6 listens.
There has to be something there on the first listen that makes me WANT to like it. Or I have to have some abstract vision in the future of what the experience would be like if I liked it.
Perplexingly, more "difficult" music will almost always win the right to "the 6" before something more straightforward. Things that are simple and unassuming have to really have some mysteriously seductive quality to earn "the 6" these days. But once I commit, the 6 listens are going to happen no matter what. And they're good, attentive listens.
If just 1 or 2 albums make that transition from interesting to classic in the process, it's a successful year. And the "graveyard" of albums that didn't make it to classic status are still fun to dip into due to familiarity.
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