The Problem with Convenience

I enjoy listening to records. In fact, I am listening to the Doors' "Absolutely Live!" as I type. My not-so-personal-friend Thom York said something along the lines of "People listen to cd's while they are busy, people listen to records because they enjoy music." I feel this to be true.
Often I have sat in the recently-renovated halls of Jackson High School and heard the saying "Check out how many songs I have on my iPod." Every time someone says this, I truly believe that there is a little kitten somewhere in the world whose heart stops.

The fact is, Jonathan Ive, you are in possession of my highest respects. The sheer genius behind the iPod is nothing short of scary. However, your iMania has turned a large part of the adolescent population of America into iDiots. My war lies not in the fact that children have MP3s, not even that they have music on their iPod. To me, however, the fashion of which music is acquired and distributed. Every time I think of someone downloading music off of limewire I have visions of USA and the USSR in their Nuclear Arms Race. Okay, so maybe the iCraze isn't that dramatic, however, no one can deny the fact that there is a certain competitive aspect to the sacred ritual.

Rockwisdom.com reports that the average teenager listens to about four hours of music a day (In retrospect, teenagers play three hours of video games a day, and receive about six hours of sleep each night.) For the sake of argument, let's assume that an average song is 4 minutes long, and the average iPod-er has 2000 songs. Doing the math, a person can listen through their entire collection in about 32 days. That is, assuming that the listener listens to a song only once in a "rotation." I cannot speak for the rest of you, but once a month-not unlike Oprah Winfery-just doesn't 'do it' for me.

I walked into Mr. Airhart's English class, and I was met with a comment I found very amusing, "Yeah, and I saw Brand New on MTV. They are sold out now." Thank you John C, for this is what inspired me to create my blog spot. My initial reaction to this was Well, can you blame a group of males for trying to further their career and more importantly to them, make more money? However, upon further soul searching, I have come to the conclusion that we have but ourselves to blame. I have found no evidence, however, I am certain of it that the powers that be inside of the Music Television Network monitor the number of hits that bands such as Brand New and Me Without You receive. My theory: new bands are put on MTV because they sell. The most wonderful thing about music is that it is whatever you make it, and because of that, new and more exciting things have to be found every so often to renew the public's interest. So what do they look for? Obviously, what is most popular at the time. The Buggles were wrong. The Video did not kill the Radio star. The Radio star is still defining the Video. If not, the Backstreet Boys would still be ruling the continent.

"If you don't want your bands to be sell out, don't listen to music that sucks," a good friend of mine recently offered to one of his peers. Here is something, though, I think you can take more to heart: Cherish your music more than you do. Don't take it for granted, and don't download the music just because you can. Music is something that can define you. That being said, how do you want to be remembered?