I've been thinking a lot lately about music. Well, I'm always thinking a lot about music. People love music, but it's not as valuable as it used to be. The first albums I ever bought were Dinosaur Jr.'s "Without A Sound" and Weezer's "Weezer" (The Blue Album). I bought them on cassette and listened to them until they were completely worn out. I'm pretty sure the tape broke on the Weezer cassette and I tied it back together right in the middle of "In the Garage". It was that same passion for music that brought me to Papa Jazz and Manifest to buy Cassettes and CDs the day they came out. I would listen to the same CD on repeat for an entire evening. I would listen to songs over and over again until I learned the lyrics. Music was priceless.
Music doesn't hold the same value that it did when I was 13. Not only do we not drive to the store the day an album comes out, we don't even wait for the album to release. I'm guilty too. I don't remember the last time I listened to an album straight through. I still love music, but I'm not nearly as committed. I hate to admit that
I've gone the way of the current culture, but I have. It kind of bums me out. That's why I get super excited when I meet genuine music enthusiasts. I'm not talking about people who read AP magazine or Paste! I'm talking about the people who pay to go to shows, the people who buy merch from bands, the people who pre-order CDs months before they come out.
Recently, I've come to know a guy named Andrew. He loves music. He comes to shows with a tiny video camera and records them. He then splices the videos in to separate songs and posts them on YouTube. Here's a link to one of his YouTube sites for the band Dignan and here's a video he did from a Dignan show. Check out some of the other bands. Leave him some comments.
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Aaron
BJ
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Ben
3 comments:
NOTE: this blog not intended for shameless acts of self promotion.
ouch
ben,
i almost wrote a new blog on this very subject. glad i checked to see if there were any previous, better phrased blogs on the subject.
perhaps it is being in a band that helps direct our attentions to the lack of 'music fans.' i am one of the best self-pitying a-holes around, and man i notice when people don't turn out for a show. but i also notice it at other shows.
who can we blame for this cowardice? this lack of attendance?
i would first blame GW Bush, because we blame all things on him. i mean, the dude's a total d-bag. first, he made that conspiracy for 9-11. then, he made a war with iraq, then a hurricane, then a heat-monster than eats penguins and polar ice caps... so, he's probably got some say in the matter.
then, i would blame gasoline prices. even though, come on, it's really just inflation, isn't it? (i think there will be a blog on this).
really, though, gas is a big deal. gas prices keep me from driving to campus, a mile from my house, so i am pretty sure they would keep poor bands from driving hundreds of miles.
with music mainly online, available legally or otherwise, it's hard to turn a buck on those hard copies of discs at shows. which leaves t-shirts or stickers, which are just a bit more of a cost to the band because they serve no initial practical importance (i.e.- recording music for a demo to get shows in the first place).
myspace doesn't help either. anyone can have a band, and no one has to commit. the bands don't commit to playing regularly, or thinking through the songs enough to actually write something good AND sincere (it is often one or the other).
all of this to say, ben, i feel your pain man.
it seems that the folks at the shows don't even care enough to listen anymore.
or maybe, guys like us are just rare. special, if you will. and that's cool, i suppose. it makes the bonds that we have of appreciating shows and music all the more special.
as for noticing a depreciating value on music... come on, if someone would put out a record as good as "weezer" (the blue album), then i think we would all go out and get it the day of.
one day it will come around again.
i feel confident of this.
an art form that has existed for thousands of years probably won't die off soon.
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