I certainly went through my share of these as a preteen/teenager. I'm still shocked when I walk into a music shop (which is rare in and of itself) and I see they still stock cassette tapes for sale. I always ask myself "who the hell still buys these?" Well, the answer's going to be no one some time soon because the end of the Walkman is nigh:
Sony Finally Stops Selling Cassette Walkmans
It's not a terrible loss, but it has made me a bit nostalgic, thinking about where I've come from in terms of music ownership. I have owned quite a few of these over the years, even after I got my first Discman, which was one of the first back in the early 90s. I've also had a couple of mp3 players back in the days before the iPod, but I eventually broke them and stuck with CD players until I got my first iPod about 3 and a half years ago. I'm still using the same one, even though it doesn't have enough memory for me and the battery life is about gone, but I don't really want to buy a new one. My hatred of Apple and my own iPod is well documented, and iTunes makes me want to shoot myself in the face. And in that time of portable music player ownership (I've also had plenty of boom boxes and stereo systems over the years too, and now I have my treasured Bose headphones), my music tastes haven't changed all that much. They have just kind of expanded from where I started. I'm a big music buff thanks to my Dad (and believe me, I don't thank him for much), as it seemed almost predestined for me to be a rock fan the first songs I remember are Dire Straits' "Money For Nothing" and Huey Lewis and the News' "The Heart of Rock 'n Roll" (the former being a little more impressive than the latter, but I still have a soft spot in my heart for ol' Huey).
I'm trying to remember all the tapes I've owned over the years, but the only one that sticks out of the most in my mind is Tom Petty's Full Moon Fever (from whence "Free Fallin'" and "Running Down a Dream" and the like came), which I listened to over and over and over again until there were those trademark cracks in the tape. Um, well now I've remembered another tape I owned back in the day, and unfortunately it's not something I want to brag about. But I was a kid and I loved Disney: The Lion King soundtrack. I can sing all those songs by heart even to this day, which came at the expense of my Aunt Cherie's sanity when I made her play this tape non-stop for about 2 weeks on a road trip to and around the state of Maine.
After I got a CD player for what I think was my 8th or 9th birthday (<--spoiled), the first few CD's I remember owning include Tom Petty again, with the Heartbreakers this time on their Greatest Hits album, Michael Jackson's Thriller, an album I made the unfortunate decision of selling to my brother when we held a garage sale at my house when I was in high school, and Beethoven's 5th and 6th Symphonies when I became addicted to the Pastoral after too many viewings of Fantasia (hey man, I was also really into Greek mythology. ::not a nerd::). Also in middle school I tried to listen to popular radio for awhile and I guess went through what was a vaguely a teeny bopper phase because my friends were doing it and I was already enough of an outcast and weirdo as it was. It didn't last long, though, because I soon discovered Aerosmith and I pretty much dedicated myself to classic rock, then punk, then proto and post-punk, new wave and whatever other useless-genre-title you want to use. I'm also kind of the conviction asserted by Rob at the beginning of High Fidelity that your tastes in music, movies, and popular culture matter, which means I kind of missed the point of the book entirely since Rob learns that it's all arbitrary criteria by the end. What, I've never said I'm anything but shallow.
So it was a nice trip down memory lane. Poor Walkman, it was the first in portable music technology, and it was bulky, awkward, and came with the most annoying pair of headphones (look at the lead picture and tell me those things weren't irritating, especially when those foam pieces started falling off). Now I live with a bulky and awkward iPod because it's old and the case is held together with packing tape. But at least my tastes have changed since then, and I've become an even bigger snob about what I listen to, though keep in mind I still love Cher and Lady Gaga unconditionally. Hell, even Aerosmith is super lame these days (WTF are you doing on American Idol, Steven?).
So, do you remember your first cassettes and CDs? With your Walkman on, jumping up and down to your favorite song? Ever make mixed tapes for trips in the car (a very subtle art if there ever was one)? Anybody remember the TalkBoy, as popularized by Macauly Culkin in Home Alone? (Oh my God, that commercial is so なつかしい) Would you be too embarrassed to tell people that you owned, say, The Bodyguard soundtrack (I swear I didn't), or Celine Dion (ugh, I'm going to get mocked, but I did in that brief period where I forgot my tastes as a pre-teen)?
I'm trying to remember all the tapes I've owned over the years, but the only one that sticks out of the most in my mind is Tom Petty's Full Moon Fever (from whence "Free Fallin'" and "Running Down a Dream" and the like came), which I listened to over and over and over again until there were those trademark cracks in the tape. Um, well now I've remembered another tape I owned back in the day, and unfortunately it's not something I want to brag about. But I was a kid and I loved Disney: The Lion King soundtrack. I can sing all those songs by heart even to this day, which came at the expense of my Aunt Cherie's sanity when I made her play this tape non-stop for about 2 weeks on a road trip to and around the state of Maine.
After I got a CD player for what I think was my 8th or 9th birthday (<--spoiled), the first few CD's I remember owning include Tom Petty again, with the Heartbreakers this time on their Greatest Hits album, Michael Jackson's Thriller, an album I made the unfortunate decision of selling to my brother when we held a garage sale at my house when I was in high school, and Beethoven's 5th and 6th Symphonies when I became addicted to the Pastoral after too many viewings of Fantasia (hey man, I was also really into Greek mythology. ::not a nerd::). Also in middle school I tried to listen to popular radio for awhile and I guess went through what was a vaguely a teeny bopper phase because my friends were doing it and I was already enough of an outcast and weirdo as it was. It didn't last long, though, because I soon discovered Aerosmith and I pretty much dedicated myself to classic rock, then punk, then proto and post-punk, new wave and whatever other useless-genre-title you want to use. I'm also kind of the conviction asserted by Rob at the beginning of High Fidelity that your tastes in music, movies, and popular culture matter, which means I kind of missed the point of the book entirely since Rob learns that it's all arbitrary criteria by the end. What, I've never said I'm anything but shallow.
So it was a nice trip down memory lane. Poor Walkman, it was the first in portable music technology, and it was bulky, awkward, and came with the most annoying pair of headphones (look at the lead picture and tell me those things weren't irritating, especially when those foam pieces started falling off). Now I live with a bulky and awkward iPod because it's old and the case is held together with packing tape. But at least my tastes have changed since then, and I've become an even bigger snob about what I listen to, though keep in mind I still love Cher and Lady Gaga unconditionally. Hell, even Aerosmith is super lame these days (WTF are you doing on American Idol, Steven?).
So, do you remember your first cassettes and CDs? With your Walkman on, jumping up and down to your favorite song? Ever make mixed tapes for trips in the car (a very subtle art if there ever was one)? Anybody remember the TalkBoy, as popularized by Macauly Culkin in Home Alone? (Oh my God, that commercial is so なつかしい) Would you be too embarrassed to tell people that you owned, say, The Bodyguard soundtrack (I swear I didn't), or Celine Dion (ugh, I'm going to get mocked, but I did in that brief period where I forgot my tastes as a pre-teen)?
And since I'm the subject of music (quick shout out before I make a full transition: I can't wait to get my hands on Bryan Ferry's Olympia since he's my hero - though I watched an interview with him today and he's started to let his beautiful self go a little - and he's also referencing one of my favorite paintings in the album title and artwork. The model is Kate Moss, btw. I'd expect nothing left from BF), I also need to express my bemused anger at something I've noticed in just the last 24 hours.
I've never really listened to The Strokes before; I never found them all that interesting, which isn't really a criticism since as I've said I gave up on modern music a long time ago. I think that about most bands that have come out since I was in high school and turned solidly to music from the late 50's up through the early 90s. But last night at a house (well, apartment) party, a track came up on shuffle and one person asked, "Who is this?" Several chu-hi's in, and deep into a game of water pong (the beer kept spilling), I was too distracted to realize that this was a song I've had trouble with in the past. It is apparently The Strokes' "Someday," but I immediately responded with The Buzzcocks' "Everybody's Happy Nowadays," a song that originally came out in the late 1970s (I haven't heard it on any of their studio releases from '76-'79, but it is featured on their fantastic singles' collection Singles Going Steady). I've heard The Strokes' song before and made the same mistake, but the similarity is uncanny. I had to bust out my iPod to prove I knew what I was talking about. Tell me I'm not crazy:
And in the process of trying to figure out what "Someday" was actually called (I had originally heard "Sunday," and when I couldn't find a Strokes' track by that name, I flipped their their entire Youtube collection until I realized that I'm deaf), I stumbled upon something else. The Strokes songs "Is This It?" lifts its opening guitar riff from The Pixies' "Where is My Mind?" (made famous by playing over the literally explosive final scene in Fight Club). Listen to The Pixies' track first:
I've never really listened to The Strokes before; I never found them all that interesting, which isn't really a criticism since as I've said I gave up on modern music a long time ago. I think that about most bands that have come out since I was in high school and turned solidly to music from the late 50's up through the early 90s. But last night at a house (well, apartment) party, a track came up on shuffle and one person asked, "Who is this?" Several chu-hi's in, and deep into a game of water pong (the beer kept spilling), I was too distracted to realize that this was a song I've had trouble with in the past. It is apparently The Strokes' "Someday," but I immediately responded with The Buzzcocks' "Everybody's Happy Nowadays," a song that originally came out in the late 1970s (I haven't heard it on any of their studio releases from '76-'79, but it is featured on their fantastic singles' collection Singles Going Steady). I've heard The Strokes' song before and made the same mistake, but the similarity is uncanny. I had to bust out my iPod to prove I knew what I was talking about. Tell me I'm not crazy:
And in the process of trying to figure out what "Someday" was actually called (I had originally heard "Sunday," and when I couldn't find a Strokes' track by that name, I flipped their their entire Youtube collection until I realized that I'm deaf), I stumbled upon something else. The Strokes songs "Is This It?" lifts its opening guitar riff from The Pixies' "Where is My Mind?" (made famous by playing over the literally explosive final scene in Fight Club). Listen to The Pixies' track first:
And now check out The Strokes:
Now in all fairness, I do not own this Strokes' album and perhaps they put the proper credits in their liner notes. But these are 2 songs from the same album; can't they think of anything original instead of lifting from better tracks? I made a quick scan through Google to see if anyone else had drawn these lines or made a mention of it, but to no avail. I can just hear them going at this Vanilla-Ice style when people accused him of stealing from Queen and David Bowie's "Under Pressure." He beatboxed the basslines from both songs - which sounded exactly the same except a different cymbal-imitation at the end - and was like "See, they're totally different!" Oh fuck off.
I don't have the time to go through The Strokes' discography to pick up on other borrowings from superior artists, especially since my own knowledge is still limited (too much out there to know and listen to) and I could miss something. Plus I've given them enough page hits on Youtube already. I also would be lying if I said it didn't make me feel smug that I can pick up on these musical similarities within a few seconds of hearing the track; I had another moment when someone played a song that I thought was The Beatles' "Got to Get You Into My Life" earlier this fall, but it turned out to be something much more recent. At the very least it tells me I'm not becoming as dull an stupid as I fear. Aging, you know. Give me the age of the Walkman any day if that means the music will be like it was back then, though I'm better off going back to when vinyl was still king (though it's supposedly making a huge comeback, and by huge, I mean the hipsters with too much money are in love with it) because the late 80s were not the best in music's history.
But you know, I always come back to this dilemma, as best expressed by Rob at the start of High Fidelity. At the end of the day, though, I just want to be Barry: fuck emo sad bastard music, let's dance to Katrina and the Waves.
I don't have the time to go through The Strokes' discography to pick up on other borrowings from superior artists, especially since my own knowledge is still limited (too much out there to know and listen to) and I could miss something. Plus I've given them enough page hits on Youtube already. I also would be lying if I said it didn't make me feel smug that I can pick up on these musical similarities within a few seconds of hearing the track; I had another moment when someone played a song that I thought was The Beatles' "Got to Get You Into My Life" earlier this fall, but it turned out to be something much more recent. At the very least it tells me I'm not becoming as dull an stupid as I fear. Aging, you know. Give me the age of the Walkman any day if that means the music will be like it was back then, though I'm better off going back to when vinyl was still king (though it's supposedly making a huge comeback, and by huge, I mean the hipsters with too much money are in love with it) because the late 80s were not the best in music's history.
But you know, I always come back to this dilemma, as best expressed by Rob at the start of High Fidelity. At the end of the day, though, I just want to be Barry: fuck emo sad bastard music, let's dance to Katrina and the Waves.
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