Hindsight is a son of a b*tch. Now, I am going to age myself with this article, but I could surely care less because this is a reality that many of us Early-to-Mid 80′s babies and older are experiencing everyday when we turn on the radio and are inundated with BS, garbage, soulless music. The day NAPSTER became the source of hearing new music first instead of the radio and buying albums, we began to slowly disconnect from the artists and disconnect from their music.
Let me explain something: I come from the school that use to order 11 CD’s/cassette’s for 1 cent off that tearaway page in Ebony magazine. I remember waiting 4-6 weeks in anticipation with my sister until the mailman FINALLY delivered our music and I remember we would go into our LISTENING PROCESS. Everyone over the age of 25 should know EXACTLY what I mean when I say LISTENING PROCESS, but for you younger folks who don’t know, let me explain:
Before all music could be downloaded off the net in two minutes of searching for a song, we had to BUY albums and sit down and listen to it from START to FINISH. Me personally, I would wait until everyone falls asleep, plug my earphones into my Boombox, turn the lights off in my room and play the entire cassette from start to finish while bobbing my head in my pillow. This was done with careful precision because I needed to set the environment correctly so I could completely absorb the beats, and the lyrics and the hilarity of the skits and take the album in completely. That was my LISTENING PROCESS.
My Uncle (whose 5 years older than me) use to round up his boys after school, walk to the record shop to buy a new album, bring it home and they would sit in silence for the entire length of the album to let it soak in – until the final song was done and they would get up and go Buck Wild depending on how wicked it was. That was their LISTENING PROCESS.
Some of us didn’t even hear music always from buying an album, sometimes you went to a party and the DJ played the song for the first time, or you heard it on the radio driving in your car for the first time, or you were dubbing a college-radio hip-hop program over an old cassette using some masking tape and hearing a big tune for the first time. Regardless of what the scenario was, that song CONNECTED with you for the rest of your life because it was more than just hearing good music, it was associating a special song with a special moment in your life. There are songs that we hear now and instantly take us back to some special, deep-rooted memory. There are songs that we hear from back in the days that can make us bust the biggest Kool-Aid smile ever, or make us cry, or make us nostalgic because of how our experience with that song will correlate to an important moment in our lives.
Is it just me, or does anyone else notice that doesn’t happen anymore?
Maybe it’s because the quality of the music has been greatly affected by mass production and commercialization, but it also has to do with the fact that we don’t experience a lot of music music in unique, interesting and life-connecting ways – we just hear it sitting in front of a computer or laptop. It’s the end of 2010, and I can safely say, there were very little songs, and next-to-no albums created in the past decade that register any deep seeded thoughts or emotions in me, but play some songs from the 80′s and 90′s and I’m lost in my own world.
In hindsight, mass availability of music via the World Wide Web was a good and bad thing. It helped us gain more access to music that we love and spared us the hell of purchasing a bad album that only had one good song on it, but it also has led to our disassociation of music from the importance of our every day lives and it just remains a commodity that we purchase in the same manner, with the same mindset that achieves the same purpose. I love downloading music, but damn do I ever miss being able to feel a song deep in my soul that I know will stick with me forever.
This Is Your Conscience
25 Comments, Comment or Ping
DatchikMalix
oh man…
i remeber that tear away sheet!!! goosh, i remember when i got the CRAZY.SEXY.COOL album through it…best day of my life!!! *tear*
snappers…how making your own "mixtape" (literally)…listening to the radio and pressing RECORD on the tapeplayer and hoping you remember to press again before commercials came on! LOL …and then exchanging tapes at school via WALKMANs
GOOD EFFIN TIMES( le sigh)
Dec 21st, 2010
WilliamT
co-signed over and over again
Dec 21st, 2010
ATLienSince82
Maynnnnnneeee I remember the first time I heard ATLIENS (obviously my favorite album)…Nigga I sat there for hours in my room just jamming out and going crazy and hitting the rewind button! That shit was classic
No Gucci, Waka or any other shit song like that has hit me since
Dec 21st, 2010
JusMe
11 CD’s/cassette’s for 1 cent off that tearaway page in Ebony magazine____Omg I completely forgot about that! I'm young tho so I'm pretty sure I discovered it shortly before is disappeared. I used to circle the ones I wanted tho I was never able to get my parents to order them. But yea… um… I can't relate to this post in any other way. Tho I do envy the way music was appreciated back then.
Dec 21st, 2010
Queen Erudite
It was easier to appreciate and respect artists music when they appreciated and respected themselves and their fans a lot more than they do now.
Dec 21st, 2010
Independent Woman
There is simply not enough diva's making music anymore. Too many stank heffa's running around the place trying to skin out their ass instead of just focusing on learning how to sing. Someone call SWV quick!
Dec 21st, 2010
Shaun
Right quick!!!
Dec 21st, 2010
Kevin
LOL. You all are just OLD.
Every generation has a different process for absorbing and appreciating music. People felt the same way about hip hop and dancehall. The difference between now and then is that more artists are able to get their music directly into the hands of the listener faster.
There are kids out there right now listening to songs that are going to stick with them forever- just like all of you remember hearing a song for the first time and having it stick with you.
Dec 21st, 2010
lincolnanthonyblades
LOVED Crazy Sexy Cool!
Dec 22nd, 2010
lincolnanthonyblades
ATLiens Is Arguably One Of The Best Albums I Ever Heard…No Songs Needed To Be Skipped..
Dec 22nd, 2010
lincolnanthonyblades
Co-Sign
Dec 22nd, 2010
lincolnanthonyblades
You are just Young.
If you think the ONLY difference is the speed of access in music and there hasn't been a decline in quality, you just weren't alive to know when music was actual poppin.
Dec 22nd, 2010
MistaHarsh
120 mins TDK
mastermind energy 108
Power 88.1
Wu Tang roaming around Eaton Centre
The infamous Def Jam show that caused artists to ban Toronto
Good memories. It could be that we're old. But there's something about hearing Brooklyn Zoo for the first time on Matermind show that's more memorable than hearing Dr Dre's Kush on the internet.
There's definitely a lack of the "listening process" I think it died with the making of CDs remember we always dubbed the best songs from tapes and made one 120min TDK mixtape but with CDs you no longer needed to listen to the album to find the best songs you just have to hit "skip".
Back in the day Side A and Side B meant something. Concept albums had meaning. Try listening to Ice Cube's Death Certificate on CD the Death side and Life side doesn't make sense…
Dec 22nd, 2010
Kevin
I didn't say "Only" I addressed one of the main points in why you are saying music can't be appreciated in the same way. Judging from what you've said- I'm about the same age as you.
But people older than me said the same things about hip-hop. They cracked on it for not using instruments, called it a fad, called it unoriginal because it re-used older music. (They didn't get the whole "sampling" thing). But I have a 16 year old niece and she has her own experiences with music that will shape her in much the same way listening to Ready to Die or Buisness as Usual shaped me.
There's plenty of great music out there, there's also more crap because any fool can pirate some computer programs and put their stuff on the net. It doesn't mean that there isn't good music still being made, and that our society's taste makers (people under 25) aren't finding it and appreciating it. I'm sure your pops never taped songs off college radio, but that doesn't make your experience less valid than his.
Dec 22nd, 2010
lincolnanthonyblades
I Feel You, And I Agree For The Most Part.
I Think In Particular To Hip-Hop It's Less About A Change In The Style Of Music And Media, And More About The Decline Of The Overall Quality Of The Music Due To Commercialism Amongst Other Things. But I Will Agree With Your Point That I Can Only Speak For Mid-To-Late 80's Babies, And Maybe Years From Now, Girls Who Grew Up On Souljah Boy Will Connect His Songs With Deep Profound Memories Of High School…I Guess We Will See..
Dec 23rd, 2010
Kevin
Maybe. But then our generation can't talk. We had MC Hammer, Tone Loc, Sir Mix-a-lot, the Fat Boys…. JJ Fad… and it goes on and on. Soulja Boy's corny, and kids love him, but kids of all generations enjoy corny ish. People from our time can't really talk.
My nieces and nephews will probably never have the experience of beating a furnace in a house party- but that doesn't mean their music wont' touch them like mine did me. It's just generational.
Check it – my parents came up with Bob Marley, Peter Tosh and Bunny Wailer. You don't think they rolled their eyes and said the exact same things about Shabba, Ninjaman and Supercat? To me, that stuff was some of the wickedest music ever made. To them- it was foolishness. They never beat a furnace in someone's basement, but listened to those songs freshly pressed off the back of a sound system playing off a truck. That's their experience. Every generation has its own and the previous generation will never really understand.
Dec 23rd, 2010
keisha brown
how did columbia house (took me a while to remember) make ANY money??
it was 1cent + S/H… who ever paid that??
who ever fulfilled the commitment??
how did they stay in business!!!!!!!??!?!?!?! lol.
waiting to hear your song on the 6pm/9pm countdown..only to have the damn DJ TALK over it??
perfecting when to pause and unpause..
these kids aint know..
Dec 29th, 2010
MCarmen Martinez de la Barrera
Examples incorporate time shower radios, disc avid gamers, wall membrane decorative mirrors, vanity decorative mirrors, movement detectors, thermostats, quit indicators, boomboxes along with wall timepieces to name several of …radio
Feb 4th, 2012
Uniq Sistar
I completely agree with this post!!! I miss cassette tapes. I miss going to bed with my tape walkman/cd discman with my pre-prepared music ready to soothe me to sleep. I miss recording songs off of the radio. I miss going to Poundland, purchasing 90minute tapes, going home then putting together my own compilation of music. I would also write the title of the songs in the inlay. The youngers don't know about these processes and never will……
Apr 20th, 2012
krystllyght
When I was in elementary, I remember trying to learn all of the lyrics to one of Digital Underground's albums. I kept rewinding and writing them down. Now, it's like none of the songs are worth all of that. Smh.
Apr 20th, 2012
Kam
I don't think because of technology I appreciate music less. The majority of music that is released these days I would categorize as "microwave music". Something that is a fad and holds little to no substance. So I see why people wont spend money on something that will be forgotten tomorrow.
I appreciate music Maxwell's BLACKsummers'night and Adele's 21 excellent music. CD's worth purchasing and I can't wait for the next release of Maxwell's blackSUMMERS'Night.
My sister purchased Sade's Soldier of Love CD and we played the hell out of the CD.
But I learned not to complain about today's music. I just keep supporting the music that I believe is quality and if you release quality best believe I will buy the album.
Apr 20th, 2012
Dilon Wilson
I was born in '87, my bro was 9 yrs older than me I remember he would let me borrow his Sony Walkman that also had radio on it…I would sit and listen to BBD's Hootie Mack album and memorizing all the words…I also miss the funny interludes that used to be on an album. There are some albums that come out now that are good all the way through but they aren't like the ones from back in the day
Apr 20th, 2012
imakesense
"snappers…how making your own "mixtape" (literally)…listening to the radio and pressing RECORD on the tapeplayer and hoping you remember to press again before commercials came on! LOL …and then exchanging tapes at school via WALKMANs "
I'm a 90s baby but I still owned a tape player and did this shit my parents would NOT buy me CDs or a cd player:(:(
Apr 20th, 2012
Meme
Ahh man the good ol days, when they use to have interludes and preludes. The appreciation in the making of art has definay declined. Back in the day 20 songs on a lp was the norm now it's like eight. Come on son!
Apr 21st, 2012
LPinCLE
I agree with the Microwave Music comment. It's music that searches for the broadest appeal instead of artistic integrity. Technology will always advance, the question is whether artist will continue to practice artistry.
Apr 21st, 2012
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