How we listen to music 21st Century

[Texsox]

Back in my day, we had vinyl records. You listened to one side and then flipped it over and listened to the other. Along came 8-Track tape and you had 4 program breaks, cassettes were introduced and again you had a program break while the cassette either auto-reversed or you turned it over.

 

Artists took great pains to determine play order and how they wanted the music listened to. This was also the day of "concept albums" starting most famously with Sgt. Peppers, songs played off each other and were meant to be listened to together and in a certain order. Or Tommy. Listen to the singles and they all sound very good. Listen to the story unfold and you come to a whole different understanding and experience. For many artists, the songs were meant to be listened to as an album, not a collection of singles.

 

CDs, MP3, and downloading singles has changed all that. Perhaps for the better, but maybe not. What we have created is a more personalized listening experience. If I like this group of songs by various artists and various subjects, I can create my own experience, my own moods. I am no longer manipulated by the artist. But isn't being manipulated by the artist why we enjoy music?

 

So what do you think? Is music better as a collection of singles? Is it better to dismiss an album project from an artist and just pick and choose what you want to buy? Are we missing out on "b-sides" and little known tracks that may touch you more than the hit singles?

[DBAHO]

I listen to music on my MP3 playa all the time now. I take it everywhere, to Uni to work etc. and wear it round my neck. Prob my best purchase I ever made.

[Goldmember]

it's the evolution of the industry and labels and musicians have and will adapt. and besides, it pisses me off when a band puts out a good single on the radio or wherever and you go buy the cd and it's crap...

[southsider2k5]

I do have to agree that many old artists told a story with an album. It wasn't just one song, and Tommy/Sgt Pepper are great examples of that.

 

In today's music world I think the emphasis is to get as many of the needs of a genre covered on an album. For instance, in pop it seems like you need your token love song, your token jam or two, etc. When you listen to it straight through you don't get anykind of flow at all.

[Texsox]

I do have to agree that many old artists told a story with an album.  It wasn't just one song, and Tommy/Sgt Pepper are great examples of that.

 

In today's music world I think the emphasis is to get as many of the needs of a genre covered on an album.  For instance, in pop it seems like you need your token love song, your token jam or two, etc.  When you listen to it straight through you don't get anykind of flow at all.

Do you think that is

 

technology drives singles orientated albums?

 

or single orientated albums allowed the technology to flourish?

 

Would Sgt. Pepper and Tommy have been made today, would they work as a collection of singles as well?

[southsider2k5]

Do you think that is

 

technology drives singles orientated albums?

 

or single orientated albums allowed the technology to flourish?

 

Would Sgt. Pepper and Tommy have been made today, would they work as a collection of singles as well?

I don't think it is technology as much as the music industry. They want to get an album out ASAP and sell every single record they can, before the 15 mintues of fame are up. I don't think nearly as much heart and thought are put into music, like it used to be.

[Texsox]

I think we are missing something and cannot express it, or get it exactly. Maybe its the connection to the artists?

[Controlled Chaos]

I think if an artist said something like "my cd tells a story and is meant to be listened to in this order" Then it would end up being a huge marketing tool and everyone would be saying did you hear what so and so is doing. Then all the people with MP3's would organize their songs in that order, not too mention downloading all the songs instead of a select few. Then after hearing the songs in order...and being like "um cool" they can organize it back to have their two favorite songs from the cd play and the other ones taken off. It would probably also help with CD sales. But one of the benefit's of the MP3's and digital music is, you can do what you want.

[False Alarm]

i absolutely think something's been lost. music as an art form's as vibrant as ever, but the album as an art form's quickly dying. i don't think it's a tragedy--for better or worse, some art forms just fade away--but it does kinda sadden me. concept album or not, full albums do have a signature and a coherence that's just lacking with the fragmented approach to releasing music today. also, and i know it might sound kinda silly, but i'm gonna miss good liner notes and cover art. they're totally integral parts of an album IMO. i know i'm kinda a dinosaur, but i still collect CDs (sorry--too young for vinyl!) and plan too as long as possible.

 

that said, technology and the new methods for listening to and releasing music have a ton of benefits both for listeners and artists, and i don't blame my friends one bit for thinking i'm a dumbass for continuing to buy CDs.

[Be Good]

MP3, MIX doesnt hurt the experience at all, I think it helps music.

[FlaSoxxJim]

You asked for it...

 

Tex, I have said pretty much what you just did about the medium format change altering the way we experience music and likely also the way artists create it. It does not originate with the mp3 revolution, as you half pointed out.

 

The simple transition from vinyl to CD was the beginning of the change in the way the listener hears the music, and maybe not quite as the artist intended. Tommy and Pepper are good examples, and something like Abbey Road or Jethro Tull's Thick as a Brick even more so. The cacophony of "I Want You/She's So Heavy" that just stops dead at the height of it at the end of Abbey Road side 1 loses its tension on a CD that plays all the way through, and the deep breath/resetting of the world at the beginning of side 2 (the single best/cohesive-cyclical rock album side ever according to many) is lost on the CD. The Beatles would not have ordered the tracks or likely even arranged the songs on the album the way they did if the medium of the day was CD. Thick as a Brick is similar, and the disjointedness and weird heartbeat fadeout on side 1rejoined directly with the odd meandering that initiates side 2 don't make sense when you hear them on the CD. That is the only non-cohesive point in the album (which is essentially a single song), and it's there precisely because of the technical limitations of the vinyl medium at the time it was created.

 

The very amount of music that could fit onto two sides of an LP dictated track lengths and the number of "strong" cuts you had to have before you had a viable album, a potential double-album, etc.

 

As far as 8-tracks, they never supplanted the LP and frankly did not stick around long enough to force people to record with that medium and its limitations in mind. The fact that LP sequences converted to 8-track usually meant that songs were literally shopped in the middle as the tape switched programs (as all you oldsters will recall). That was the beginning of the end of the medium right there, along with the fact that the tape was thin and the programs would bleed into one another after multiple listenings. Since the two sides of a cassette mirrored the LP format well enough, there was no big need for artists to rethink track orders and arrangements (although the extra time allotted on a high density cassette allowed the inclusion of 'bonus tracks' not on the original LPs.

 

Beyond the music itself, not having a visual canvas the size of an LP jacket and inner sleeve, the visual art element of rock also took a serious hit with the move to CDs. Roger Dean, Neon Park, etc., only gained a following through their album art, and would not likely have had the same careers if they were doing postage stamp-sized illos for CD covers and inserts. The art has adapted to fit the medium and the CD booklets tend to be pretty good now, but I miss my big album covers.

 

As far as the mp3 thing, and most people really never getting to hear an album the way an artist intended it to be... I think it would have been devastating if that technology came out 20-30 years ago when cohesive rock albums were something artists still strived for. 40 years ago, of course, it would not have made a difference, because it was all geared toward that number one hit single 'with a bullet.' We're largely back to that I think, so mp3s are not as detrimental to the artist's intent. Moreover, attention spans of the teen/young adult main consumer of music being short and very soundbite-geared, the mp3 format where everything is a single is probably apt. Also, given our modern penchant for wanting everything tailored to our precise specs, downloadable, mixable, playlistable mp3s are again an appropriate medium for the masses.

[Texsox]

I noticed from talking to a few High School Freshman, they are "collecting" cd's of their favorite bands, or stuff they think is special. New bands, and known one hit wonders are being downloaded and burned.

 

I do like how some of the kids are starting to almost DJ a mix and burn it. It reminds me when I was doing a radio show in college. You strived for a cool mix. Maybe we are getting more into the music by mixing. Making it more personal.

[Obstacle 1]

this is an excellent thread that's on a topic that has bothered me for some time. i have experienced a music "epiphany" over the last few years after I got away from the No. 1 thing that limited my musical maturation: FM RADIO I listened to a lot of my dad's music growing up (classic rock), and of course, classic rock singles get heavy radio play, so i was a devotee of local rock stations. not to rip on classic rock, i still love and enjoy many of the bands i listened to growing up, they are classic for a reason (neil young, zeppelin, floyd, yes, steely dan, CSN, the band, rush "per se").

 

but i never saw the light until a few years ago when my friend brought home the 2000 virginia beach pearl jam bootleg. i was never a big fan of theirs, or grunge, before, but i was obviously familiar with the radio hits off Ten. but i never cared to listen to any other of their songs, and holy s*** were they sweet. i pretty much became a hard core pj and grunge fan from there on out, and proceedingly, stopped listening to fm radio. f*** that s***.

 

patience is the no. 2 key to enjoying music. there are thousands of albums you will come across that won't instantly appeal to you on the first complete listen, those are a rare bunch. many bands that i have grown to love have come from multiple, multiple spins. like riot act. didn't really care for it for the first couple weeks, but it grew on me, and that's what happens when you listen to music by bands who create ALBUMS, not singles. Bands like soundgarden, interpol, pj, the smashing pumpkins, radiohead, blind melon, tool, rush, steely dan, and pj create albums and put 14 songs on it for a reason.

 

bottom line...GET AWAY FROM FM RADIO!

 

unfortunately for myself, my roommate has, without a doubt, the WORST taste in music, ever, in the history of mankind. focusing mostly on bad, cheesy, mass marketed 80s music (but not all 80s music was mass marketed, mind you), he openly admits 1) to enjoy fm radio, 2) to enjoy singles and burnt compliations, 3) having a short attention span when it comes to music, and 4) having no shame when it comes to listening to horrible, horrible music. but he enjoys it, so i guess i can't front, but his music choices are painful to listen to.

 

there is no way in f***ing hell i am going to let a corporate suit tell me what music is good.

 

another thing that has improved my musical tastes have been bootlegs, which appropriately started when i began collecting the pearl jam 2000 boots. while i appreciate the production on a studio album (see: steely dan), live music is the best. pj helped me understand that live music has unlimited raw potential (see: the pumpkins, interpol), every show and every song is never, never played the same twice (unless you are creed). I own many albums, but i don't spin them nearly as much as I do my bootlegs. it's the way music was meant to be made. i discovered a site called sharingthegroove.org, i highly recommend it if you have a burner. all the shows posted are non-mp3 based and are great with a high speed line, you can get a 1 gig sized show in about 6 hours if you have a decent connection (better than my 30 kb/s). and also: it's FREE, which never sucks.