# Could you live happily without recorded music? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [January 3, 2008, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-live-happily-without-recorded-music/432144 "2008-01-03T17:41:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![buttonjockey308](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bcef8e/32.png) [@buttonjockey308](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/buttonjockey308)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2008, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-live-happily-without-recorded-music/432144/1 "2008-01-03T17:41:22Z")
In post 162 of [This Thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=449617&page=4&pp=50) ascenray posits that recorded music is not ‘essential to the human condition’ and while it’s technically true, is it practical in the generations alive today to live a life without the benefit of recorded music? Is this true? Could you live well and happily without music? ---
**Author:** ![Sal\_Ammoniac](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8dc957/32.png) [@Sal\_Ammoniac](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sal_Ammoniac)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2008, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-live-happily-without-recorded-music/432144/2 "2008-01-03T17:51:49Z")
I could. I never listen to recorded music (except as directed by the tyrannical four-year-old who persists in hanging about the premises). ---
**Author:** ![Grave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/71c47a/32.png) [@Grave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grave)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2008, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-live-happily-without-recorded-music/432144/3 "2008-01-03T17:54:20Z")
I’m, sorry, I’m more of a lurker than a poster but… is this a whoosh thing? Who couldn’t? /me confused ---
**Author:** ![Ice\_Wolf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/dfb087/32.png) [@Ice\_Wolf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ice_Wolf)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2008, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-live-happily-without-recorded-music/432144/4 "2008-01-03T17:55:27Z")
What **ascenray** was saying was not that people can get by without music period – just recorded music. Could be right there. As was said: recorded music dates only from the age of wax cylinders. Music, unrecorded, goes back through millennia. No music at all – we’d have a dull ol’ world. But recorded music isn’t essential. ---
**Author:** ![TroubleAgain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e480ec/32.png) [@TroubleAgain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TroubleAgain)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2008, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-live-happily-without-recorded-music/432144/5 "2008-01-03T17:57:36Z")
Well, a lack of recorded music would definitely limit our exposure to different varieties, styles, and musicians, but people used to make their own music, right? So yeah, we could live without recorded music, but life just _might_ be the poorer for it. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2008, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-live-happily-without-recorded-music/432144/6 "2008-01-03T17:59:09Z")
Without recorded music, my life would be significantly diminished. I could still live happily, but one major source of happiness would be denied me. ---
**Author:** ![Mike\_Fun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a9adbd/32.png) [@Mike\_Fun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mike_Fun)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2008, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-live-happily-without-recorded-music/432144/7 "2008-01-03T18:01:27Z")
No, definitely not. It’s the only thing that keeps me going some days. ---
**Author:** ![Mahna\_Mahna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e47c2d/32.png) [@Mahna\_Mahna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahna_Mahna)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2008, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-live-happily-without-recorded-music/432144/8 "2008-01-03T18:10:41Z")
Considering that two of the genres I listen to most are hip hop and electronic, I’d be pretty much SOL without recorded music - both are pretty much defined by the use of sampling. Even the most talented DJ in the world isn’t going to get much out of his turntables unless he’s got a bin of vinyl to go along. So, in my case, even live performances would be impossible… which would make me one very very miserable person indeed. ---
**Author:** ![buttonjockey308](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bcef8e/32.png) [@buttonjockey308](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/buttonjockey308)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2008, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-live-happily-without-recorded-music/432144/9 "2008-01-03T18:39:47Z")
[QUOTE=Grave] I’m, sorry, I’m more of a lurker than a poster but… is this a whoosh thing? Who couldn’t? /me confused [/QUOTE] I suppose it’s a quality of life thing, which is why I asked about ‘happily’. Of course, we could all live without a lot of things, but would you be happy without being able to listen to music wherever/whenever you choose? ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2008, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-live-happily-without-recorded-music/432144/10 "2008-01-03T18:46:22Z")
[QUOTE=Thudlow Boink] Without recorded music, my life would be significantly diminished. I could still live happily, but one major source of happiness would be denied me. [/QUOTE] Big +1 here - music is one of my biggest joys on a number of levels. I could still play music on my own, play with others, or hear others play, but spending time with recorded music feels just as important… ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2008, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-live-happily-without-recorded-music/432144/11 "2008-01-03T18:48:11Z")
I don’t think so, but supposing I could… I would probably need to spend a lot more time working on my own musicianship. I would be a regular part of a band, most likely (playing trombone, naturally) and probably even take up some other instruments. ---
**Author:** ![Man\_With\_a\_Cat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/cab0a1/32.png) [@Man\_With\_a\_Cat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Man_With_a_Cat)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2008, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-live-happily-without-recorded-music/432144/12 "2008-01-03T18:48:51Z")
If I had lived in a time without recorded music and never knew the experience, of course I could. But if someone told me tomorrow that there would be no more recorded music to listen to? Nope. ---
**Author:** ![NinetyWt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/cc9497/32.png) [@NinetyWt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NinetyWt)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2008, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-live-happily-without-recorded-music/432144/13 "2008-01-03T18:56:55Z")
I don’t listen so much, so yeah, I’d be just as happy without it. ---
**Author:** ![ErinPuff](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dbc845/32.png) [@ErinPuff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ErinPuff)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2008, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-live-happily-without-recorded-music/432144/14 "2008-01-03T18:59:07Z")
No, and I’d also fail my last semester of college (I’m a music major, and I have to do a lot of listening for classes/projects). Edit: If recorded music didn’t exist, of course, I wouldn’t need it for my classes. ---
**Author:** ![Purgatory\_Creek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/74df32/32.png) [@Purgatory\_Creek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Purgatory_Creek)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2008, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-live-happily-without-recorded-music/432144/15 "2008-01-03T19:06:41Z")
I could, and I do. I haven’t felt strongly about any music since about 1982, and now the only time I hear it is when I come across it by happenstance. Either I’m just not a music-loving type of person or I spent wayyy too many hours in those adjacent-to-gigantic-speaker seats at concerts in the '70s and just can’t hear well enough to enjoy it any more. Or I’m just dull. That’s a definite possibility. ---
**Author:** ![Grave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/71c47a/32.png) [@Grave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grave)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2008, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-live-happily-without-recorded-music/432144/16 "2008-01-03T19:58:48Z")
[QUOTE=buttonjockey308] I suppose it’s a quality of life thing, which is why I asked about ‘happily’. Of course, we could all live without a lot of things, but would you be happy without being able to listen to music wherever/whenever you choose? [/QUOTE] Thank you for the reply. It never occured to me that some people defined themselves by music past pre / early adult stages. Ignorance fought! As for me? Even as a former musician, yes. Live is where the energy and intimacy is (IMHO) - recorded never held much interest for me. I currently go days or weeks without much, if any, recorded music with no ill effects. I think, anyway 😃 (Again, this is ignoring the teen-age “I’m a $musictype-er so must listen to it constantly, my world ends without $musictype often and loud” stage I went through.) I do think life would be diminished if all music disappeared (holiday standards, funerary dirges, workers chants) - music is important to me, just not only in canned format. ---
**Author:** ![Beware\_of\_Doug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/278dde/32.png) [@Beware\_of\_Doug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beware_of_Doug)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2008, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-live-happily-without-recorded-music/432144/17 "2008-01-03T20:07:41Z")
Maybe if I had lived in the depression 1930s, when radio and live music were much more to my liking, and the phonograph was considered a somewhat tacky luxury. But not since then. ---
**Author:** ![Ephemera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8baadc/32.png) [@Ephemera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ephemera)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2008, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-live-happily-without-recorded-music/432144/18 "2008-01-03T20:21:38Z")
What \*\*Thudlow \*\*said, pretty much. Music’s my main form of entertainment and has been for the past couple years but I would adapt in its absence. Amusingly, I’m listening to Get Rhythm by Johnny Cash as I type this. \* Hey, get rhythm when you get the blues Hey, get rhythm when you get the blues Yes a jumpy rhythm makes you feel so fine It’ll shake all the trouble from your worried mind Get rhythm when you get the blues\* ---
**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2008, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-live-happily-without-recorded-music/432144/19 "2008-01-03T21:56:03Z")
I like music on the way to work (all long drives). But other than that I rarely listen to recorded music. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2008, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-live-happily-without-recorded-music/432144/20 "2008-01-03T22:42:01Z")
I don’t listen to music much at all, in any form. I like the quiet. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-live-happily-without-recorded-music/432144.md?page=2)