Okay, I mentioned in a recent installment of Now Playing my feelings about the latest Foo Fighters album, One by One. Summarized, I didn't really like it on first listen, because I thought that towards the end of the album, the songs started to sound the same. (I blamed the mastering, but, whatever.)

The problem came when I finally gave those end-of-the-album songs a chance, and realized that I really did like some of them. (Okay, not all of them, but, again, whatever.)

Normally, this wouldn't be a big deal. But it caused me to start smacking myself upside the head. Why? Because I have this particular running theory that I've had for years, and I didn't pay attention to it.

The theory runs like this. People are always disappointed when they buy a new record. Okay, maybe "disappointed" is a little harsh. But they don't like it as much as the previous album (or the first album), and will freely tell you so within a few days of bringing the new album home.

Actually, let me refine this a little bit. Young fans (ie teenagers) will tell you that the band's new album is the best thing they've ever heard, even if they've only heard it twice. They've bought into the hype on how great this album is supposed to be, and are too afraid of being ostracized from the "fans" if they don't like it. Even if it sucks, they'll tell you that it's phenomenal. I'm discounting those people from the "theory", since most people grow out of that by the time they're nineteen. (That is, unless they're just insane about a band, and you know how those people are.)

The theory works like this. You've fallen in love with a band's record. You've listened to it hundreds of times. Every song on the album has some kind of special meaning. You hear "Courduroy", and it reminds you of driving down the beach with the windows down. You hear "Spin the Black Circle", and you remember the time Steve did a face-plant on the sidewalk near Taco Hell. You know all of the words by heart, and can hum out all of the guitar solos. You bring home the brand new album, spin it once, and it just doesn't do anything for you. And you figure it just sucks.

I have to admit having this apply to me when I came home with In Utero. I bought it the day it came out, and it did nothing for me. I liked "Heart- Shaped Box" and enjoyed finally getting to hear the full "Rape Me" after the 1992 VMA teaser, but that was about it. I'd never really listened to the Pixies at that point, so I just couldn't get past the sound. I never loan new albums to people, and that one left my place within a week of coming home with it.

Everything changed after I watched Unplugged. I copied the show onto a cassette and started listening to it in my car. And I really started getting into the songs. Before I knew it, I'd pulled out In Utero again, and it became a favorite.

I know I've had situations like this happen to me on many occasions, proven by One by One. I think, to some degree, everyone has this happen eventually.

It's worst in the people who expect... better yet... demand that the new album match or exceed the last one. They want the new album to move them the way that Nevermind, Sparkle and Fade, Ten, etc., did when they were thirteen. They're desperate to find that "place" again; to be provided that same life-altering feeling that the old album did.

So they buy the new album, listen to it once, and cry out that it "sucks" because it fails to meet that unreasonable expectation. They don't realize that, in all honesty, it would have to be the best album ever to work that kind of magic on the first try. They forget that it took three months to get into the old album; that it sounded generic on the first try; that it took two years to foment the memories and positive feelings that they attach to the old record. Those fans are the worst because they immediately start lashing out at the band and pretty much everything associated with it. The band has "failed" them, even if it's all a misperception because they just haven't given the album a chance.

Of course, it's always possible that the new album really does suck. Some bands lose their direction. Some bands don't get to spend as much time on the follow-up record. Some bands re-record the last record over again, but this time adding strings and/or some "wicked" techno beats.

But after One by One, I think I may have to buckle down when it comes to new albums. Heck, when I finally picked up Riot Act, it didn't do squat for me. And granted that my opinion of the Pearl Jam has shifted somewhat in the last year (related Musing), I had less incentive to give it a chance. But on further listens, I'm starting to like it.

(Well, not all of it, but, whatever.)