| Author | Message | ||
     kevin Member Username: Kevin Post Number: 1889 Registered: 05-2005 |
Now that Radiohead have pioneered new ways for established bands to release albums very quickly, the question for me is will albums be a thing of the past? The next generation will probably just buy music electronically anyway, so why would bands need to wait till they had written 10 or 12 songs, just release them in batches of 3 or 4? Also, more to the point, are classic albums now almost impossible to create? This decade, the only album I would consider for that category is YHF by Wilco, and even then that wouldnt even scrape my top 50 albums of all time. | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 1824 Registered: 05-2005 |
It will be fashion for a while Kevin. I've been bemoaning the death of the classic single for years; but I'm not so sure the death of the classic album is going to herald the return of the classic single. Crazy by Gnarls Barkley has been the only classic single in recent years. | ||
| Little Keith Member Username: Manosludge Post Number: 2427 Registered: 03-2006 |
Why yes, I think it is defunct, as a salable commodity, as a cultural force, absolutely. I think there'll always be people like us who care about albums and people who'll make 'em to cater to that market, but it'll be a fringe, boutique, kind of thing...But, I've already heard of people in their 20's who literally don't know what an album is. If you mention the term album to them, they'll just stare at you, slack-jawed. They buy all their music, when they buy it, as singles, as mp3s... | ||
| Rob Brookman Member Username: Rob_b Post Number: 1002 Registered: 08-2006 |
If you guys are right, color me depressed. It's like telling me the novel is going to be replaced with the Cliff's Notes. The beautiful thing about a classic album is the combination of a handful of hit-worthy songs with six or seven other tracks that add depth and meaning to them. Can you imagine of the only way you knew "Exile on Main Street" was via "Tumblin' Dice" and "Happy"? No "Shine a Light" or "I Just Want to See His Face" or any of the other weird and wonderful stuff on there. Or if "Streets of Your Town" was the only way you knew the Go-Betweens because it was the only thing that got radio play? Singles are great, but classic albums have shading and nuance and complexity, something that's hard to cram into one three minute, radio-ready song. I can't believe the classic album will disappear, because today's single-buying kids grow up, discover "Highway 61 Revisited" and "Two Sevens Clash" and "Daydream Nation" and realize that a painstakingly written, performed and sequenced collection of tunes provide a listening experience even the best mixed-tapes never can. Why do people consider Frank Sinatra a great artist and Tony Bennett simply a great singer? Because Frank articulated his vision in a series of great albums in the 50s, at a time when the single was king. Bob Dylan had exactly one hit: "Like a Rolling Stone." But he's considered a genius, entirely because he made great albums. I agree that kids buy music differently than we do. But I don't believe they listen to music differently than we do. I think the album - the sense of a group of songs meant to inhabit the same space - will never go away as art, even if it's no long commercially viable. And people will keep making great ones. Excuse me while I cue up some Arcade Fire. |