The Thrill is Back!

These two ladies totally get what I’m feeling right now. Just look at their reaction to the music that's coming through their headphones. That's some true elation! I’m happy to say I finally have that feeling again, too. (Incidentally, thank you Google Image Search for coming up with that picture when I typed in “happy headphones.” My headphones are officially happy!) 2009 has been one of the worst years on record (pun intended) for new music, which is exactly why I’m so excited to listen to music again. Confused? Think I’ve gone crazy? Let me explain.

One of the biggest joys of any music writer, or music fan for that matter, is discovering something great. We are forever digging through stacks of albums in hopes of finding a gem, something that we can shout about from the rooftops. Over the years, however, no matter what some folks may want to tell you, we’ve had a large number of albums to shout about, and when you have that many good albums being sent your way it changes the landscape of things. You’re always shouting about something new every week and while yeah, it may be great music, when you’re finding something great every week its lifespan is significantly shorter because it’s an every week thing. Eventually the thrill of finding something great is replaced by the expectation of finding something great and when the music world takes a downturn that feeling of expectation is replaced by a feeling of disgust that nothing good is coming out.

I always keep an ongoing list of my favorite albums of the year. This makes my life a lot easier come December when I’m putting together my year end Top 25 list. Usually, by the start of June I have at least 15-20 albums on that list and am already wondering which ones will be booted out by year’s end. Before my listening session on Wednesday night, however, 2009 had only produced nine, yes NINE albums I felt were worthy of being on my year end Top 25 list (one of which was actually on last year’s list, but had its release date pushed back). Earlier in the year that had me disappointed in the music world, but this week I did a complete 180 and it gave me a sense of joy. I popped in three CDs on Wednesday night and was totally amped to try to find something great again. A bad year for music is a music journalist’s dream because we finally get to do some digging again and when we find that amazing gem of an album we get shout from the rooftops about it and let people know yes, there is good music being released (and yes we are useful!)!

Music snobs (like me) love to spout that sometimes you have to really dig to find good music. That idea is definitely ringing true in 2009. We have to look at this as an opportunity, though, rather than a detriment. This is a chance for us to rediscover the joy of the search and the thrill of discovery, because in the end, a bad year for music is a great year for a music fan.