Basil C. Thurston III

It does. It's human nature to tire of sameness. If you ate the same exact meal every day for a week, you might get tired of it. If you watch the same movie over and over, you will get bored with it eventually. No different with music, IMO, in that the more you hear a song, the more likely you will no longer notice what attracted you to it to begin with. The gimmick wears off, so to speak.
I worked as a DJ at a Top-40 radio station in the 80s. I worked 6 hour shifts, and had a playlist that was basically this: play the top 10 songs 3 times a shift, the top 20 twice a shift, the top 40 once a shift, and fill in between with "oldies" or songs that were off the charts. I remember one night in 1984, when Huey Lewis was at his prime, with the album "Sports" and the Back To The Future soundtrack. I played Huey Lewis 9 times in one shift. He had a song in the top 10, he had two songs in the top 20 and 4 overall on the top 40, plus he had 3 songs that were in the oldies rotation. Every hour, I played at least one Huey song, and in a couple, I played multiples. He had a song on the top 40 charts for over a year straight, and i grew to hate Huey with a passion. To this day, I own a copy of Sports that has never been played. The repetition of playing those songs over and over made me hate them. It's one of the bad things about being a DJ- you grow to hate some of the music you HAVE to play.

Plankton

It's very similar being a musician. I've been in a few cover bands over the years, and to this day I can't stand most of the tunes we covered. From playing them repeatedly at practice, to actually performing those songs on stage, it took a toll on the impact and personal meaning the songs had when I first heard them. Even recording new songs can have the same effect at times from post editing.

Where did you DJ at (if you don't mind me asking)?

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JGuy Grungeman

But then you could also say it's the human's fault for getting annoyed by it. If the song is the same thing all the time, the quality is too. The recipe doesn't change. It's the human that's letting it annoy him. I personally don't get annoyed by overplay.

Neapolitan

It's just like anything else. To me the first potato chip taste the best then it's downhill from there, then become greasy salty junk food after too much, same with repeated listening to a song, or album - I loose my taste for it. I think sayings like "variety is the spice of life," and "familiarity breeds contempt" holds true for music listening.

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JGuy Grungeman

I'm sorry, but a song stays the same all of the time. No sound of it breaks down like an old piece of furniture. It's the person listening who's breaking it down. In all honesty, not only is it the person's fault for getting annoyed by it, it's other people's fault for playing it too often. The song remains the same.

JGuy Grungeman

Actually, I'm just going to say I don't want to discuss this anymore, hoping no one will reply to my statement. Not to say I'm totally right or anything, but arguing about something on a forum makes me tense for personal reasons. So I'm leaving this discussion.

Neapolitan

A jack in the box does the same thing over and over again, the same thing happens all the time. I expect the very first time a child sees it he or she will act surprised. And it might be entertaining for a while, but at some point the child will loose interest. So you are going to fault the child and the parent for loosing interest? Rather than saying well that's just human nature. Once a person knows what to expect, and the mystery is gone, it doesn't have the same affect. Or do you expect the same reaction regardless how many times it done?

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JGuy Grungeman

BUT YOU'RE THE ONE PLAYING THE JACK IN THE BOX. If you aren't, another HUMAN is. The only thin changing is your interest level in the song. If a song is the same all the time, literally, then it can;t possibly change. A song is a collection of audio that can';t be tainted unless you have bad speakers. You technically already used that same argument, instead this time you just implemented a jack-in-the-box instead of food. We could discuss these kinds of metaphors all day and the conversation wouldn't get anywhere. Unless you have something new to say other than that.

Also, I came back here because I'm kind of bored,

JGuy Grungeman

And one more thing, of course I don't expect the same reaction. Why would I? I tend to preserve things and listen to or watch the same thing and wait for a period of time before I watch it. I know it'll never have the same effect, but this way, I don't get tired of it. In fact, I have gotten a little tired of the same microwave burritos I eat. But the recipe for the burritos never changes.

Neapolitan

Seems you are placing blame, by saying it is the listener's fault and the dj's fault, which implies responsibility for wrongdoing if they get tired of a song. What I was saying is that there is no wrong doing on part of the listener. It's just part of human nature. What I am taking into account is that people are emotional beings; they don't sustain the same emotion for long periods of time, and often switch from one for different reasons. Just to be clear the potato chip and the jack-in-the-box are not metaphors of a song, but examples of how things change from repetition over time and through experience.

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