Ringtones Beget Burn-Out on Popular Songs

I was in Walgreen's while ago. I heard Katy Perry's song, "Part of Me," three times--THREE times--during a 15 minute trip. For starters, I don't even care for Katy Perry. But, what if I did? That's a pretty good question.

What if I did like that Katy Perry song? Well, I'd grow a little more tired of it and be good to go on it for Sunday, April 22, 2012. And that little occurrence reminded me of...0h, I'd say last summer into last fall.

Everywhere I'd go, even in traffic--most folks had their windows rolled down--I'd hear "Dirt Road Anthem." And I wasn't just hearing it on the radio. Hey, it was a huge hit and got its fair share of spins. It's a great song! It adds an interesting dimension to country radio--it's rap, yet still very country. But, I gotta tell ya, I am completely sick of it. It has nothing to do with the song's quality. It has everything to do with hearing it 5o times a day. Add radio play to hearing it whenever someone's phone would ring, and you got me climbing the walls.

The more this would happen, the more I was reminded of something comedian Rita Rudner once said when she was told that her friend was in labor for 36 hours when she had her baby: "I don't want to do something I ENJOY for 36 hours." And that pretty much sums up the hit-song-as-ringtone phenomenon for me.

Hey, there are a lot of great songs across the board out there right now. I've never been one to listen to just one style of music. I like it all. But I don't want to hear any of it every five seconds. I used to have songs as ringtones. But I was getting tired of the songs. That's when this all began to occur to me. Now, I just used the theme from "The Walking Dead." Since I have only about 50 percent hearing in my left ear, I need something loud. And that fits the bill. Katy Perry would not.