Thursday, April 27, 2006
Thursday, April 13, 2006
Quality and Quantity
In 8th grade I had just gotten my first CD player. I didn't have much money and thus had only a modest CD collection. I feel like I was so much more connected to the tunes back then. I knew every track, every line, every word, every sentiment. I'd spend hours at a time thrashing around my room to my favorite jams. Those few choice albums still touch me deeper than most of the records I have recently acquired. A wide variety means selection and choice at the expense of intimacy. Being stuck with just a few choice albums means knowing the them inside and out. Spending entire nights on one album meant several spins with lyrics read-alongs and thoughtful booklet considerations, not to mention incessant dancing. These days, with the instant gratification provided by MP3s, kids are missing out on so much of what music could be.
Though the popular argument that one should not have to pay for an entire album for just for one song and a bunch of filler is cogent, it's a double-edged sword in that many musicians who use online methods of distribution may not feel the need to create coherent albums. Additionally, packaging and cover art will soon become an afterthought, only to completely vanish one of these days, making the experience worth even less. Easy transmission of music means that more idiots can fill the pool with their worthless nonsense, making the listener, with no monetary screens, wade through more awful notes. But why look at a spec in their eye when I've a plank in my own?
I have stacks and stacks of records, CDs, and cassettes, filling every corner of my room. There is certainly no way for me to get as much out of most of those albums as I got out of those first few CDs. My short list continues to grow as my patience continues to shrink. As vinyl becomes a magnet becomes ones and zeroes, albums become tracks become sound clips. Not even able to sit through one song, people often skip around tracks like there's no tomorrow, cutting off seconds or even minutes of songs to get to the next. Anything I want is at my disposal but everything I need has become muddied by my selfish desires. No longer do I cherish that which was once sacred, for it is now a commodity.
My first few CDs in order (as best I can remember) of acquisition-
Though the popular argument that one should not have to pay for an entire album for just for one song and a bunch of filler is cogent, it's a double-edged sword in that many musicians who use online methods of distribution may not feel the need to create coherent albums. Additionally, packaging and cover art will soon become an afterthought, only to completely vanish one of these days, making the experience worth even less. Easy transmission of music means that more idiots can fill the pool with their worthless nonsense, making the listener, with no monetary screens, wade through more awful notes. But why look at a spec in their eye when I've a plank in my own?
I have stacks and stacks of records, CDs, and cassettes, filling every corner of my room. There is certainly no way for me to get as much out of most of those albums as I got out of those first few CDs. My short list continues to grow as my patience continues to shrink. As vinyl becomes a magnet becomes ones and zeroes, albums become tracks become sound clips. Not even able to sit through one song, people often skip around tracks like there's no tomorrow, cutting off seconds or even minutes of songs to get to the next. Anything I want is at my disposal but everything I need has become muddied by my selfish desires. No longer do I cherish that which was once sacred, for it is now a commodity.
My first few CDs in order (as best I can remember) of acquisition-
