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Everything old is new again. I suppose that could be a good thing, in one way or another. For the modern music connoisseur, we are, once again, faced with a returning fad. Not even a fad, really. More like a moment in time when technology wasn't able to produce anything better.
I am speaking of the return of the cassette tape. Yes. I'd wear those things out, month after month. I used to spend entire days waiting for my favorite songs to come across the radio airwaves, and I'd hit that record button with some fury. My early mix tapes were really something. But hey, I captured it all. On cassette. Cassettes served their purpose. Then, they died. Thank God!
Because compact discs were introduced. No more fast-forwarding and rewinding to find the song I wanted to hear. I couldn't afford the tape deck that auto-found songs. No more fixing the tape-gone-bad with a pencil.
I suppose the only thing that the reintroduction of the tape will accomplish, is that it will force the listener to hear the entire record. That's really about it.
It's a funny fad. I suppose the Millennials, or Generation Z, will have to learn the hard way. Hopefully, when the listener spends $70 on a Death Cab tape, they'll learn pretty quickly.
I loved my cassettes, but I am glad they're gone now.
I was driving to work the other day and found myself skipping over tracks in order to listen to standout songs from the Everclear record, "Sparkle and Fade." I don't know about you, but most of my revelations come to me when I am driving somewhere.
So as I reached toward the skip button, I caught myself, and stopped. Why in the world am I skipping through the record to merely listen to the radio hits? Some of you, myself included, have come to know these non-radio songs as "album filler." But why? Is the rest of the record garbage? Certainly, as a former artist, my band didn't write hits and say, "eh, lets just throw this other shit in as filler." No. Every song, on every one of our records contained 115% of the best we could do as a collective unit. Every song was as relevant as the next.
I felt a little disgusted in myself. And for the first time in over fifteen years, I reached toward my disc player, started the CD from the beginning, and listened to the album all the way through.
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| SOMA - San Diego |
When I was a kid, I'd go to shows throughout San Diego and Los Angeles. I'd be at SOMA, the Roxy, the Epicentre, the Troubadour, the Whiskey, the Che Cafe, soaking it all in. The bands would be up there on stage pouring their souls out for everyone to see and hear. If I liked what I saw, I bought the vinyl or the tape, and I'd go home and listen to the entire record a hundred times. There weren't any "hit" songs within the underground scene. There were just punk rock/rock n' roll bands and a thriving community of music lovers who found their identity within those San Diego/Los Angeles back street music venues. The energy and effort is what mattered.
I can't pinpoint the exact time when I fell into the habit of skipping through records to find the "best" songs. Were the bands writing music that wasn't as good? Or was I merely becoming selfish and ultra picky? I don't know. Maybe a bit of both? Maybe I'm getting old?
You know who helped kick me back into my old mind set? Dave Grohl. I've never met Dave, but whenever someone asks, "If you could meet anyone, who would it be," my first answer is always Dave Grohl. Not only because I was a massive Nirvana fan, and certainly a fan of his work in the Foo Fighters, but he comes across as being very approachable. A dude who makes music for the working class. Middle finger to the industry kinda guy. You know what I mean?
Anyhow, those guys put out the "Wasting Light" record a little while back. Then, they toured regular American garages, for folks like you and me, to kick off support for the record. That floored me. I'd say that it got those old rock n' roll wheels turning in my head all over again. I've been watching interviews with Dave and the rest of the band lately. As I watched the excitement, clearly evident in the bands' eyes as they spoke of recording in a natural setting, on reel-to-reel tape, I found my own motivation to pull out records with the sole intent of listening to every song on every album. Not just the hits. Guess what? The records are really good. I mean, really good!
I think that in the age of digital music media, we have become lost in a sea of singles. Don't get me wrong. There's nothing wrong with enjoying a single song. And God bless you for purchasing the song in order to support the artist. I simply think that we have forgotten that there is an album attached to those singles. There are ten to however many more songs on the record from which that song was born. And the artists poured out their soul in order to put that record into the hands of the public.
I suppose I have written here today to encourage you to revisit your records and give every song an equal shot. If you're like me, you own records that you haven't even heard. Show those records some love. Fall in love with music all over again.
Post Script: This entry is dedicated to any musician/band that have enough talent to write their own music, and play their own instruments. And to every band who truly pay their dues. Cheers!
