Have you ever forced yourself to like an album?
 

.

Yes. I actually did it as an experiment once. I remember I couldn't get into Love & Rockets' self-titled album even though I liked Earth Sun Moon and Express a lot. So I decided to listen to it once a day for a few weeks to see if it was possible to get into something by simple repetition. Turns out it is.

.

yeah. Supposed Former Infatuation Junkie by Alanis Morissette. Loved Jagged Little Pill, but hated SFIJ at first.....but just listened to it over and over and forced myself to like it in the end lol.

I've never tried to force myself to like something by repetition. Life's too short, there is too much other music to listen to.

There have been a handful of albums that I have bought, didn't like all that much at first, but after a few more listens I came to appreciate them - but I don't think that's what the OP was talking about.

He's been one of the most consistent members on the site since 2007, and was a mod at one point. Quite frankly, I'm surprised he doesn't have more. Batlord's in the lead currently among active members if I'm correct.

"Forcing yourself to like an album is like trying to talk yourself into achieving an erection"- George S. Patton

"Forcing" might be to strong a word, but I do give music a lot of chances. Pretty much everything I love now was stuff I found to be 'meh' or even hated when I first listened to it.

How do you differentiate between albums you only listen to once and forget about and albums you give more time to?

My answer to the OP is: No. Not purposely.

I listened until Radiohead's Kid A until it finally clicked and i could admit that yes, it is indeed awesome and I should stop underrating Radiohead. Then I never listened to Radiohead again. I don't know why, since I finally did end up liking it.