Music to My Ears
What does it say about you as a person when you start to realize that the music you listen to might be incredibly annoying to others around you, namely your parents? I've counted on numerous occasions instances when I'm listening to music in the house or in the car with my parents around, and I'm forced to admit that this probably sounds terrible to them. Sure, sometimes they indulge my joy at hearing music in the car, but I can almost feel their disgust at this atonal nonsense. Thus, I feel that it's necessary to lower the volume or change the disc to something much more neutral in tone.

Two recent examples:
1. On the trip home, I had Wilco's Yankee Hotel Foxtrot playing in the car. I suddenly thought, "God, Jeff Tweedy's voice isn't very pleasing to the ear. There's no sense of melody at all." So I ejected the disc and replaced it with the always welcome strains of Elvis.

2. Sitting in the living room, on the computer, I had Pavement's Slanted and Enchanted playing. My mother came in, and I'm forced to admit to myself that no matter how many times I read about how this is a "classic" album and no matter how much I like it, it's not very pleasing to listen to. In fact, some of it's really harsh. Stephen Malkmus screeches, screams, and shrieks a lot through several tracks. I shut it off.

It's not that my taste in music has changed in recent years into what I envision occurs to older people who aren't hip to the scene and narrowed dramatically. In fact, I'd say that, if anything, my tastes have expanded to include bands, genres, and specific albums that I had no previous interest in, a passing familiarity with, or an outright hatred towards.

I'm left to ponder whether this means that either I am becoming more considerate of others or that I'm starting to realize that some of the stuff I listen to is really noisy and annoying. I'd like to think that the former is true, but I suspect that the latter has more validity than I'd like to admit. Maybe I just need some headphones.