(I bet this has been discussed here somewhere else, but I haven't stumbled across it yet.)
There are a lot of practical issues that influence what music I listen to, and one reason I don't buy more pop music is that I am often interested in individual songs, but am not willing to put up with the albums that go along with them. I can think of lots of songs form the 70's that I like by bands that may not have released anything else I consider worthwhile. If I could buy 45s, things might be different. Some CD singles don't seem satisfying (and are too expensive). I used to sometimes by cassete singles, but I never felt good about it. I like the idea of selecting your own songs to go on a CD, but I don't get the sense that the selections that are commercially available that way are varied enough. CD burners are an option, of course, but it looks like the music industry is making that impossible, on top of which you still have to get a copy of something in your hands in order to burn it.
I don't have the patience to deal with downloading MP3s all the time. The sound quality often leaves a lot to be desired, or maybe it's just the speakers on my PC. I am hoping that as this technology improves, it will become a more appealing alternative.
In the mean time, since I buy CDs, I end up buying recordings I think will be good overall (except in rare cases when I absolutely have to have a certain track).
I think that the unit of most pop music is the single. Some artists can successfully create albums in which the songs are all interconnected, but I don't see where that is so much better than just putting out a bunch of good songs. Even with the Beatles (who I do consider the-best-band-ever) I can't honestly think of any of their albums that I truly like from beginning to end. I like their songs more than I like their albums.
― DeRayMi, Wednesday, 7 November 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)
I sympathise on the technology front.
I may have missed the point of your question. But one solution to
your problem = buy 'Best of's and various artists comps? Okay, you
still end up acquiring songs you don't want/like, but the discs atr
often good value for money, so that's a minor irritation. And with
V/A comps, you may get introduced to something new that you never
knew existed.
― Jeff, Wednesday, 7 November 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)
I guess I didn't exactly ask a question, but you did tease one out of
what I said. Actually, I do buy Best Ofs. I used to feel a bizarre
sense of shame about buying such collections, but now it seems like
the way to go, in a lot of cases. But it doesn't allow me to
collect songs that are out now. Granted, I'm not that interested in
most of what I hear, but, for example, if I could buy "So Fresh, So
Clean" on a 45 (and if I had a turn-table), I probably would. I
thought "Stankonia" was pretty impressive, but I don't want the whole
album.
― DeRayMi, Wednesday, 7 November 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)
Well,it might interest you to know that there's an Outkast best of
due out before the end of the year.
― Damian, Thursday, 8 November 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)