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Comment by darkwater | Hacker News Reader

I'll the grey beard here but I think that painful skipping (that was present also in vinyls even if a bit differently) forced people to listen to full albums . You cannot really know an artist or judge an album/period if you didn't listen also to the less good songs.

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i'm still basically a kid but i absolutely feel the pull to just skip through playlists, its like a compulsion and when i do it i find i dont actually enjoy the music as much, even as hard as it is to stop. it feels sorta like doomscrolling on social media feels yknow? i've started putting on albums and forcing myself to just not skip through them and i don't know what it is but it just feels better. i think the difference is that listening to the whole thing is more deliberate

You should try a concept album.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Concept_album

They're like a movie; they have a story to tell. Try Pink Floyd - The Wall.

see also: * Frank Sinatra - _In the Wee Small Hours_ (1955)

* David Bowie - _The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars_ (1972)

* The Who - _Quadrophenia_ (1973)

* Pink Floyd - _The Dark Side of the Moon_ (1973)

* The Streets - _A Grand Don't Come for Free_ (2004)

But is it really important to really know them?

Probably not. But some great songs take quite a few listens to gel (this might just be me) and I find if I'm listening to streaming music I am skipping songs and missing out to a certain extent.

Certainly a lot of artists put out albums with a lot of "filler" material, but if I was a new listener trying to pick up (say) David Bowie or Steely Dan or Sufjan Stevens I might miss out on a richer experience by not listening to the whole albums and just skipping to the hits and familiar songs.

Some of my favorite songs are ones I would have missed if I was only listening to the singles or top track list from a streaming service.

It is also quite satisfying to put on a cohesive album that can be enjoyed from start to finish.

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