to Undertow which was the second album I got into with them( well the first was technically an EP but whatever). Anyways I agree that I have to walk away from my favorite
records but it’s allways so awesome when the time is right to return.
I’ve loved Opeth since I heard Blackwater Park in 2001. You know, you do have pretty awesome taste in music. Up until now I never tried Daath. I might give it a shot if Opeth was such an influential factor in your life. I also agree that they are one of the greatest bands of all time in terms of musical talent.
See I don’t talk shit ALL the time. Just when I disagree with something.
I’m in that same phase with Opeth right. Biggest example of that for me personally is Killing on Adrenaline by Dying Fetus. Listened to it pretty much every day for, no shit, two years. Burnt out on it, but I got around to buying the rerelease this summer and I’ve been back on it since.
I’m totally burned out on Emperor, hate to say it. I’ve just listened to Nightside, and Anthems, and IX Equil., and even Prometheus about a ba-zillion times. Make a new album already guys, quit teasing us with sporadic reunion shows and live albums.
I also listened to Tool’s 10,000 Days album like every day for about 2 years straight, now I don’t know why. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a good album, I just don’t think it’s great anymore. At first I was just blinded by it being a new Tool record, but now that I can look back objectively at it I don’t see what the big deal was. There’s like only 5 actual songs on that album, and the rest is filler material. That, and most of the actual songs sound like leftovers that were deemed unfit for Lateralus.
I can never get enough System of a Down, or Lil Wayne.
I’m with you on System of a Down, but I hate Lil Wayne with a burning passion.
@The DG to The MG: Congratulations on re-launching your site. Checking it out and it’s looking good, as usual.
“Ghost Reveries” is definitely one for me. I’ve yet to tire of Arcturus’s “The Sham Mirrors” and its been in my car for a long ass time. It took a good long while but I’m on break from Mr Bungle “California” and Faith No More “Angel Dust”.
Metallica, System of a Down, Judas Priest. I used to listen to them non-stop but then I started discovering heavier music, recently I’ve been coming back to them and they are still as awesome as I remembered.
It’s rare that I really get burned out on a band… I listen to so many different bands that it’s hard to do. Every once in a while, when I get my hands on a song or two from an upcoming album I’ll get burned out on it, but even that doesn’t happen much.
I do, however, find that I get on various kicks for different genres and listen to them a lot for a while… I’ve done this with tech-death, psychobilly, nerdcore rap, doom metal, prog metal… it’s good fun.
Oh, right… bands I always come back to. Forgot that part.
I always come back to Metallica, Primus, Nine Inch Nails, System Of A Down, Bad Religion, Pink Floyd, Queens Of The Stone Age, Black Sabbath, a lot of Klayton from Celldweller’s work (Circle Of Dust, Argyle Park, Celldweller), Clutch, Opeth, Finntroll, The Sword, Powerglove, Dog Fashion Disco… even then, that’s a small part of the list. That’s the best thing about being fairly open-minded when it comes to music.
No doubt, I go through phases too. Doom has been it for a while now. I tend towards trip-hop and trances phases when the metal’s too heavy.
Same experience with those four Opeth albums.
Yeah, I totally know what you mean. I’ve had that problem with Radiohead, Led Zeppelin and Iron Maiden, among others. It makes it really great when you revisit them after a while and are like “Man, this band shaped my adolescence”. (I’m on the cusp, by the way. I’m 18, so I’m only just barely an adult.) It’s really great to listen to a song for the first time in months and know every note on every instrument when that song has meant so much to you. I definitely get that with songs like Stairway to Heaven, Aces High and Children of the Damned.
With me, I really started listening to good music about 4 years ago, with Iron Maiden and Led Zeppelin. Before then it was pop-punk bullshit (Sum 41, Green Day, Blink-182 etc, and I’m not insulting every pop punk band to have ever existed either) or whatever played on Vancouver’s the Fox (home of nu-metal, post-grunge and “hard” rock) because worlds had not yet been opened to me.
I burnt the fuck out on Slayer for about 6 months to a year then just declared Exodus Murders them and haven’t looked back
? ? ?
That blog post was so right. I’m not gonna fall into the “let’s write list of bands you can’t listen to anymore and bands you comeback to” cuz’ i tend to get all passionate about those things, updating my post every 5 minutes or so :)
I thought I killed The Way of all Flesh but I’m listening to it now and it’s still fucking golden.
“the green fields are gone the expanse is exhuasted and the world is rotting awaaay in a vortex of swirling
refuse with the sacred one yoooooouuuuu loooooost.”
I’ll say it I ain’t scared…Way of All Flesh=FUCKING EPIC!!!
It really is.
When i was 14, I began listening to BTBAM. The Silent Circus in that time, for me was the best album of all. I always go back to it. Of course, they as a band have progressed and their musicianship has greatly improved, but that album is still my favorite album as a whole from theirs. Other bands I always go back to:
Converge
Jesu
Dillinger
The Mars Volta
Throwdown (Haymaker)
Zao
Immortal Technique
Mastodon
+1 for BTBAM. Cannot wait for Mid October….
I had my Metallica phase waaay back in ‘98-’99, and …Justice is the album I keep coming back to, but I don’t listen to them as much anymore. In fact, I rarely listen to metal these days. I’m more focused on progressive stuff like Canvas Solaris or Liquid Tension Experiment.
Yeah, Metallica did it for me to. Same album even. Can’t do it anymore though.
For most heavy bands out there, I haven’t gotten burned out that much. I tend to cycle through them all. Maybe Cradle Of Filth, just because I need to really want to hear them… Otherwise I’ll just listen to Immortal or Emperor.
The one band I always seem to go back to is Porcupine Tree. Love their stuff!
I used to love System of a Down for about 3 years. I listened to them all the time. Now I can’t stand them. Literally can’t listen to one song by them without having the urge to turn it off. Maybe it’s just I don’t care for their style now, but I’m over it.
I feel ya man. And I know exactly what you’re talking about. I’ll buy a new record and spin that thing for a week or two. And it’s the only thing I’ll listen to. And then I’ll go back to my main bunch, that I just can’t get enough of. It’s like bands will release something, and it’ll be awesome. But after a while, it just loses it’s fizz, like a coke that’s been sitting out for a while. And then there are those few bands that are like Koolaid, and no matter how long they sit out, they never lose their flavor, they’ll get warm, and won’t feel nice on your throat, you can always put em in the fridge and come back to em later. Can’t do that with a fizzed out coke.
But the bands I always come back to:
Opeth (I’m right with you, they are my favorite band, and I could listen to EVERY one of their records continuously)
Porcupine Tree
Gojira
Mastodon
Nevermore
Queen
That’s all I can think of right now.
I think whoever invents something to re-carbonate pop would be a billionaire
Me too man. Me too. Cause that’s pretty much all I drink. And I’ve found that if you drink a lot of soda while in college… You burn through money quite quickly.
I know exactly how you feel. Lately, I’ve been a tad burnt out on heavy metal. I’ve been listening to stuff like The Beatles, Neil Diamond, Randy Newman, oldie stuff like that. I’ll always listen to metal, but right now I’m discovering new things
She torched Neil? You’re right, she is a monster
Death is my all time favorite band. I would listen to at least one of the albums at least once a day. This went on for a long time, but now I will listen to them maybe once every 2 or 3 months. I don’t like them any less, but it seems to have more of an effect listening that way.
I always go back to listening to the following:
Nevermore
Mercyful Fate
Opeth
Nile
Alchemist
Acid Bath
Testament
Emperor
Death Angel
SYL
Alabama Thunderpussy
I seem to always go back to listening to classic thrash and a lot of early 90’s death metal.
Stuff that I don’t go out of my way to listen to anymore:
Slayer
Metallica
Dismember
Iced Earth
Arch Enemy (Lost interest when Angela came on board)
Dimmu Borgir and most of the Black Metal that I used to listen to.
I could come up with a long list I’m sure, but I won’t. It’s actually funny that Eyal would ask this question, cuz I wore out The Hinderers and couldn’t listen to it for about a year. But I started listening again when I heard there was new DAATH coming out, and now I’m on my way to doing the same thing with The Concealers. So hurry up with the next album :]
When I get burnt out on metal I put on shit like Say Anything or Mariah Carey.
Or I put on Bach or Vivaldi.
I know exactly what you’re saying. The band I had to ditch was Metallica. When ‘Justice’ came out I was completely sold. I loved that album and its sound, the mix was so bass heavy. I listened to it so many times I knew it word for word. When I jammed I found my self ripping it off relentlessly. Then ‘Black album’ came out and it was like…Whoa, what happened? Then came Load and ReLoad and on and on and it just got worse and worse. Now when I go back and listen to ‘Justice’ it’s like I start hearing the beginnings of what they were turning into and it just doesn’t do it anymore. The band I can always go back to has got to be a band called Quicksand. The album Slip specifically. The album is the definition of EPIC from start to finish. Great band. Maybe the greatest underrated band nobody’s ever heard of. However the music never fails me. No matter how many times I’ve played that album, it’s as great as it was the first time.
Dude Quicksand is far from being an unknown band.
In my shitty town there are about 3 people who really know about them, and my ex-wife is one so technically she doesn’t even count. I fucking love this band.
sorry, but CHIMAIRA and HATEBREED come to mind. Simply cause of the somewhat mono-tone vox. I fucking love Jamey’s shit on the new one for sure and it endures my cd player still. So horns up to him on the new one!!!! As for Mark, the shit gets stale real quick. I find the music keeping me more in tuned than anything else, especially thier creative guitars. The scream is very un dimensional for me.
i always go back to pearl jam. they were the first band i really loved and anything those guys put out i always enjoy. even their new album, which isnt very good compared to alot of their stuff i still like. its poppy as fuck but i still spin that shit
I wouldn’t say I “burn out” on music. As far as durability and longevity go, there are generally three categories in which the music that makes an impression on me will normally reside: utility music, whereby the music is a product to be consumed just long enough to achieve a short-term effect and then discarded once its lost its usefulness; phase music, whereby the music means something to me in a certain point in my life and then is also discarded once I can longer relate to it; and life-defining music, whereby the music is so meaningful and life-affirming for me personally that it becomes a part of who I am and repeated spins eventually become unnecessary. (Those categories exclude the music I get ambushed with or can’t seem to get away from because it just keeps happening to me.) In short, music either loses its usefulness to me, OR it becomes a part of me and I only occasionally need to revisit the material. In the latter case, I’ve noticed that the music that sticks will usually be more complex than your standard fare, mean different things to me at varying points in my life, and that in periodically revisiting the material the music will continually reveal itself to me in new ways.
So no “burn out:” I either absorb it into me and carry it with me always (whether I’m actively spinning it or not), or I slough it off when making the transformation to the next stage in my evolution.
Damn girl, that’s some deep shit. Well said as well.
VERY well said. I would have to say I relate to that.
Zakk Mylde’s Pinch Harmonic Squeals!!!!!!! Dude, we know already. Play a goddamn melodic rythym for once!!!
Once again, Zakk Wylde’s blood clots…Still funny.
I kinda OD’d on Job For a Cowboy.. They were good for a while but I started listening to the music more deepley and I just wasnt Impressed… I havent heard there new album maybe they changed Idk…
Fuck… Trivium Ascendancy
Well, Eyal, I think this is a great question. I am glad to know I am not the only one that has thught this. I read a book, which I recommend to all music listeners, regardless of genre tastes. It is entirely about how the brain processes music. It’s called This Is your Brain On Music, by Dr. Daniel Levitin. It has some very logical statements about the psychology of music, one of them being similar to this topic.
And the main concept with this is the Prototype Theory. It says that our first exeprience with a genre of music, or anything in life, is automatically imprinted into our brain as the ‘perfect’ example. So after that point of listening to that first song of that genre, we subconiously compare everything after that to our first experience. It is why, after all these years, I still go back to Slipknot once I have gone through a cycle of enjoying all the other metal out there. So, for example, you shouldnt be embarrassed to say that you secretly listen to Van Halen, if that is what you grew up listening to. I would be curious to see how many “tr00″ metal fans honestly started off listening to underground black metal/deathcore/whatever, or any other metal of similar kinds.
Except for Ziltoid, his mother’s breast milk ran black with tr00
Thanks for the book recommendation. I just put it on hold at my local library.
“I would be curious to see how many “tr00″ metal fans honestly started off listening to underground black metal/deathcore/whatever, or any other metal of similar kinds.”
I will venture a guess and probably draw the same conclusion you seem to be leaning towards: that very few (if any) did. For one thing, the more extreme subgenres are less commercially accessible, so few people would know of them or be exposed to them who didn’t first have entre through another route, which is usually the more commercially viable and accessible bands like Van Halen, Pantera, Slipknot, etc. For the other, I’ll reference back to my comment in Eyal’s blog asking whether or not we think metal is going back underground and say that those same bands seem to serve as introductory material for metal fans to cut their teeth on for the same reason as listed above; furthermore, they ARE more commercially viable because they ARE more accessible to the common music listener and repeated listens tend to allow those new to metal music to cut their teeth, so to speak, and develop their tastes for the more extreme strains of the genre…or not.
For some people, bands like Disturbed, Korn, and Sevendust will be as heavy as it gets for them and that’s fine. I don’t fault anyone (too much) for not being able to relate to the more extreme strains of the metal genre, so long as they don’t fault me that I can or try to talk to me about how “heavy” and “deep” Five Finger Death Punch is. By the same token, I won’t the fault (too much) the people who only listen to extreme metal, so long as they respect the fact that my tastes are more broad.
Sort of went off on a tangent there from the original topic, but that last sentence of your post tweaked my attention.
Oh, and I’m really starting to look forward to Eluveitie’s one-liners, even when I’m glad they’re not directed at me.
Yes that coment about Zilty was pretty funny. I wonder what Suidakra tastes like? And on the metal-accessability, thing, you are defintely right about that. I mean, when you go into Walmart, are they likely to sell a Cradle of Filth album? Not particularly. This has nothing to do with taling about song cycles, but anyways…
JANE DOE.
I go through stages where I discover new music and only listen to that. I’m stuck on Manic Street Preachers right now, but right before this I couldn’t stop listening to BTBAM and DEP. I always go back to Slipknot (being as how that’s the band that got me into metal), Pantera, and Tool. Of course, now I’ll definitely be going back to the bands I mentioned first.
I’ve been burned out on alot of classic rock. and my favorite band of all time, guns n roses, i haven’t reall listened to in years. crazy come to think of it.
I was talking to my drummer about this the other day and he said he didn’t ever really get burned out on any of his favorite bands. I thought that was crazy cause I get burned out on my favorites a lot with the most recent one being Mastodon. I’ve listened to everything Mastodon has recorded for the past year and I finally am just gonna have to lay off of em’ for a while. Did the same thing with Dream Theater, Soundgarden, Pantera, Megadeth, Black Label Society, Corrosion of Conformity, Clutch, Death and many others. It seems like I have a musical addiction and no matter how many good bands I find and listen to it never seems to be enough. I was starting to wonder if I was one of few that felt this way, glad to see that’s not true.
I honestly got burned out by ‘The Concealers’ because I listened to it way too much. Haven’t heard it in a while but of course I’m going back to it. It’s on my list of “Flawless Albums.” I can’t listen to some of the stuff I used to anymore. It’s not exciting to hear I guess. Unearth and Soulfly are good examples.
I am so burned out on Lamb of God right now and I know for a fact a lot of others are as well. They had a good run but I don’t want to hear them for a few years.
I burn myself out on songs/bands all the time, sometimes temporarily, sometimes for good. I’ll always keep coming back to bands like Pink Floyd, Dream Theater, Opeth, Tool, and Rush. Most recently, I burned out Protest the Hero’s Fortress and Mastodon’s Crack the Skye, but I’ll be back to them eventually.
Its the ones that you don’t come back to that are a bit harder to peg. I may have burned out Arch Enemy for good. I haven’t listened to them in a long while, and don’t really feel like it now that i’m actively thinking about it.
An equally interesting question is which bands do you never seem to burn out on? I’ll start it off. I have never burned out on Iron Maiden. Whenever it comes on shuffle in the car, I say fuck yeah and crank it to eleven.
Listened to Crack The Skye maybe 40-50 times within the first month it came out and I now I can’t stand that record. Trying not to do it to the new Black Dahlia CD now, and it’ll probably happen when Skeletonwitch’s new CD arrives too.
I did the exact same thing with Crack the Skye….but truth is I think I could come back to it soon very
easily. It’s just that good.
In Flames, The Haunted and Slipknot are bands from which i own every single record released, and I’ve listened to those records to the point where it feels like a weight on my shoulders just looking at them. I still listen to single songs from these records, but the albums themselves I just can’t deal with anymore. Don’t know if it will change, the only In Flames album that I still could listen to from time to time is The Jester Race.
lol…limp bizkit sucks
Ozzy – No More Tears. Had 2 ODs already, still come back :)
I seriously like this guys column. Mission accomplished because it def turned me on to them. I’ve never listened to Daath until I read this insightful column. That being said you all reminded me of a bunch of awesome shit I have to add to the playlist. Thanks.
Edge of Sanity’s Crimson II is the most epic album I’ve ever heard and I used to just listen to it all the way through each time from start to finish (There’s no other way, right?). And now I just can’t seem to commit the time to it. How stupid does that sound? I sound fucking old.
In Flames is also a big one because they got me into metal.. but they stopped making worthwhile records which really put me off to them.
It’s all cool to go back and listen to but I think its sad that I don’t get the same face-melting, goosebump inducing euphoria from it.
I was a jazz tenor saxophonist in college, so for me it was always John Coltrane, Sonny Rollins, and Cannonball Adderley. Nowadays, the bands I consistently dig but need to have a break from occasionally include Bjork, Radiohead, Chris Potter’s Underground, Lamb of God, Cannibal Corpse, Wu-Tang Clan, Kings of Leon, Mutemath, Blood Red Throne, and Psycroptic, among others. I usually just jump around to other genres as my ears see fit. Devin Townsend’s Ki was another I had on repeat for a long time before I got burned on it.
I can’t listen to Children of Bodom much anymore. I remember listening to Needled 24/7 all the fucking time in Grade 11, and by Grade 12 (when Are you Dead yet was released) their catalogue was in such high rotation throughout the day that by the time Blooddrunk came out I was just burned out on them and just can’t bring myself to listen to them anymore. Even if they come up on shuffle on my WMP library, I end up just skipping over them.
Defenitly, Just happens to be Opeth, Went on for a couple of years collecting and buying there CD’s, listening to them non-Stop everywhere i went..loved everything about there music..then i just stopped listening to them.. like instantly it was weird lol.. i still love there music and always will, every part of it..They make great music and im happy that i noticed them.
Opeth – Still Life, Rush – 2112
Im at that stage now with the same band.
I went to Bloodstock in 2008, a few weeks before i thaught i would have a listen to a few bands that i hadnt heard of, I was only going to watch Soilwork.
So i downloaded (naughty me) a few opeth albums.
Ever since that moment and the second Opeth stuck the last chord at Bloodstock i was obsessed.
Every single album was on repeat on my itunes/ipod every music player that i had until a few weeks ago.
I listened to them too much.
There is no doubt that the songwriting and performances on the albums are breathtaking, the reason i listened so much, but dare i say it….Im almost bored of it.
They are by far my favourite band, and as you say, the music to go back too.
Too many bands release absolute shite…..we need more genius bands that release timeless classics!
i think when you go back to certain bands not only for the music, but for the time period when you first listened to it. as with alot of people on here, i go back to pantera every 6 months or so because being 34, back in the day thats what we hung out and partied to. as far as opeth, i agree with eyal, ive listened to metal for 20 years or so and i believe they are so far from most metal that i burn out on em too but theyre music never really gets old
OMG i feel the same way! i used to sleep w/ Opeth on every night but then i had to let them go for a few months. i stopped crack the skye for a few days too. but i never came back to system of a down, slipknot and mudvayne…i just can’t do it anymore.
I remember being in high school and hearing Hypocrisy for the first time. It was The Fourth Dimension album and ever since then I have had a love affair with Nuclear Blast records that has stuck with me into my mid 20’s. I remember being blown away by this sound that wasn’t quite american, it sounded deathly sick and totally blew away any Metallica song I had ever heard up to this point. With Hypocrisy came The Death is Just the Beginning comps. This opened the door to many new bands obviously such as Dismember, Meshuggah, Benediction, etc. It was a time of musical change in my life and one that would have an effect on my guitar playing as well.
This new wave of sound I was getting into also introduced me to black metal and one band called Dissection. Now I was completely floored when I heard Storm of the Light’s Bane for the first time. Before I had heard this album though I bought a Death is Just the Beginning comp, and on it was the song Night’s Blood, which is an epic 6 minutes and 40 seconds of musical greatness, except it was heavier and slower. The tempo was probably 50 bpms, maybe just 30 bpms slower, and boy oh boy did it blow me away (if you are interested this version can be found on Death is Just the Beginning volume 3). I instantly did some research and found Storm of the Lights Bane and forever was changed.
This album is greatness all the way through, and the only other album I could compare it to would be Slaughter of the Soul, there is not one bad track on either of these albums as far as I am concerned
Other albums which I burned a hole into would be : Carcass – Heartwork, At the Gates -Slaughter of the Soul, Dismember – Death Metal, Megadeth – so far so good so what
To end this post I recently put Storm of the Lights Bane back on my iPod after not listening to it for 4 or 5 years and it was just as fresh sounding as when I heard it back in high school. Epic greatness with quality song writing if you can stand some old school metal.
After Dime died, I listen to “Hollow” on Vulgar Display of Power for two days straight. Needless to stay, my nervous system had had enough. I still choke up when I hear it.
Controller – by Misery Signals is probably my favorite album of all time, but yes i know what you mean. i need some time away from it every once in a while. same sort of thing with Tool – Lateralus, i take some time away but eventually i gotta feed the addiction!
i used to listen to the Red Hot Chili Peppers a LOT for quite a while but i dunno i guess u could say i pretty much burned them out. every once in a while i go back and listen to a song or two but after that its like “ehhh i wanna hear something else”
i still catch myself going back to bands i used to listen to a lot tho like Linkin Park, System of a Down, Eminem, etc.
about the Ghost Reveries thing… that album is incredible. unfortunately i hardly know anyone who likes opeth, so i guess ive gotta enjoy them by myself =P
i feel like this is a little different simply because of how i got into metal. i started listening to bands like afi, thrice,thursday and other “alternative” music.i n like 7th and 8th grade after listening to random rap from like 4th-6th grade. then i moved to more “heavy (i use this word VERY loosely)” stuff such as alexisonfire, underoath and other scremo. I went to a private school till 12th grade and most of the kids there listened to things such as guster, dave mathews and whatever was on z100 or mtv, so anything that was loud was heavy. in 9th grade i started listening to hardcore and in 10th and 11th grade i started listening to bands like norma jean, it dies today, the chariot, as i lay dying etc but that got burnt out. in 12th grade i didn’t find those bands heavy enough so i started listening to cannibal corpse, death etc and the same thing happend. for some reason in freshman year of college i started listening to a lot of deathcore but yet again i listened to it so much it got boring. then in sophomore year my roommates introduced me to phish, allman brothers, disco biscuits, umphreys mghee, moe and other jam bands and i was hooked. at the same time my other friends introduced me to bands like muse, modest mouse and manman. i also started listening to djs such as prettylights, skream, rusko, bassnectar and the glitch mob. right now (junior year) i seem to have found a healthy rotation of music where i listen to everything except the music from middle school. but every once in a while and afi song or an alexisonfire song will come up in shuffle and ill let it play and feel all nostalgic. i guess one way to sum up this rant is to say I’ve finally found a point where music doesn’t get burnt out anymore i can enjoy listening to lots of different genres and nothing really gets burnt out anymore
I’ve been listenin to Gojira for three months now, like every fuckin’ day. From Mars to Sirius & The Way of All Flesh are on constant repeat!!! I’ll probably get burnt out soon enough (I hope I don’t), but I’ll definitely keep coming back to these albums.
*Terra Incognita* (their first full-length) is being re-released here in the States on the 13th – remastered and with some “new” (?) live tracks. It and *The Link* (re-released in 2007, I think) are pretty much sure things. I’ve heard the criticism that they’re not as “raw” as the original releases, but considering the fact that I’ve seen the original releases for as little as $50 or as much as $80… Yeah, I’ll take what I can get.
So if you haven’t heard either of those albums yet, there’s no need to get burned on *FMtS* or *TWoAF.* All of their full-lengths (their demos as well, or so I hear) stand on their own, but they’re also interesting spins in order to hear Gojira’s career progression.
Thanks for the info. I actually do know a couple of songs off Terra Incognita (Clone, Love, Lizard Skin), and they’re actually great songs (and I can see what you mean by career progression), but I never listened to Terra Incognita or The Link as a whole, so I’ll definitely do that as soon as I finish another full spin from FMtS & TWoAF!!!
I’ve definitely felt burnt out on bands before. I think I’m permanently burnt out on Slipknot, the only song I can really stand is “Left Behind” and even that I don’t care to hear. For a while I was sick of all the music I had, so I just started searching for bands I hadn’t heard of were just coming up in the past 5 years. It actually worked well and now I have a lot more variety.
On a side note, the topics you blog about on here are great Eyal! One of the few times I actually enjoy what I’m reading when I come on here.
“For a while I was sick of all the music I had, so I just started searching for bands I hadn’t heard of were just coming up in the past 5 years. It actually worked well and now I have a lot more variety.”
That’s how I came to find THIS site and latch on to it. :)
word. If not for THIS site I probably wouldn’t have discovered Gojira. THIS site rules!
Appetite for Destruction. Just awesome!
im in the same boat with opeth
they were my savior on my long busride to schoool everyday last year
i believe i listened to damnation every morninig and the heavy shit in the afternon but it got me through the day but i ve kinda taken a little break now
Converge and Black Sabbath are two bands I’ll never tire of until my dying day.