The Mighty Musical Observations Thread

[Dr. Medulla]

I’m guilty of giving something a listen on Spotify to see what I think then discarding it I barely 1 listen.

Maybe if you bought it and played it several times it'd grow on you. Sure, it happens. But how many albums did we buy that we played several times and realized we'd wasted $15?

I can certainly appreciate the various arguments, but my inclination is that introducing money into the equation doesn't make the music better.

No it doesn’t but how many albums that you now love did you not like the first time you heard them or took you a while to ‘get’ them.
Sandinista springs to mind.

Definitely! Some of my favourite records left me confused the first time or two. But when music is easy to acquire and store—um, piracy—there's no problem holding on to it and maybe you'll “get it” later on. There's no reason not to return to it later just becaus it was easily acquired.

But 'young people' don't acquire and store they listen on Spotify (or similar). I have 2 teenagers (and by default I know and talk to a lot of teenagers) who both listen to music all the time. Neither of them own a CD or record between them and only stream on Spotify. They have no music collection as such or back catalogue to listen to. They barely even have a Playlist on Spotify.

I don't doubt the medium alters how most people engage with music. I'm just reluctant to declare the way I originally discovered music as necessarily superior. How much of our warm feelings for vinyl are rooted in our youth? Were we more hungry and adventurous for music because of the medium or because of our age? A geek is gonna geek and a less committed fan is going to embrace hits as they come and go.

[Dr. Medulla]

I only listen to music on minidisc.

I remember trying to do some kind of swap with snoh way back when, and he refused to do anything but minidisc for reasons that I don't precisely recall but left me baffled at the time.

Pretty silly considering anything on a mini disc was just a copy of something else.

I wish I could remember his objections to, I think, cd-r. Being able to record over it, maybe?

All those great compilations Snoh made were on CDR.

You're right, so it can't be a cd-r issue. Damn me brain!

[Wolter]

I don't think there is a best way to experience music. Just different. Like, I love the easy access to almost every song I ever learn about, but I am almost paralyzed with choices and definitely have things in my library I've listened to once or not at all. Meanwhile, back in the day I had to scrape and struggle to find certain albums, but the ones I had I listened to deeply and repeatedly. I've enjoyed the ritual of flipping an lp and placing the needle just as I've enjoyed hitting shuffle on a huge playlist.

[Wolter]

I’m guilty of giving something a listen on Spotify to see what I think then discarding it I barely 1 listen.

Maybe if you bought it and played it several times it'd grow on you. Sure, it happens. But how many albums did we buy that we played several times and realized we'd wasted $15?

I can certainly appreciate the various arguments, but my inclination is that introducing money into the equation doesn't make the music better.

I know I spent money on FIfteen's debut album at the advice of a friend and I have listened to it maybe three times in twenty years.

EDIT: make that almost 25 years. Jesus.

[Dr. Medulla]

I don't think there is a best way to experience music. Just different. Like, I love the easy access to almost every song I ever learn about, but I am almost paralyzed with choices and definitely have things in my library I've listened to once or not at all. Meanwhile, back in the day I had to scrape and struggle to find certain albums, but the ones I had I listened to deeply and repeatedly. I've enjoyed the ritual of flipping an lp and placing the needle just as I've enjoyed hitting shuffle on a huge playlist.

Yup, that resonates with me, tho I have no nostalgia for the ritual of vinyl. But I recognize that I'm more than a bit of an oddity in that I've never experienced any kind of, well, romance of a particular medium. I'm pretty battleship grey utilitarian in that I want the easiest and most constrollable means of listening to music.

[Flex]

My favorite listening experiences is when I can smash up any records Jon likes.

[Wolter]

My favorite listening experiences is when I can smash up any records Jon likes.

My favorite record is your childhood memories.

[WestwayKid]

As I may have previously mentioned...we have a bronze statue of Fonzie in downtown Milwaukee. It's become quite the tourist landmark. Not a single shot was ever actually filmed in Milwaukee, however. Same for Laverne & Shirley.

One of my happiest random moments after moving to Chicago was finding a statue of Bob Newhart near where I worked.

Is that the one by Navy Pier?

[revbob]

I only listen to music on minidisc.

I remember trying to do some kind of swap with snoh way back when, and he refused to do anything but minidisc for reasons that I don't precisely recall but left me baffled at the time.

Pretty silly considering anything on a mini disc was just a copy of something else.

I wish I could remember his objections to, I think, cd-r. Being able to record over it, maybe?

That was what you could do with mini disc. I actually owned a player/recorder. I dealt with someone on a Pogues board who was a mini disc cultist.

[Dr. Medulla]

I only listen to music on minidisc.

I remember trying to do some kind of swap with snoh way back when, and he refused to do anything but minidisc for reasons that I don't precisely recall but left me baffled at the time.

Pretty silly considering anything on a mini disc was just a copy of something else.

I wish I could remember his objections to, I think, cd-r. Being able to record over it, maybe?

That was what you could do with mini disc. I actually owned a player/recorder. I dealt with someone on a Pogues board who was a mini disc cultist.

Right—it had to do with recording. Maybe he rejected digital recorders without removable media because you couldn't given someone the disc? Something along those lines.

[Wolter]

As I may have previously mentioned...we have a bronze statue of Fonzie in downtown Milwaukee. It's become quite the tourist landmark. Not a single shot was ever actually filmed in Milwaukee, however. Same for Laverne & Shirley.

One of my happiest random moments after moving to Chicago was finding a statue of Bob Newhart near where I worked.

Is that the one by Navy Pier?

The very same. I used to work in the high rise by it. The one everyone believes Oprah lived in, even though she never did.

[Flex]

Doing a Wikipedia dive, and I just learned that Geza X produced Meredith Brooks' hit "Bitch". I don't know what to do with that information.

[Dr. Medulla]

Doing a Wikipedia dive, and I just learned that Geza X produced Meredith Brooks' hit "Bitch". I don't know what to do with that information.

What a bizarre pairing. Like learning that Martin Hannett worked with Iron Maiden.

[Wolter]

Doing a Wikipedia dive, and I just learned that Geza X produced Meredith Brooks' hit "Bitch". I don't know what to do with that information.

What a bizarre pairing. Like learning that Martin Hannett worked with Iron Maiden.

I’ll be honest: I’m intrigued.

[Dr. Medulla]

Doing a Wikipedia dive, and I just learned that Geza X produced Meredith Brooks' hit "Bitch". I don't know what to do with that information.

What a bizarre pairing. Like learning that Martin Hannett worked with Iron Maiden.

I’ll be honest: I’m intrigued.

I'll be honest: I structured my pairing around two figures who (a) wouldn't make sense yet (b) would light up different parts of your specific brain.