For better or worse, I spend a great deal of time on social media. It’s the most effective way for me to stay on top of what’s happening with music and musicians, and the best way for me to continue to get my name in front of your eyes.

I’m like anybody else scrolling through all those feeds. Sometimes I’m laughing, sometimes I’m growling with anger, sometimes I recoil in horror. And sometimes, I’m left scratching my head. Which is what brings me here today.

On more than one occasion, I’ve seen the following question (or variations of it) asked by people in the music community:

“What album do you listen to without skipping any songs?”

Say what?

Who listens to an album and skips songs? Isn’t that the point of having the album in the first place? I’ve been listening to records for 50 years, and I can count on less than five fingers — tops — the number of times I deemed it necessary to consistently skip a track on an album.

I suppose this is where someone tells me that I’m stuck in the 20th century when it comes to consuming music. And I suppose they’re right. I also don’t give a damn! There are any number of reasons to let an album play from start to finish.

But this is the Streaming Era, isn’t it? People consume music by the song now. They listen to the hits. It’s the equivalent of going to record stores “back in the day” to buy 45s, which gave you a grand total of two songs. That’s not how my brain operates.

When a band releases an album, I want to hear everything they were thinking about. More often than not, you’ll find that a couple of “deep cuts” (songs not released as singles) have just as much or more value than the singles. So why weren’t the deep cuts the singles? Maybe the song was too long to be a single. Or, maybe the band went in a different direction than their fans were accustomed to. The point is, you won’t know for sure if you don’t listen to the whole album.

Yet apparently, this is not as fashionable these days. When I posed my thought process on Twitter, I actually got a comment from a guy who said, “My wife thinks I’m nuts for listening to the whole album.”

Wow …

I’m the first to admit that I have the attention span of a ferret on a double-espresso. But that thought process … I don’t even know how to sort that out in my brain.

Creating an album is not easy. Bands work hard to get all their ideas onto tape (or hard drive). It seems utterly disrespectful to me to just blow the whole project off in exchange for a hit. But to be fair, I also understand the need to feel confident that purchasing the entire album is a good idea.

More than a few artists have poured their efforts into one song and the rest of the album comes off as so much filler. My experience has led me to be wary of the band that releases the first track of their album as the hit single. There are exceptions to this rule of course (e.g. see Rush, “Tom Sawyer”), but I tend to use my second rule for album purchase should that happens. I delay the purchase of said album until I hear a couple more singles. If I like what I hear, then I buy the album. I love that Queens of the Stone Age made their first single from their new album the ninth song you hear. That, to me, is confidence. I have no problem buying that album based on one song.*

I suppose an upside of streaming is that you can do that now without waiting for the radio to give you more. And yet people still seem fixated on the single and nothing else. And I continue to scratch my head.

Obviously, concept albums are best heard in their entirety. There is a story being told there, and to skip over or ignore tracks is to miss out on some potentially valuable information. Yet even as I say that, I’m sure there’s someone out there familiar with Pink Floyd’s song “Comfortably Numb” who can’t be bothered to listen to the rest of The Wall. The thought just makes me sad.

But people are gonna do what they’re gonna do. I might find the song-skipping process disrespectful, but I might be in the minority. So, do whatever you’re happy with and I’ll do the same. And life will go on.

Yet, the question remains: what album do I listen to without skipping any songs?

ALL OF THEM.

* — By the way, the new QOTSA album is fantastic. Keep your eyes peeled here for a forthcoming review.

#cirdecsongs

Please follow me on my socials, all of which you can find here: https://linktr.ee/cirdecsongs

I’m currently at work on my second book The Wizard of WOO: The Life and Music of Bernie Worrell

Would you like to have your album reviewed? Contact me at cirdecsongs@gmail.com