Re: Well Dick, it has a good beat

(I could google around and see opinions on this but)

I've watched people in the MP3-internet age sample tracks for 30 seconds and then move on.

Does a band now have just seconds to find their audience?
(Is this the secret to Morningwood? Just kidding - it's their live show).

Used to be we didn't hear something til we owned it. Then we gave it a complete chance to soak in. Or the track received lots of repetition on radio/Marketing Television (MTV).

Does an artist have to put their best hook up front (more now than ever)?
Has that affected pop music?



Post Edited (07-24-06 23:43)

Well, the funny thing too is that often on Amazon (those frigging anti-Semites) or other places with 30-second samples, they seem to pick 30 pretty improbable seconds, so you really can't even get much of a flavor of the song because the sample is so poorly chosen.

Well paganizer, you're thinking of the FM-radio types who really get "into" an album. For most of pop music history it's been the Top40 AM-type listeners who drove record sales, and they largely bought singles - singles that had to be immediately catchy to be heard over the tinny sound and the shouting DJ. These listeners didn't care about an "artist" or his career or his vision.

I suspect there will still be the more serious album buyers, as well as the bubblegum crowd who go for the immediate pop hook.

Paganizer, serving up more food for thought, and 'tis all good.

Back in the day when my Dad was a dj (late 70's to '92) he brought home promo's of tons of stuff. In hindsight, my judgment totally sucked.
There were a few albums that I remember loving and playing over and over right from the start. To wit: this years model, give em enough rope, candleland, psychocandy, just cant stop it.
But for the most part, stuff I thought was just as good (i.e camper van beethoven, concrete blonde, certain REM albums etc) were really rather lousy albums. In no way do they hold up to the all timers (SEE TP Top 50).

Now that the free promo days are gone, and the socioeconomic realities of today have set in, Im happy to say... I cant afford to trust my instincts.

Sometimes I hit pitchfork or other sites to see what Im "missing" but it seems everything is surrounded by someone gushing about the latest camper van band. And I already been down that road.

And so, I wait for THE WORD.

This explains why I have maybe 30 albums since cherry picking the TP fifth edition in '97. Lovely albums, from the first 30 seconds to the last.

Thank you, Ira



Post Edited (07-25-06 17:24)

Well, the world certainly craves instant gratification, and the band that defines this to me in this era is Franz Ferdinand. I'm not the biggest fan (don't like 'em much at all actually) but it seems to me those that fell in love with their debut did so because it was all punchy hooks all the time. Their second album is less hooky but probably every bit the artistic equal just less immediate and it kind of tanked....no one seemed to have the patience to wade through it......There was also obviously an effect of the cd age where records lost the gift for sequencing - of "sides" and pacing. Albums became front loaded, all the singles are up front, all the hooks are on the first 5 tracks....And the MP3, 30 second sample clip has just exacerbated the whole situation. It's an emptier experience.

maybe bands like Franz Ferdinand (since you mentioned it mat) should take some of that initial big $ ... purchase run down buildings in several cities and have their fans/and or other bands looking for a venue, fix it up. That way they would always have a home away from home and locals to keep it going. True self promotion? INDIE ARENA



Post Edited (07-25-06 20:10)