For those of you who read my emails, this will be old news as I took the bulk of this from my most recent update. And since I only have three readers, this is old news. But there are some pictures in this post, and maybe it will be entertaining anyway.
I undertook one really big project over the past few months. And when I say big, I mean time consuming, because it actually involved very little effort on my part. What I did was I transferred mine and my wife’s CD collections to our computer. I did this for several reasons. These reasons include: it gave me a justification to sit on facebook and play Bejewelled Blitz while pretending to do something productive; I hate paying for music that I already own; I wanted to make some playlists for my ipod; I wanted to listen to 2 or 3 songs from an album, but not the whole thing; and a few other reasonsas well. I came away from the experience with a few observations.
I hate to pay for music I have already paid for: When I was younger, I bought a lot of tapes, mostly through Columbia House. (12 tapes for a penny!). I also bought a lot of records, both new and used. But once CD's came out, I never jumped on that bandwagon until 94 or so, even though tapes were fading in popularity in 1990. And since I had already paid for the music, I didn't want to buy it again. But, for a guy who like a lot of metal, I don’t actually own much. This has a lot to do with the fact that I had initially bought a lot of metal on tapes and records (yes, I had a record player). My Megadeth, Anthrax, Metallica, Iron Maiden, DayGlo Abortions, Suicidal Tendicies were all on tape or record. And I never bought those albums again on CD. I may have to break with my policy of not rebuying, because I miss So Far So Good So What.
I Wanted to make some playlists for my ipod: There is a strong 90’s presence in the collection. This is due to the fact that I started buying CDs in the 90’s, but cut back a lot in the 00’s. Once Itunes came out, I usually bought individual songs, not albums. There were a lot of songs that I knew I had, and I wanted to listen to when I went out walking or whatever i do when I am listening to my Ipod, and I wanted to transfer them. So I did. And I like the 90's. The 90's music, anyways. 90's style, like all other old styles, looks funny. And so will the styles of the new millenium in 10 years.
I wanted to listen to 2 or 3 songs from an album. There were a lot of compilations – Big Shiny tunes, Women and Songs, Dance Mix 92, Geffen rarities, A history of Punk. Tributes to Black Sabbath, the Ramones. One hit wonders of the 80’s. On a lot of these compilations, there were a lot of the same songs – I have 4 or 5 copies of Walk This Way, for example, and I only wanted one copy of it. Also, I only wanted a few songs from, for example, Women and Songs 6 - I had to expunge any Sheryl Crow, and Leann Rimes doesn’t do much for me either. But it was a lot easier to load the whole album that it was to just upload a couple of songs.
Other Observations: I had a of Greatest hits albums - Ramones, Clash, Offspring, Nirvana, Tragically Hip, Ministry to name a few. I was pleasantly surprised to find that my Robbie Williams and Beck were all present and accounted for – Jackass and Better Man have been edging up the playcount list. Among my spouse's CD’s – a very heavy U2 presence, followed closely by the Pet Shop Boys, and heavier on the 80’s than my collection - also a lot more of the dance music. Sadly, my Dumb and Dumber soundtrack, with Whiney Whiney; New Age Girl (by Dead Eye Dick); Crash (covered by the Primitives) and Peter Pumpkinhead (by the Crash test Dummies) was not importable. Too scratched, I think – too many beer coaster nights in Ravenscourt. The CD booklet is stuck together from what I hope is beer.
There was one CD single that bears special mention. For some reason, I particularly like a dance duo known as the Yakoo Boyz, who released, to my knowledge, one single called “Up your Kilt”. As I was very into Braveheart at the time, and the Yakoo Boyz featured bagpipes in the dance mix, it was a match made in ironic heaven. After I loaded the CD onto my computer and heard the sped up bagpipes, electronified and poppy, I got shivers down my spine and I decided to look them up. (Am I being sarcastic? You decide.) Using the all knowing Google, I found…. Nothing. A few passing references on equally all knowing Wikipedia. I looked at the credits on the CD, tried tracking down the label – nothing. No first names in the credits. This single came out in 1995, when the internet, in it’s current incarnation, was in it’s infancy. So the internet has a limitation. No one thought of creating a Yakoo Boys fan page. Maybe the members were too embarrassed by their bagpipe dalliance to post it in their current bios. Ah well, some mysteries may never be solved.
Overall, we now have 5842 songs, 17 days of music, 41 gbs. I doubt I will listen to them all. And I had, several years ago, gotten rid of my record collection, which was composed of at least the same number of records, and I had a ton of tapes from the 80s. But an interesting exercise, to say the least. I encourage all three of you to do the same.
