Usually I don't notice change in myself, or at least not nearly as much as others do, but right now I can see it, just in how my musical taste is changing. I used to like heavier stuff - for example, when I was 12, I quite liked Metallica (now I find most of their stuff too heavy) - but now I'm really moving towards softer stuff. I still like what I call heavier stuff - although it's not heavy by proper definition - but softer stuff just seems to go over better with me. I like to lose myself in songs such as Bad and With Or Without You by U2. Speaking of U2, I think every single person in the world should be given a copy of the live versions of the aforementioned songs that appear on the Rattle And Hum video. I love those songs. There is just something about them, something that really moves me and affects me inside. I can't quite describe it, but every time I listen to them - ESPECIALLY Bad - it's like a new experience in musical brilliance. U2 was at their best in the 1980s. Forget Pop. Forget Zooropa. Dare I say it, forget Achtung Baby. 1980s U2 was the best, ESPECIALLY The Unforgettable Fire - Joshua Tree U2. Achtung Baby was GOOD, yes, in particular Love Is Blindness (which really belonged on TJT if you ask me) and Mysterious Ways, but I feel it has nothing on U2 1983-88. That is the era of such stuff as Sunday Bloody Sunday, New Years Day, Surrender, Seconds, 40, A Sort Of Homecoming, Pride (In The Name Of Love), Bad, The Three Sunrises, Where The Streets Have No Name, With Or Without You, I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For, and Heartland. That is just ... MUSIC. That's all I can call it. That song list above is my definition of music. If you were to ask me to define music, that is what I would tell you, because, to me, IT IS.
Disclaimer: I recognise there are people out there who would love to tell me how stupid I am for defining music as that, or who think there is much better stuff than that. I can understand that, because everyone has different tastes. I'll respect your tastes and you respect mine. I am not claiming to be an authority on music. Far from it. I know my knowledge of music beyond U2 is poor, tremendously so. I'd like to know more about music, but I'm happy to just enjoy it. More knowledge would be nice, but as long as I'm enjoying it and it makes me happy, then that's good enough for me.
Oh, and for the record, I just listened to Paranoid Android again, and with every listen it sounds a bit better.
