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SUPPORT ME ON PATREON\n\nWATCH MUSIC is not a GENRE VIDEOS and MORE\n\nOne of the great things about revisiting the past is finding out how wrong you are. A memory gets stuck in your head, but not in a big & clear way like something seminal or life changing. Then, like a mental game of Telephone, the memory gets warped. It gets stored in your brain as a warp and overwrites the old memory. Other thoughts & feelings get attached to this warped version, which slowly becomes \u201creal\u201d and takes on more significance than it ever had a right to. BUT the overwriting is not digital, it\u2019s analog. It\u2019s like recording on a cassette that already has something on it. Sometimes the original content bleeds through.\n\nFor years I remembered The Alarm as a pet band \u2013 a runt that never quite grew to full size, but you loved anyway. I pumped up this memory and gave it more weight. The Alarm was \u201cmy band\u201d. The Alarm\u2019s music inspired me. The Alarm were amazing and should have been big, not the U2 also-rans they eventually became. THEN I pull this album out of my collection, listen to it, read up on them, and realize I\u2019m giving this whole thing way too much credit. It took some digging to find out why I cared about them at all. And I discovered this: They had a minor hit in 1987 called \u201cRescue Me\u201d. It sounded so much like U2 that I thought, YES, I am ready to get into them. So I waited for their new album, and in 1989 I bought it. This one. And I was underwhelmed. I have very little recall of any of these songs.\n\nIt\u2019s not a judgment. They were a very good band. Their name still sparks feelings of post-new-wave-Brit coolness in me. It\u2019s just that, like with so many bands I had the wrong impression about, I landed on them just after that particular iteration of their sound peaked \u2013 thus \u201cthe one after the good one\u201d. We all have an idea of where an artist is heading, and we\u2019re all way more finicky than we let on. If a band meets our unspoken expectations, we love them more. If a band repeats itself, we hang on and hope they keep growing. If a band pivots wildly, we\u2019re confused and have to decide whether we love the pivot for its chance-taking genius, or they\u2019ve lost their way and we\u2019re done with them. And it\u2019s all about what hits the heart. For a brief moment in 1987, The Alarm hit my heart. This album didn\u2019t \u2013 didn\u2019t do what I wanted them to do \u2013 needy & arrogant & presumptuous. That\u2019s what being a music fan is.\n\nAnd that\u2019s why it\u2019s hard for everyone. Hard for the fan who wants what they want, but not too on the nose or it\u2019s boring. Hard \u2013 I say way harder \u2013 for the artist, who, if they don\u2019t succumb to the pressures of trends or popularity or what someone else says to do, is only trying to follow the muse. To create from the soul. No, artists can\u2019t expect fans to follow their every whim or be as chuffed about a change of direction or so-called innovation as they are. But fans \u2013 we need to be patient. Loving. Forgiving. Accepting of the human side of creation. We need to actually listen and listen again and listen again and give things a real chance.\n\nListen to these two songs. They\u2019re separated by about 20 years. Does it sound like the same artist? Are the changes a journey you would have taken with me?\n\nNICK - \u201cToo Good To Me\u201d (from the album What It Is)\n\nREC - \u201cPolymath\u201d (from the album Syzygy for the Weird)\n\n\n--- \n\nThis episode is sponsored by \n\xb7 Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app\n\nSupport this podcast: https://anchor.fm/musicisnotagenre/support\nLearn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices