May 29, 2000. I still remember this date like it was yesterday.

I was 16 years old and had eagerly been awaiting the new release from one of my favourite bands for months.

Having made the 20 minute train ride into Melbourne’s CBD from the western suburbs, a long-haired, black t-shirt and jeans clad, much younger version of myself walked with a spring in his step to Metal Mayhem, an independent record store that was dedicated purely to selling the music and merch of hard rock and heavy metal artists.

I was there to pick up my pre-ordered copy of Brave New World, the latest release by English heavy metal pioneers, Iron Maiden, and their first with their classic lineup in eight years.

With the new album in my hot little hand, I eagerly made my way back home where I proceeded to lock myself in my bedroom and take the album out of its bag.

Before I put the CD in my 3-CD changer stereo system, I took a moment to admire the artwork, that of the brave new world immortalised in Aldous Huxley’s classic novel of the same name. Eddie, Iron Maiden’s long serving mascot, looked down from the clouds over Huxley’s futuristic, dystopian society.

When I pressed play, I began to listen, to truly listen to each and every song, each and every bar of music, as I read the lyrics from the album booklet liner notes. It wouldn’t stop there. I’d re-listen to the album on repeat, and read not only the lyrics, but the acknowledgments, production credits and study the photos of the band and the artwork featured in the booklet. I’d also take the CD with me to school and listen to it on my Sony Discman and make audio cassette copies of it when a CD player was not handy.

I knew the lyrics back to front, every hook, riff and solo, who wrote which song and when the band would be touring to support the album.

This was an experience of discovering new music and developing an intimate and unique connection and relationship with it.

Instant Gratification Generation

When was the last time you had such an intimate experience discovering new music?

Today, in an age of instant gratification (and seemingly fleeting appreciation), I default to my $10 a month Spotify subscription to discover and listen to (or hear) new music.

Nowadays when one of my favourite artists releases a new album, I hook it up on Spotify, press play, start listening, and then, despite the quality of the album and desire to truly listen to an album from start to finish, I catch myself doing a number of other things at the same time - scrolling social media feeds, responding to a text message, checking my email, flicking through a book...

Times have changed.

A typical smartphone user touches his or her phone 2,617 times every day - the more extreme users touch their phone 5,400 times daily. This doesn’t leave much time to really focus on anything.

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