Do you ever have times when music just doesn't work for you?

If even some John Martyn didn't help, then, yes, I'd be worried

 

It happens a lot. I live near, and spend a lot of time in the Adirondak mountains. The weather here has been terrible the last few months, but in the fall, spring and summer, I love to go to the woods and just listen to insects, rivers and waterfalls. I often prefer it to music.

 

I don't remember that happening to me. I'm pretty much always in the mood to at least listen to music. When I lived alone and had my own apartment, I spent far more time listening to music than watching TV. Only the Internet came close to the same amount of time I listened to music.

 

Just take a break...it's what your brain seems to be telling you.

 

just find a better weed guy.

 

Not often. But it happens. I don't think it's a case of nothing in my collection seems right for my mood and I need to find something new. Just sometimes music isn't the thing. Usually when I'll pop in a movie. Or stare at the internets for too long...

 

Yes, this happens to me. You asked "should I be worried?" - I can only speak for myself, but if I get in this state, for ME, it's a pretty accurate indicator that my stress and mental health are not where they should be. I dig me some silence too, or just some birds and wind and so on... but in general, when music is doing nothing for me, or I don't even feel like listening at all, it's not a good thing.

Sorry to be so serious sounding, just being honest about what this usually means for me.

 

Oh, a side note, if I decide to force myself to listen anyway, the B-52s are often a good way to get past this

 

Not often, but once in a while, yes that happens.

Fortunately it's not only short-lived but usually followed by a re-invigorated obsession for some genre or another (whether new-to-me or rediscovered).

 

I listen to music more than anyone I know. I have spent a big part of my life with music on while I sleep.
But there are times when I don't bother to put it on. Mostly times when I have been gigging a lot.
Not that I get an aversion to music, I just simply don't bother with it when I am working on other things.

 

At work.

 

I wouldn't say there are times when music "doesn't work for me," but with over 22K songs in my iTunes, it can be tough sometimes to choose. For just about a year now, I've been making myself listen to everything in my iTunes that does not have a record of a "date last played on," and it's been helping. I was stuck in a rut of either listening to the same small group of favorite songs, or putting on one of my various playlists of the years of the 1980s that each have 200-300 songs, and just playing a bunch of songs for about a minute each before skipping to the next track. But yes, there are times when I think "OK, been listening to music enough today, maybe let's try a movie or a TV show."

 

Usually if I am feeling ill I have no interest in music. A sure sign of feeling better is when the interest resumes.

 

It sounds like you're bored. It's time to branch out and listen to music you've never heard before. Be adventurous and try some whole new genres, like maybe Balinese gamelan, ambient techno, acid folk, drones, free improv, minimalism, krautrock, etc.

 

Like all hobbies I have to put music aside once in awhile. But when I come back to it, I'm usually really get into it.

 

Yes, it happens to me. I think we all go through phases when we are more or less receptive to music, but what's unusual is to be unreceptive yet try to force it. When we do, we get that 'music isn't working' feeling. I don't think just buying more music is the answer to it actually ... just go and do something else until you get your groove back.

 

I tend to jump to audiobooks sometimes , but tend to listen to different genres a lot , listening to Boulez Wozzeck right now

 

Yeah, happens all the time. I go through periods lasting for years where less is more.

 

Yes, if I'm feeling particularly low, or very preoccupied with something. It's only about one day in 10 i just don't listen to anything.

 

Ain’t no weed strong enough to make me endure Elton John’s “Greatest Hits” like the OP mentioned. ;-)

 

Never.

 

You could even try Night Nurse. She might not fix the problem but you probably won't be worried about it under her tender ministrations.

 

It's never happened to me for a long period of time (weeks or months) but there are certainly evenings when I can't find anything that sounds good to my ears. I also find that music doesn't sound good to me when I'm feeling ill, which is too bad... lounging around or laying in bed with some music playing should be just what the doctor ordered.

I love it when I'm immersed in an artist's work for weeks on end, but I also have a huge appetite for new sounds and it's frustrating when I don't have any new albums that I'm excited about. Then I find one or two and I'm off the races again.