I have just listened to an album all the way through – twice. It was awful both times, but I am glad I did it. These things are important. It’s not good enough just to listen to music you like; you have to suffer for your art. No pain, no gain.
About 10 years ago, I realised I was in danger of living my musical life without much moving on from where I was in my teens. There is nothing wrong with Prefab Sprout, Led Zeppelin, John Martyn, Van Morrison and Nena – far from it – but there was a lot more out there to discover. Worse than that, there was an awful lot I already owned but hadn’t listened to. I had nearly 15,000 songs on my iPod, and according to iTunes I had only listened to 4,000 of them. This was partly because I had loaded a lot of my brother’s stuff on there, which included more Bob Dylan and Tangerine Dream albums than either Bob or Tangerine Dream knew they’d made.
I resolved to do what no sensible person would do and listen to every song I owned in alphabetical order. I was very strict with myself. If I had the same song more than once, even identical versions of the same song, I would listen to all of them. I once drove from London to Manchester listening only to Knocking on Heaven’s Door (22 versions in my library). And then there was the time I took a friend from Birmingham to London, playing Closer to the Heart by Rush nine times in a row. This friend claims he still has that earworm today.
There is method in this madness, though. Without it, soberingly, I would quite possibly have lived my life without Regina Spektor, Gavin Bryars or Aim. Or indeed any number of obscure Bob Dylan outtakes and even the odd Tangerine Dream opus. By the time I got to Zombie by the Cranberries, my musical life – actually my whole life – had been enriched. And this was just stuff I already owned.
Now it was time to cast my net wider, by applying myself to critics’ lists. My method is very specific. Just now, for example, I am going through the Guardian’s Top 50 albums of last year. Starting at 50 – Hoodies All Summer by Kano (quite brilliant and something I doubt I’d have come across otherwise), I listen to each album all the way through twice. Sometimes, as with the Kano, I like it straight away. More often, I hear something on the second listening which grabs me. This is a joyous feeling and I thank, among others, Jamila Woods, the Japanese House, These New Puritans and Aldous Harding for it. And how else would I ever have got around to listening to Ariana Grande’s Thank U, Next in its entirety? “What you listening to this for, weirdo?” enquire my daughters.
Some albums of course, completely mystify. For example, 2020 by Richard Dawson. I mean, I like the Fall, and I also like Jethro Tull but putting the two together really doesn’t work for me. I’m still glad I tried it, though. That was at No 15. Now I’m at No 13 and wondering how on earth I have never come across Vampire Weekend. Lockdown is perfect for this endeavour; I am steaming my way up the chart. At this rate I’ll be up to No 1 by the weekend; the way to Lana Del Rey in less than three weeks.
• Adrian Chiles is a writer, broadcaster and Guardian columnist
