23 Comments

“I download an album and play it from start to finish throughout my workout. I tend to choose records I don’t know, so I can discover new sounds and decide whether they should join my vinyl collection.”

Our brains are very similar haha!

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Great minds think alike, right? 😌

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Now you know why I don't go to the gym. It's how I drown out too loud EDM.

I haven't received the "too loud" notice on my iPhone, but I do sometimes get notices telling me what my average volume in my headphones was for the week. I'm nowhere near dangerous levels. But the voices in my head, if they were connected to an app, would set off serious alarm bells.

Fun piece and like Brad said, I love the spicy rants!

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Thanks, Steve! So glad these rants resonate with readers like you and Brad. It’s hyperbolic at times, obvs, but I have so much fun doing it, and the reality is, I’ve always been a little bit like this in real life. When I feel strongly about something I will argue my case until I’m blue in the face 😂

You see, those average volume notifications… why? It’s not like you even asked for that piece of information… and don’t let me get started on the amount of data getting collected!

The voices in your head deserve (at least) their own stand-up show. I would pay to watch/hear them!

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You, me'n'Andy should form a band....Name? Either Spicy Rants or Snarky Bitch!

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😂😂 I love this

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Ditto about the use of streaming as means to a vinyl end. Also, ditto about the gym stuff 😄

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Thank you, Iván! Glad to hear I’m not alone 😅

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Kindly provide pictures of the workout ! 😁. My iPhone limits at a certain volume. But maybe it's something I've activated myself and then forgot all about it :-) Anyway no EDM on my workout either. It's the moment I can test the mixes for mixcloud.

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Ha! I always say (half-joking half-serious) that if this whole Substack writing thing doesn’t take off, I might try on OnlyFans 😅😅🤣🤣

Yes I think you can control that but in some jurisdictions it’s not possible.

Great that you test your mixes when you work out! Two for the price of one 😉

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I hear you here, although as someone with tinnitus and relatively minor hearing loss, there is something to be said about being judicious with playing loud music. The volume warning on the smartphone is Big Brother-ish but still, as music lovers, our hearing and retaining the ability to do so is so important.

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Thank you, Robert! Yes, being judicious is important, I agree. I just find it very funny that phones send these high volume warnings while most smartphone users are glued to their screens compulsively consuming reels and whatever other crap there is nowadays.

Fortunately most of my listening is on my turntable at home where I don't feel the need to crank up the volume (probably because I can hear more/better than when I'm streaming at the gym).

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That's very true. On my phone, I also get a warning if I want to turn off my location as if I'm doing something wrong.

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Don’t you dare escape their radar! 😂

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I love when you rant! Well-placed as usual, my only similar point of reference is the inane music played over the loudspeaker at my Austin-area Planet Fatness (hey, different gyms, different outcomes!). Although, I have been able to start a convo or two in the locker room with simply this (pointing at the ceiling's speaker): "SOMEBODY got paid a million for that crap! You can't say 'crap' without 'rap'." Haven't gotten beaten up yet..................yet.

Plus, I have no cell phone, and ear plugs hanging out of a flip phone is borderline unconvincing.

This was my favorite part, Andy: "Cranking up the volume was my unconscious reaction to fight my tendency to get distracted." Having taught before, all I gotta say is bless your heart. Kids, I've discovered, manage to find a way to cope, short of any interventions/diagnoses. This would be something I'd pass along to parents if I was still teaching...as in, watch for this tell-tale sign.

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Thank you! I’m glad to hear you enjoy these occssional rants every now and then. They’re a great way to get stuff off my chest 😅

Planet Fatness 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣 and then I’m the snarky one? My dear friend, you and I together are like dynamite… rest of the world, beware!

Lol crap-rap, and what you say about the spelling… so true! I do like some rap sections in some very specific songs, but I agree that as a genre and particularly nowadays it’s garbage.

I respect sooo much this thing that you don’t have a smartphone. I wish I could toss mine out of the window sometimes, trust me!

Glad to hear my childhood story resonated with you. Yes, turns out that was the reason I cranked up the volume… to block out the constant chattering of my family! You see, I was a snarky bitch even before I knew what that was 🤣🤣

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I know.....we need to write sitcom scripts! And, form a writing consortium called "Snarky Bitch, Inc"!

My age keeps me relatively "safe" in slamming rap ("those kids these days!"). Your generation's "got some 'splainin' to do" (as Ricky Ricardo would say!) if you're not all in on rap!

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Absolutely! I bet we have have a following! 😅

Yes, you’re right, and it’s not easy. I sometimes check new soul/R&B releases by new artists, or the charts, just to see what’s “happening”… out of ten supposedly soul/R&B songs, 8 are rapped. Just rapped. I kid you not.

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Oh, I believe it! Either that, or "pop" electronically processed within an inch of its life!🤢

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"Call me old-fashioned" un clásico de este blog jajaja

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Jajaa 😂 nunca falla!

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Jajaja the sound police!!! 🤣

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Posta eh!

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