Tuesday 27 June 2006

"CDs have taken the ageism out of music"

The other day I was yapping on about some of the differences betwen CDs and records. Hugh Cornwell mentioned the other night an observation about CDs made my Malcolm McLaren:
The great thing about CDs is that they make all music the same age: they re-release all these old records and a new generation hears them for the first time... CDs have taken the ageism out of music.
Discuss.

TAGS: Music

3 comments:

Libertyscott said...

and records didn't get re-released or new pressings done regularly? Sheesh.

The bigger issue is what mp3 is doing to music - encouraging a trend towards buying singles, the final end of album art, and the second (after the cassette) swing of consumers to a poorer quality format. Only the hard of hearing can get a thrill from a stereo comprising an Ipod attached to speakers. Wonderful for convenience and that is all.

Peter Cresswell said...

"...and records didn't get re-released or new pressings done regularly? Sheesh."

Oddly enough, very rarely. The low production, storage and distribution costs of CDs and digital media (as compared to analogue) has meant a FLOOD of product, old, new and even antique, that just wasn't there when vinyl was king. I think that's the the point -- both the quantity and quality of the flood rather devalue new music.

Isn't that lack of interest one reason for the abandoning of 'Top of the Pops'?

Libertyscott said...

TOTP is going for the same reason that there isn't a 1ZB/2ZB/3ZB all things to everyone community station anymore (they are all single format news/talk). TOTP had all genres of top rating music in one - so those who wanted rock, pop, crip-crap, punk, etc etc only wanted to see their genre - whereas there are two full time music stations on free-to-air digital TV - and pay TV has several more.

Nobody tapes TOTP anymore because it is no longer the only way to get ANY music on TV, and the format itself (lip synching in front of an audience) appealed less and less to stars who didn't want to be thought of as Milli Vanelli.