Why don't we tire of music?


So, there’s a lot of smart folk’s on this site, and I’ve been wondering why people never grow tired of listening to music. For example, we don’t read the same book over and over, nor do we watch the same TV show or movie over and over.  But, we never get tired of listening to the same music.  Why is this?  What is it in our mentally that allows this to happen?  Just curious...  Thanks!

 

quincy

Showing 2 responses by mulveling

Music offers the right combination of providing structure while granting enough freedom to form our own interpretations of meaning. These interpretations resonate at a very base emotional level - something modern society tells us to "keep a lid on", in almost every other context. And our interpretations can change from day-to-day, or over time. That prevents boredom. Good music also hits the right centers of our brain to release dopamine so we feel then need to come back for more.

Watching a movies, you’re too passive of an observer. Once you reach the end, 99% of movies lose all rewatch value. Once I know what happened, I don’t need to watch it again. I can count on my hands (out of thousands) the shows / movies that have any rewatch value, and even then the rewatches have to be spaced out (at least a year).

TV shows and books depend on stimulating us through both logical and emotional pathways. Once we know how a book or show ends, and why, the logical pathway is "satisfied" and cannot be stimulated again in the same way.

Music hits us very hard on primarily emotional pathways. It also leaves the "imagery" component totally up to us for interpretation and re-imagination later on. Over time, our re-interpretations will play off memories made when first hearing an album. Much like a good drug (but without the downsides), this yields incredible playback value! Of course, there are limits :) I think I got 99.9% of all the Led Zeppelin I ever wanted to hear between ages 14 and 15. Thank god because I wouldn't want to have lost my virginity to that shit 😂