Musician Forum - Band Discussion Board - BandMix

These days, ppl buy songs. That's all fine & dandy, but it completely ignores a LOT of the things I used to find so interesting when I bought an album.

How can you possibly understand the composer's intent, when that song you just bought for 99 cents was originally intended to be a mere cog in an entire collection of work?

Remember "The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway?" Imagine just hearing only one of those sings, out of context. Would it mean as much as it did after hearing the entire album? NO! "Dark Side Of The Moon" (or any other Floyd collection), "The Six Wives Of Henry VIII," "I, Robot," these were all works that were meant to be heard in toto, not piecemeal.

Add to that, the notes they put on the album covers. The info they gave us was often pure gold, or funny, but it was usually interesting, at the very least.

The modern listener loses out on so much - first & foremost is the quality of the recordings, of course...but add to that all the other really cool stuff that an artist could present in his collection. It often followed a main theme, & while we all have our fave tunes from these albums, we all got so much more of the composer's intent from hearing an entire work, & we just don't see that, anymore, as we buy that one song we heard somewhere. Hell, some of those tunes needed three or more listenings before we could really appreciate them...but we don't do that these days, in our fast-food instantly-microwaved market. If it doesn't grab us in the first half-minute, we move on to someone or something else. What a waste!

Today's artist can hardly present that sneaky little bonus track, when ppl don't buy collections any longer. What has happened to our collective attention spans?

I'm beginning to think that the world of music is turning to 5 & dime plastic-spastic crap...& I'm sad...*sniff*...anyone have a tissue?

Some works are worth hearing in their entirety. Some aren't. The reason people buy only one cut is obvious. There is a lot of "filler" on some albums. Crappy songs put there just to take up space. I remember buying an lp's by an particular artist only to find that every time I bought a new release there were several songs on it that were on other albums.
Then there are releases that contained only one or two songs in the whole package worth listening to.

This generation has chosen not to get burned by big record company releases that come out just because the artist is hot at the moment. When making singles, the artist has to offer something on each track that is worth listening to. You just can't cram "filler material" down the consumers throat as was done in the "good old days". So I would argue that music has to either be improved or discarded by the consumer. Wouldn't that be an incentive to create better music?

Klug, the average CD buyer's age is a lot higher than 16-25. That's what it was 20 years ago. So add 20 to your numbers - the average age becomes 36-45. The problem here, of course, is that many people in that demographic have families, mortgages and bills and can't afford to buy CDs like they did when they were young. So who's buying them? Hardly anyone. Most young people consume digital music, whether they buy it or share it. But the market for vinyl is still surprisingly viable.

Regarding Phil's original point, most people do not have time to sit down and listen to an entire album in one session. They might have the album, but it's loaded on their I-Pod or Zune and most listen to music in shuffle mode. So eventually they might hear the entire recording, but not as it was originally intended.

Exactly, jimmy.

Today's composer is better off writing short little 'commercials,' for want of a better word, than writing any great opus. If you can't say it in a few simple sentences, no one will listen.

Ppl just don't TAKE the time to hear what may take far longer than 3-5 minutes to say. Those awesome stories of the past are lost in the the modern rush for constant distraction, & we've lost the ability to appreciate the truly great composers, because of it.

I've often worked on lengthy compositions, but then I realize that, even if I came up with the perfect collection of musical pieces, perfectly arranged to tell those things I desperately wish to say, no one would take the time necessary to hear it, & my intentions would be lost in someone's urge to hear a single snippet, missing out on how it fits into the whole, & thus, missing everything I really want to convey.

It's analogous to someone only looking at the figure of Peter in Da Vinci's The Last Supper, completely ignoring everything else in the frame, or only reading a single chapter of any given book, & neglecting the rest, all while assuming they've gotten all there is to get out of the book.

The digital iPod age is far from anything that could be called an 'Age Of Reason,' imho. Today is more like an 'Age Of Distraction,' as we flit about from one thing to another, while trying our best to hold true to one particular genre, ignoring & missing out on so much there is to hear.

It is true, that there have been far too many recordings chock full of fluff & filler, & perhaps that has contributed to the negligence & ignorance of the modern listener...funny how it all comes back to those pesky amateurs, isn't it?

When everyone & anyone can be a star, it ruins things for both the true artists AND the audience, doesn't it?

My father explains it thus.

People are stupid.


The " average consumer " is a frickin dick moron driving 70 MPH in a 50 zone with no insurance, talking on the cell on the way back from the liqueur store after backing over his kid in the driveway.


Why should we concern ourselves if he understands the deep meaning of an album?

sanshouheil wrote:My father explains it thus.

People are stupid.


The " average consumer " is a frickin dick moron driving 70 MPH in a 50 zone with no insurance, talking on the cell on the way back from the liqueur store after backing over his kid in the driveway.


Why should we concern ourselves if he understands the deep meaning of an album?

Well that was profound. Sad but true.

And our parents said exactly the same things about our taste in music at one time.

Back in the day Artist used to record CONCEPT ALBUMS that is what all those albums you mentioned previously are Philby. They would take a theme or main Idea and write an entire album around it. Those were the days when we called them recording artist. On another thread rescently someone said that they wanted their recordings to sound exactly like they sounded live. When I record I want to do pretty much the opposite. I want to let my creative muse loose and imagine ideas and then make them happen when the record button is engaged. A friend emailed me a video I wish I had it here (at work) I will try to post it later. It is a short documentary of 10CC recording "I'M NOT IN LOVE" I don't know if you guys have seen it but that is my belief of the way a Recording ARTIST should work. Or is it that I am just an old out dated FART LMAO!

"Or is it that I am just an old out dated FART "


Yup.