Reason Six: Talk About 'Favourites' Misrepresents How Listening Shifts Over Time.
The parodic religion The Cult of the Sub-Genius could be kinda sophomoric, but they coined an undeniably useful idea at least once: the "shordupersav", or "short duration personal saviour". Instead of committing yourself for the rest of your life to Jesus or Satan or Buddha, you might be completely devoted to a burrito for a day, a thrift store painting for a week, or a stranger's pet that you saw on the street for an hour. On some days I have been absolutely besotted with Driicky Graham or The Limiñanas, hitting 'play' obsessively, wallowing. A month later, this might well have changed utterly. The practice of picking "favourites" belies the reality of the weird spikes and drops and affairs that blow through our aesthetics, favouring instead the sturdy standbys, the goes-with-everything repeat plays over the one-night stands and vivid comet-like encounters that we have from time to time. But the short duration of one's ardour does not negate the intensity of the investment in the moment, and it's only the projected phantasm of the "stable self" (an illusion) that leads people to edit this stuff out when lists are being fabricated and foisted onto others.