An old friend shares that rarity on social media: an excellent meme that I find extremely thought-provoking. Here it is:
This resonates so much with the elderly hippie that somewhere still lurks within me, spending days and evenings tucked up in my bedroom, listening to an album in its entirety. In fact, the concept of playing an album all the way through, in order, takes me back to the mid 1960s when I would allow the genius of The Beatles’ A Hard Day’s Night to wash all over me, as I also did with The Monkees’ first album. These records were all killer, no filler. While I had my favourite tracks, the rest of the songs were so strong there was simply no need to skip some tracks. Yet at some point in the 1960s and 1970s, I definitely did have my versions of playlists.
My Auntie Glenys, whose name wasn’t quite Glenys and wasn’t even a real auntie, had one of those contraptions on her record player which enabled you to place a number of singles (7″ vinyl records) to plop down one-by-one in the order you so chose. I thought this was a high point in technology, but not on the same level as the introduction of cassette players. I got my first player in the early 1970s and it changed the way I listened to music. In a way, this became a playlist.
I was an avid listener to BBC Radio 1 and learned to ‘tape’ the weekly chart show. I then learned to stop and restart the recording if what I considered to be an absolute dud was being played and to omit, where possible, the voice of the DJ introducing the songs. I recorded parts of other shows, too, and played them back till my heart’s content. The radio became a teacher of music and I gradually built up my own collection, based at least in part on what I’d heard on the radio.
I soon moved on to albums and I would listen to them, either alone or with friends. I’d like to think that most of the albums I consumed consisted of wall-to-wall bangers, this wasn’t always the case. Some albums I’d buy would include filler and sometimes a lot of it and I admit that from time-to-time, I’d move the needle and skip the duds. It was a particularly tricky thing to do and I would often find myself not quite finding the actual gap between vinyl tracks. For most of the time, you felt compelled to listen to the whole album because it was such a hassle to get up and physically move the needle. When music became available on cassette, the same problems remained. It was only when CDs came along that skipping tracks became, if not the norm, then a decent option. This led to the next stage in my music and technological advancement: the mix tape or the CDR compilation. Basically, playlists.
Possessing a decent computer meant I could effectively compile my own playlist and I took them in the car and on holiday. Given that my partner and I (still) have dramatically conflicting tastes in music, this was not just desirable but essential. While I would still listen to whole albums, and still do, I love the idea of having easy access to my favourite songs from all the music I own. Now, of course, we have digital music which has changed everything.
I consider myself to be very old fashioned when it comes to music. Where possible, I like to own a physical copy of an artist’s music, which means paying for it. And I pay, preferably direct from the artist or via Bandcamp or my downloading through iTunes or a mainstream store, Amazon only if I have no other option. And why? Because I want the artists whose music I buy to get rewarded – paid – for it. I regard streaming services akin to stealing music from the artist given how little they get from companies like Spotify and YouTube, the latter of which I confess to using more than I should, given how musicians get badly fucked over by the platform.
The digital world has simply expanded my choices. In recent weeks, I have downloaded and paid for albums by Burr Island, TEED and The Besnard Lakes, as well as singles by Avalon Emerson, Ebbb, Robyn, pecq and Courtney Barnett. I can do what I like with them, listening to the whole album or picking out favourite tracks. And I can make playlists for all manner of circumstances.
Back in the day, we certainly did listen to albums, in order, as the artist intended them to be heard, not least because the facilities to do otherwise did not exist. It’s not better and it’s not worse today than it was back then: it’s just that we have more choice. The way we consume music has changed as a result of technology. I now carry my entire collection on my mobile phone: all of it. I remember staying on a Greek island back in 1992 with a Sony Walkman and around eight cassette tapes to get me through two blissful weeks of sunshine. Now I take 20,000 plus songs with me and my life is so much better for it.
I repeat, though: what a great meme that is. It’s made me think about my connection with music, how I consumed it in the past and how I do so today. We live in the greatest time ever for music because we have all the new music that is coming out and everything that has ever been made. How we listen to it is a personal matter for the listener. There’s a lot to be said for listening to the whole album and, I think, making playlists because I think I am rather good at them. (You should hear my Beach Boys playlist.)
However , you listen to your music, I’ll say only one more thing. Instead of using a hugely rich and powerful streaming company which rips off and exploits artists, buy your music instead. No one should have to work for free. Minor bloggers like me, perhaps, but certainly not musicians.
