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Cee Lo Green stars in Norwegian Recycling's music mash-up. -
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"Do what you love and you'll never work a day in your life."
In a perfect world, this might be true. But in reality, it's really quite rubbish advice.
From my experience, if you do what you love - all day, every day - you just get sick of it.
I hadn't realised how sick I was of listening to music, which is a fairly substantial part of my job, until the weekend.
For the first time, in a long time, I got to listen to my own playlist. Music I actually wanted to hear.
It's true that being a music reviewer is one of the sweetest gigs in life. But it still has a sour side. Think of those songs you hear on the radio that you just can't stand... so you change station.
I have to listen to those songs in full. Repeatedly. And then discuss just what it is about them that makes them so rubbish. It can be painful work.
When you only have limited time to listen to music, you can't afford to revisit your old favourites. There's an ever-growing stack of new music to get through.
My friends hate driving in the car with me as I always control the stereo - forcing them to listen to some untested new record.
Even good albums aren't terribly appealing on the first listen. They're unfamiliar. You're waiting, breath held, to see how you feel about them.
And the bad ones, well, they just get worse on repeat listening.
But this weekend, on a road trip to the Coromandel, we did away with the review pile.
I plugged in my iPod and left it on shuffle, remembering songs I'd completely forgotten about - and bands, who at one point were my reason for living.
I relived concerts I'd danced at (jumping over a bouncer's arm to get in the GA section of Franz Ferdinand's St James gig in 2004) and bands I'd stalked (Eagles of Death Metal at Crow Bar, late one Wednesday night.)
I generally remembered why I love music. And why I got into this job.
So my first piece of advice, if I may be so bold, is that you
try it some time. Reconnect with whatever it is you are passionate
about.
My second piece of advice, and vaguely related (but not really) is
that you listen to this.
It's an incredible mash up of 16 songs by an American outfit,
Norwegian Recycling.
They specialise in mash ups (if you don't know what that is, you need to watch more Glee), putting their diverse musical knowledge to spectacular use.
So watch, be inspired and then go and create your next road trip playlist, just in time for the holidays.
