Sonic Youth Gossip - music overload

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- - music overload (http://www.sonicyouth.com/gossip/showthread.php?t=18139)

It's difficult to know how much is the person, and how much is the music. I think it's genuinely amazing that 14, 15 year old kids are able to listen to a million more records than I could at their age. I had a fairly broad taste at that age, but kids these days are sick with their breadth. That's definitely a positive thing.

Personally speaking, I got tired of 'new' music a few years ago, and have given up on seeking it out - if it comes, fine, but it's not a pathological condition any more. At the moment, and I hope for the foreseeable future, I'm looking at getting a record collection that is full of stuff that is interesting or good, or challenging (and good). I still like the odd new-ish rock-ish record, but I listen to them for a fortnight and then they sit on the shelf for the rest of time. I don't listen to all of my classical records all the time, but you better believe if I'm sticking on something special, that motherfucker's getting listened to with two ears, two balls and a cock.

Even when I was in college, my record collection didn't grow much past 100 LPs or so. I bought fewer but appreciated them more, I think. There were times I'd buy maybe 1 or 2 albums every few months, but they'd be ones I loved and play to death.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Glice

At the moment, and I hope for the foreseeable future, I'm looking at getting a record collection that is full of stuff that is interesting or good, or challenging (and good). I still like the odd new-ish rock-ish record, but I listen to them for a fortnight and then they sit on the shelf for the rest of time. I don't listen to all of my classical records all the time, but you better believe if I'm sticking on something special, that motherfucker's getting listened to with two ears, two balls and a cock.

that's exactly where I was 7 years ago when I REALLY started to put together my vinyl collection.

http://www.mat.upm.es/~jcm/neil-postman--five-things.html

Great topic, hat and beard. Socrates tells us that "the unexamined life is not worth living."

Information is becoming less and less meaningful. In the computer age, people don't want information, not really. What they actually desire is to feel informed. Thus, information gets disposably consumed rather than internalized fully.

It's my feeling though that "Information Age" is a slogan concocted by computer corporations.
After all, who doesn't feel that they want or need more information?
I prefer the original tag: the Computer Age. Its direct predecessors being the Space Age and Atomic Age.
__________________
"If you make people think they're thinking, they'll love you; But if you really make them think, they'll hate you." -Don Marquis

yes. information age means nothing. the Enilghtenment could very well have been called the Information age. Hell, the start of written language could have been called the Information age.
I too prefer the computer age, as computers are fast entering each and every single possible thing there is to purchase.

"Computer Age" is good enough for Neil Young (and for Neil Postman).

Quote:

Originally Posted by atari 2600

http://www.mat.upm.es/~jcm/neil-postman--five-things.html

Thanks for posting that. I think the following quote speaks perfectly to the point I was trying to make with all this.

Quote:

Perhaps you are familiar with the old adage that says: To a man with a hammer, everything looks like a nail. We may extend that truism: To a person with a pencil, everything looks like a sentence. To a person with a TV camera, everything looks like an image. To a person with a computer, everything looks like data. I do not think we need to take these aphorisms literally. But what they call to our attention is that every technology has a prejudice. Like language itself, it predisposes us to favor and value certain perspectives and accomplishments. In a culture without writing, human memory is of the greatest importance, as are the proverbs, sayings and songs which contain the accumulated oral wisdom of centuries. That is why Solomon was thought to be the wisest of men. In Kings I we are told he knew 3,000 proverbs. But in a culture with writing, such feats of memory are considered a waste of time, and proverbs are merely irrelevant fancies. The writing person favors logical organization and systematic analysis, not proverbs. The telegraphic person values speed, not introspection. The television person values immediacy, not history. And computer people, what shall we say of them? Perhaps we can say that the computer person values information, not knowledge, certainly not wisdom. Indeed, in the computer age, the concept of wisdom may vanish altogether.

The information age has had a major impact on the accessability of music and allows people to consume, share, and cause the industry to drown people's heads in a plethora of artists. Quality over quantity. And by quality I mean spending quality time with the music, and it should really be a matter of moderation between familiarization with the artists and the amount of artists you have. The human mental environment for (us) music consumers is continuously being pressured and convinced into consuming more music; similar to the advertising industry convincing to consume more commodities. It's really a matter of resistance and spending time with what you currently have. It's better to be a less wealthy person appreciating a sandwich than a rich person having 20 sandwiches and not taking time to enjoy them.

On the contrary, it's nice that we have any music available to us due to technology, and as rational human beings we can choose what to and what not to listen to.

Thanks for bringing this up.

well, the technological advances we have are great for people who are looking to get into a certain band without wanting to blow $10 for an LP or $20 for a fucking super deluxe edition enhanced CD (gag) and then hating the band. and i think it's great because bands that people ordinarily never would have known about are reaching a wider audience. but i have records that i love that i bought based on the art alone or it was on pink wax or something like that. if everything is available 24/7 and nothing is spontaneous and everything is calculated and cold and callous then it's no fun!