Play covers

Our first home as a newly married couple was a neat two-bedroom unit in White Street, Mount Waverley. Music filled the house, played through a hand me down stereo. Sometimes vinyls, often CDs and on Friday mornings, JJJ played through the FM receiver.

Friday morning became an institution. Listening to JJJ 'Like a Version' where each week a different Australian artist performed an original as well as a cover. Every week was filled with anticipation. What auditory treat would we be greeted by this week? How would that band choose to do a cover and who would they choose?

This simple JJJ concept gave birth to all sorts of fantastic, never before heard versions of familiar songs.

We become so conditioned to hearing familiar songs that we sometimes stop listening intently. After hearing an artist's new material a couple of times, it becomes familiar and with streaming services putting all the music at our fingertips, the magic of anticipation that came from walking into the music store, purchasing a CD and then waiting until you arrived home to listen to it has been lost.

JJJ Like a Version was the vehicle for a weekly music listening ritual. It created the anticipation. Artists gave clues about the cover they had chosen and listeners called in with their guesses. The frequency and format became the foundation for the weekly Friday morning ritual and the topic of conversation that evening over dinner.

Today we are increasingly inclined to just let the app choose the soundtrack to our daily commute or evening activities. But in doing so we've lost some of the reverence we had for good music.

We move from conscientious listeners to just barely tuning in. The increasingly diminishing returns for musicians seems to reflect this change in how we listen.

But it doesn't have to be this way. Perhaps the challenge for all of us is to discover new ways to preserve the sacred space music held in our culture. By attending live music, finding ways to purchase albums, and turning on JJJ on a Friday morning.