Is it narcissistic to listen to your own music?

  On 3/30/2012 at 12:45 AM, Root5 said:

A healthy amount of narcissism is awesome.

so fucking true

Narcissus fell in love with his reflection so much that he couldn't stop looking and he died. If you keep playing your song on repeat or play it repetitively your creative spirit can die inside like Narcissus.

I make music that I want to hear, so of course I listen to it.

It's not necessarily narcissistic. Just don't do it obsessively. You've heard your own songs a bajillion times already anyway because you made them.

The only problem with listening to your own music is that you can never be surprised by it, because you know it so well. You can never suddenly hear a track you never realized was there, or hear some aspect of the song you didn't know existed. I want to hear something that I made that somehow I didn't know I made, and I could be all like "Holy shit, I made that? Fuck yeah." That's quite obviously impossible, though.

I don't make music, but I assume the same question applies to art. Like, I know there are many other artists better than I am, but the way I make art is according to what I would want to see. (In other words, if you make music sound like something you would want to hear, why wouldn't you want to listen to it?)

There's a big difference between that and narcissism.

  On 3/30/2012 at 7:06 AM, gmanyo said:

The only problem with listening to your own music is that you can never be surprised by it, because you know it so well. You can never suddenly hear a track you never realized was there, or hear some aspect of the song you didn't know existed. I want to hear something that I made that somehow I didn't know I made, and I could be all like "Holy shit, I made that? Fuck yeah." That's quite obviously impossible, though.

This is really interesting though. There is something nice about making something, then looking at it months/years later, once there is some distance between the finished product and the mental associations of how you went about making it and intetnions and whatnot.

  On 3/30/2012 at 7:22 AM, LARRY said:

This is really interesting though. There is something nice about making something, then looking at it months/years later, once there is some distance between the finished product and the mental associations of how you went about making it and intetnions and whatnot.

Yeah, but by that time I don't like it much anymore because I realize that it's not very great. When you just made a song you think it's the best thing ever.

listening to the music i make is pretty much the number one reason i make music

  On 3/30/2012 at 7:47 AM, dilbthelame said:

listening to the music i make is pretty much the number one reason i make music

Yeah, this, and the fact that I used to enjoy the process of putting together a track.

its also nice to rediscover the cut out tracks, those you made 'accidently' between your intentional tracks, to try something out, or just because you were pissed. Its funny when you don't even remember them. for me often these are the better tracks.

I listen to it all the time, helps me improve it and the melodies are tailored to my own taste so how can I not like it...

  On 3/30/2012 at 1:27 AM, Lindrum Larry Cocopipe said:

  On 3/30/2012 at 12:18 AM, schlucharski said:

hope this gets not too offtopic and is not too egocentric.

I am convinced that I have good taste for music, I know if somethings good, I don't need anyone to tell me if somethings good or not, if its ok to listen to it or not.

But judging my own stuff is hard for me. Its something like being in love.

If I have a fresh tune, I listen to it often. I love it, but the more I listen to it, the uglier it gets.I begin to see the imperfections, the mistakes.

In the end its all shit. Also I don't get much feedback if I post a tune from time to time so I assume I suck (as the conformist I am), but by the end of the day it doesn't matter. I couldn't stop making tunes.

I love it, I love to listen to my shit, but it brings me down often enough, the euphoria I get is not for free.

but yeah its ok to listen to your own shit

 

this

this again

  On 3/30/2012 at 11:11 AM, schlucharski said:

its also nice to rediscover the cut out tracks, those you made 'accidently' between your intentional tracks, to try something out, or just because you were pissed. Its funny when you don't even remember them. for me often these are the better tracks.

oh and this too

  On 3/30/2012 at 7:06 AM, gmanyo said:

The only problem with listening to your own music is that you can never be surprised by it, because you know it so well. You can never suddenly hear a track you never realized was there, or hear some aspect of the song you didn't know existed. I want to hear something that I made that somehow I didn't know I made, and I could be all like "Holy shit, I made that? Fuck yeah." That's quite obviously impossible, though.

Not that impossible, you just have to get really stoned or high enough, then you probably won´t remember absolutely every aspect of it later ;)

Is it narcissistic to listen to your own music ?

If so then making music is narcissistic ! IMO if you listen to it on a reasonable amount, it's simply normal.

As it's been said before, you listen to your tracks a lot while you're making them. When they are finished, it's also very interesting to listen to them because you're free from making it and you can listen to it fully.

Personally, I tend to seek for all the disadvantages or what I judge to be mistakes in them ; the more they will have some, the less longer I will keep listening to them.

Reasons people make music:

-Imma get rich off this (weird techno is probably not your genre)

-Imma impress girls with this (weird instrumental often atonal techno is probably not your genre)

-it's fun & I like to listen to it (could be weird techno!)

Funny this topic should come up as I'm currently burning my tunes to a CD to enjoy in the car. Yes, listening to your own music should be the most amazing thing ever.

  On 4/2/2012 at 1:42 AM, Cryptowen said:

Reasons people make music:

 

-Imma get rich off this (weird techno is probably not your genre)

-Imma impress girls with this (weird instrumental often atonal techno is probably not your genre)

-it's fun & I like to listen to it (could be weird techno!)

This is very true and a very good point !

  On 3/30/2012 at 12:20 AM, chassis said:

How do you expect to impress anyone, if you cant impress yourself?

With a lot of the music that I enjoy, it's because I can't understand how the artist is doing what they are that I get chills down my spine. When I write music, I'm always trying to make a leap forward into that territory at the edge of my musical understanding- to make myself go "Wow, I can't believe I did that!".

The problem is that when I hear the same song over and over again in production, I get sick of hearing it and the magic stops happening. I've found it best to either write songs in one fast push, not overthinking things, or if I can't finish it before I get bored I let the song sit for a couple months until I can hear it with new ears.

  On 3/29/2012 at 10:03 PM, Hermann said:

I was thinking to myself, sometimes I like to listen to my own tracks often after I´ve finished them, just listen on my own, just to remind myself of how nice they sound, because even though you cannot ever really be completely satisfied with your own work, there is always something you must be proud of, right?

Just wondering if anyone else does this or if it´s just me being weird..

One of the main points to making music for yourself is so that you can build stuff that suits your particular (or peculiar) tastes. I do think though that a gap of a few days after spending a few weeks putting something togeather might be a good idea. Personally i've found that when i'm not making music i like silence.

Isn't that the most basic point of creative output? To enjoy the process and the end result?

You might as well have asked, "Is it narcissistic to create music?"

My answer to both questions is "sometimes, but it doesn't matter"

Is creativity narcissistic?

Or, is narcissism a creative state? (seeing as some people's paranoia appears to deem that giving in to creativity is narcissistic)

hehe. I'm typing this in front of a mirror. (actually am, there's an huge one on my desk. from out of the back of our old rear projector TV).

There are a lot of really interesting ideas going on here, but I think some people took this thread a bit too seriously ;)

I had no intention of caring anyway if it is narcissistic to listen to your own music, I´d still do it anyway and love it! I just wanted to hear people´s opinions on it and it´s nice to know that apparently I´m not alone in being a self obsessed ass :D

is anyone here implying that you should just not listen to your music after making it? lol

  On 6/4/2012 at 4:24 PM, david said:

is anyone here implying that you should just not listen to your music after making it? lol

It would make doing gigs a bit difficult.