It just doesn't mean the same thing

I am (still) in the process of archiving my CD collection to my computer. It's a daunting task. I've got about 40 gigs so far and am maybe halfway through. I've actually just shelved a bunch of 'em right now and hope to get around to it again eventually. It's just so time consuming.

The upshot of all this storage is that my random play on my computer is intense. I don't have to hear the same band twice within an hour if I don't want to. Also, I'm hearing a lot of music that I haven't listened to in a LONG time.

Do you experience that? I'm sure you do ... when you hear some music that used to mean something to you, and it just doesn't carry that meaning any more. I am, in this context, for me, specifically speaking of Nine Inch Nails, but it's equally applicable to the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Stone Temple Pilots, and Mother Love Bone. Moderately applicable to Pearl Jam and Soundgarden. In the early '90s, these bands meant a lot to me and were pretty much the soundtrack to my life. It's what I hear in my head when I remember those days.

Anyway, the other day, a NiN song popped up in rotation, one of the tunes off The Downward Spiral. I burned a hole in this CD I listened to it so much (figuratively speaking, of course). So, the familiar chords blared out, the familiar keyboard notes plinged, and the familiar voice warbled. And you know what? Nothing. Didn't move me in the least. I didn't even feel any sense of longing or nostalgia. In fact, if I felt anything, it was embarrassment that I used to listen to this. It wasn't that good.

So I put the entire album in queue. And I felt the same way about the whole thing. So I queued up some other bands from that time and got similar reactions, or nonreactions. Kind of weird.

I don't know if it's because of what was going on at this point in my life, what I've gone through since, or if the music just isn't any good, but I just don't connect with that it any more. Oddly enough, bands I picked up a couple of years before and a couple of years after I still listen to.

I don't know what this means, if it means anything. I just thought it odd.