Impulse buys

WHat I MEANT to say is, why is it that I enjoy CDs I've bought off the cuff more than CDs that I've actually THOUGHT about tbuying, and does anyone else notice this phenomena?

I'm definitely a rather off-the-cuff purchaser, probably because I often find interest in albums that I just plain don't hear much about. So I'll read some post about it on a forum, realize that it sounds really interesting, find it fairly cheap and give it a shot.
It's worked quite danged well; though I've definitely hit some amazing duds this way.
I come from a metal and punk background though, so charts etc never really was much of an issue with me; I sorta got used to this method from the get-go; though I've definitely gotten less tight on the ol' money-pouch over the years (well, tightening it up again nowadays, as I'm trying to convince myself that I have so many CDs that there's no reasons to order more all the time)

I think I'm more apt to do impulse purchases in jazz, as there I'll often go "ahh, Mingus plays on it? Well gee! Probably rules then!"
While in genres like f.ex. metal where I'm all jaded and crappy now I'll just go "i bet that sucks too - BALEETED!"
I'd go back and fix this post up into something that was interesting and made sense, but I leave that to you guys!

When I was younger I used to pick up loads of things because I'd heard them once on John Peel or just because I the picture sleeve looked like it might be my sort of thing.

I've got far more obsessive in my approach as I've got older 'though. I have to check what Q say and what Mojo say and what AMG say and what everyone here says etc. etc. etc. before I buy anything these days - even if it's something by a band I love I know I'm going to buy it whatever anyone says!

My partner Carol's the one for impulse buys which introduce that element of randomness and risk-taking into the process. She's not shackled to an obsession like me, she's perfecty capable of simply hearing one song on the radio or just glancing through a copy of Q or Mojo or wandering into a record shop and reading those little bits of blurb they sometimes write about a new album and just deciding we should buy something.

Imagine!

I have had to stop her buying some things on this basis in the past (we could easily have ended up with a Good Charlotte CD on one occasion if I hadn't successfully intervened!) and she has had some abject failures (I tried to warn her about that Nickelback CD but she wouldn't listen and had to buy it anyway!) but occasionally she does come up with something great that I probably wouldn't otherwise have even considered (I think Sugar & Feathered by Aspera is her most recent success).

Impulse all the way - although I guess it's rare that I haven't heard *someone's* opinion before I buy. I'm not interested what the music mags say about anything - I'm inclined to take much more notice of ILM or friends. But often a bad review or a slag off makes me more inclined to want to take a punt.

How do you feel your current hit:flop ratio when buying on this basis compares with, say, 20 years ago Dr. C?

Is the impulse buy phenomenon comparable to Lyra in His Dark materials and her instrinctive use of the Alethiometer?