So, I’ve become an iTunes convert (I’m a little late on the uptake). I, like many of my other music elitist brethren, held out on the whole online music store thing in support of the physical album for about as long as it was financially practical. I like the smell of a fresh CD on a Tuesday morning, but I also like buying albums for $9.99, so iTunes pretty much won that one. All the same, I miss my trips to the record store, and it saddens me to see how much the availability of music online has destroyed the concept of the album.
First of all, let me say that I am very supportive of what online music has done for the artists, as a whole. I remember being 12 or 13 years old, searching around the record store for something new and not quite knowing where to start. I was a grunge rock girl in a boy band world, and it was just not looking good back then. I went through my obligatory Alanis Morissette and Wallflowers phase…bad news all around, really. Music magazines were starting to focus more on pop music, and radio was all becoming carbon copies of itself. It was a cold, dark night…but I digress…
All of the awkwardness of my musical taste in my tweens has made me sincerely appreciate the doors that download sites have opened for both the consumer and the small-town band. I discovered more music in Napster’s heyday than I even knew existed. I think that was also around the time when I started listening to Squirrel Nut Zippers, but we’ll call it my “experimental phase.” I was learning, but I was also learning out of context. I was getting little bits of musical ideas but losing the greater picture.
As a result of music download sites, the concept of the “Single” has completely changed into something that is more about numbers than it is about music. It’s all about landing a track on the Billboard 100 and reaping the benefits for about 30 days before everyone forgets your name. A quality album that lands a hit single is almost a fluke, in many cases. I remember the Tower Records days, where perusing the singles bin was the most exciting part of the trip. Picking up a single was what the cool kids did….they were on the forefront, and singles were a pretty hot ticket item. More importantly, singles were about introducing an snippet of the concept from the band’s next album….it was like getting a sneak preview of the big movie weeks before it came out. Anticipation of something greater to come. The reversal of this idea simply bores me.
Of course, there will always be certain songs that you will buy just for nostalgia and ditch the album. ”Puttin’ On The Ritz” is one of my personal favorites, but I don’t think I need an entire album of Taco. What bothers me is that the single has almost replaced the album in importance. More often than not, the single from the most popular albums on the Billboard charts have little or nothing to do with the rest of the album. ”Hey, the next 13 tracks are pretty mediocre, but this one is HOT!” Good for you…you got a 3 million-dollar record advance to make one hit song. Given the odds, I could probably squeeze one out, too. On a sidenote: What’s actually quite the interesting turn of events is that rap has become one of the only genres that still sticks to the “album concept” pretty strictly. Yeah, most of the interludes have become a little excessive and largely unnecessary, but listen to the interludes on Busta Rhymes’ Extinction Level Event, and tell me that shit’s not gold.
Anyway….here’s the disturbing fact: The emergence of online music stores as the most acceptable medium for picking up recordings has actually changed the way we make music. I guess it’s all pretty predictable when you look at the history of technology over the past 10 years, but it has led me to appreciate the bands and artists that make the effort to put out a fluid, well-thought-out album that much more. I once read an article about the latest Blackalicious album, The Craft, where they guys in the band said they recorded over 100 songs before deciding on the 14 tracks that would make the album. Now maybe that’s a bit much, but the dedication is something I appreciate, not to mention that album is killer.
In support and memorium of the Album, here’s a few I’ve purchased recently that truly can stand on their own as full bodies of work. I recommend you pick them up:
Gorillaz – Placstic Beach
Big Boi – Sir Lucious Left Foot…The Son of Chico Dusty
Method Man & Redman – Blackout!
The Kills – Keep On Your Mean Side
Morphine – The Night
Listening to: Stevie Wonder – “Don’t You Worry ‘Bout A Thing”
