One of the great things about having relationships with people, friendships, dating, or otherwise, is that you can get introduced to lots of different kinds of music. One of my favorite things is listening to new music, especially music recommended to me by friends, family, or partners. This week, I challenged myself to listen to some music recommended to me by an ex of mine – an ex that I don’t have a glowing opinion of – to see if my experiences with this particular person and my feelings about them had tainted any of the music for me.
I will rate each artist on a scale of 1-10 based on how easily I could put their music back into my current rotation. A rating of 1 would signify that I could not listen to them at all, and a rating of 10 would signify that I am sticking them right back into rotation (if they aren’t there already).
The Mars Vola
The Mars Volta was a Prog-Rock group from El Paso, Texas that was active from 2001 to 2012. The group is well known for their concept albums, and even won a Grammy for “Best Hard Rock Performance” for their song “Wax Simulacra”. This group was one of my ex’s favorites, and held a lot of meaning for him.
I can definitely listen to this group without feeling weird about it, but I think I really have to be in a certain mood to listen to a lot of their music at once. I could probably put one or two of their songs in a playlist and be pretty okay with it. I would rate this group a 6/10 because I can still listen to them, but I really need to be feeling a certain type of way.
King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard
This band, commonly referred to as “King Giz” for short, was formed in Australia in 2010. They are a rock band that are well known for exploring different genres of music and having an absolutely massive discography, which includes 19 studio albums, 10 live albums, 3 EPs, and 2 compilation albums. My ex and his friends absolutely loved this band, and I can see why.
I never really got into this group too much, and that still hasn’t changed. My ex and I didn’t play them on the AUX too much, so I don’t really have any bad feelings regarding them. I wouldn’t complain if someone were to play them in the car or anything, but I definitely wouldn’t queue it up on Spotify myself. King Giz gets a 4/10 for me because they aren’t really my style, so I wouldn’t play them a lot, but I’m not going to get upset over hearing them.
Psychedelic Porn Crumpets
This Australian psychedelic rock band was formed in 2014. I remember going to a concert where they were headlining with my ex and his group of friends, and it was a really great show. This band is often compared with two other artists on this list, King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard and Tame Impala, as they are all Australian acts.
After listening to this group again, I can safely say that my music taste has definitely changed since I dated my ex, and while I still think that they’re pretty interesting, this group is not someone I would put back into my normal playlists. I could definitely see myself putting them on a playlist if I found other artists that I currently like that had a similar vibe to their songs. I would rate them a 5/10.
Tame Impala
Tame Impala is an Australian artist that has been active since 2007. Some of his music from the album Currents has trended on TikTok a few times. He’s known to have a psychedelic sound and to produce his entire albums and play all of the instruments himself. On tours, he usually has members of other Australian bands, such as another group on this list, Pond, play some of the instruments while he does the vocals and guitar.
I still like his music, but I have found that I have really been listening to just the Currents album more than his others. Tame Impala gets a 10/10; this artist has never left my playlists, and he will be added to future ones.
Pond
This is another Australian band, and Pond is another psychedelic rock act. At the time that we were dating, this was my ex’s favorite band. You know that cute thing that some couples do when they have “their song”? My ex took that a step further and designated an entire album by this group to be “our album”.
Effectively, this band has unfortunately been ruined for me because of who their music is tied to in my head. They are a fantastic group, but I don’t think I could ever have them on a playlist again, sadly. I rate this group a 1/10, not for the quality of the music, but for my ex being permanently linked in my mind to this band.
Polyphia
I am not going to lie; this band never left my rotation. They are just too good to be left in the past. Polyphia is a progressive rock and math rock group from Texas that formed in 2010. Most of their music is purely instrumental, but they do feature vocals on songs that have other artists featured. I have also seen them live, and I have never seen someone play guitar like one of their guitarists, Tim Henson, in my life. They are absolutely amazing live. I have them in at least 4 playlists of mine right now, and I will 10000% add them to future playlists. I rate them a 10/10.