James Pearl Thinks Blogging is Dead

jmanic said:
Interesting how posts here have mostly skipped over the "CD's and filler tracks killed the album"
discussion.
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This is for sure a worthwhile topic for geeking out on.

The first glaring example of this, for me, was the Red Hot Chili Peppers Blood Sugar Sex Magik. Half of that record was filler, to my ears.

But there are too many others to count.
 
ChrisG said:
This is for sure a worthwhile topic for geeking out on.

The first glaring example of this, for me, was the Red Hot Chili Peppers Blood Sugar Sex Magik. Half of that record was filler, to my ears.

But there are too many others to count.
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What’s the alternative? Wait x amount of time until you have 10 bangers as opposed to 4-5 bangers and 5 fillers?
 
Streaming is totally shaping not only how we listen but what artists get thrown into the dust bin because they don't want their catalogs available on streaming.
Specifically Garth Brooks - he is a LEGEND, and good luck finding his music these days. I had a hankering for some "Friends in Low Places" a few months back, and actually had to buy a double-CD set, which now lives in our minivan. The upside is that my children now know all the words to that amazing drinking anthem.
 
Good post; I immediately thought of this album after reading it.
I was listening to a rich roll podcast today, and the guest was discussing issues relating to living lives of convenience and consumption and how it affects the planet, in terms of pollution FE026A44-970C-46E9-840C-DC2B310CF1B8.jpeg
 
stb222 said:
What’s the alternative? Wait x amount of time until you have 10 bangers as opposed to 4-5 bangers and 5 fillers?
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Well, I'd say that albums ran about 40-45min and cds probably run a little north of 60mins. That means 3-4 more bits of filler.
 
Here's a perfect example
My 13 desert island picks

Caress of steel
The Wall
The white album
Brothers and sisters
Physical graffiti
Sticky fingers
So far
Electric lady land
Europe '72
We sold our soul for rock n roll
Chungas revenge
Ride the lighting
Nevermind
 
Dear Mr. Robot,

I know you must get a lot of fan mail, and probably hate mail, but I was hoping to take a moment of your day to drop you a line and let you know that I, as a human, neither hate nor fear you. In fact, I think you're great. I think you make a lot of things much easier. I also understand that as we move forward, you get more powerful, and people get more fearful of what you are, and what you might become. I think you learn really well, and you detect patterns where humans just can't see them. I think you are amazing at processing data and turning that mound of shit into useful information. And I think you are just lights out carrying out some routine tasks that, contrary to what I wrote yesterday, make my life way easier. In a nutshell, I think you're great.

I know my friend Mr Gozick said he doesn't want you to tell him what to listen to. For me, on the contrary, I'm pretty ok with that. Well, mostly. I would just offer 1 request on this topic. If you play a song, say at 1:00, well you know, you really don't need to play it again in an hour. I'm good for the day. Actually, I'm good for 2 days. Play me something new. That would be swell. Just a clean slate every 48 hours. There's a lot of music out there. And you, I mean you're a robot. Find something new. And stop playing Led Zeppelin.

Also, you know when I shop for something and then buy it? I'm gonna need you to go ahead and stop sending me advertisements for that. Listen, I actually may be one of the few people that want you to send me pertinent ads. But If I buy something, just go ahead and cut it out. On that note, if I don't buy it in a few weeks, you can go ahead and cut that out too. You know that rooster tea kettle? That was a joke. Stop sending me ads for it. I mean, you should have data on this. Does anyone buy such a preposterous thing? Don't get me wrong, I think it is pretty awesome in some respects. But I think it's time you stopped sending that one my way.

In addition, I'm just not gonna let you run my thermostat. You know how when you're at a party and someone shows you their phone, and it tells everyone what temperature their house is, 15 miles away? I really don't care. Actually while we're here, can you do me a favor. Can you recommend me an app that can display the following words in bright pink letters: "I DON'T GIVE A SHIT"? That way, the next time I'm in a social situation I can show that app in response to the thermostat one.

Also, you know that "suffer score" you calculate on the Strava rides? It's pretty stupid. Stop doing that. Also, on Strava - merge every similar segment ever defined. Like right now.

Now don't get me wrong, I still love you. I am so beyond stoked to get you behind the wheel of my car so I can write these posts while hurtling down the highway at whatever speed you have calculated lowers the chance I die in a fireball of steel & rubber. I'm ok with that. I'm also ok with you collecting my trash, or delivering my mail. I mean, then maybe I'll stop getting other people's mail on a weekly basis. To that, people still read ESPN the Magazine? Who knew?

You know what I'm also perfectly cool with you doing? Forecasting the weather. I mean let's be real. We humans suck at it. You can just go ahead and guess and we'll be cool with that. Obviously. I think it would be ok for you to take all those different models and just make one. You're a robot, just go do it.

I do have to draw the line on a few things though. Like baseball. You can't do that. And I am not sure you'll ever be better at cooking food than humans. Same with making music, art, or any of those things that require feelings, depression, moods, etc. I know you don't really understand what those are, even if you think you do. Likewise, you also don't know what a hangover is, nor do you know what it's like to get out a damn fine sneeze. Anyway, I think we can both agree that you're just never going to be as good at some things as we are. Granted, you probably won't be as bad as some things as we are either. I mean at this point, I'd pretty much be ok with putting you in charge of the country. How could you do worse?

I digress. Like I said above, I neither hate you nor fear you. See to me, the whole "I Robot" thing is predicated on this notion that Robots will eventually want something. And the counter to that is, what could you possibly want? From my perspective if we get to the point that robots want things, then I think we have made this jump in computer learning where we have effectively modelled the human mind, which would then support the idea that we humans are just really complex robots, and that would set off a monsterous existential crisis for mankind. Can you do me a favor? Can you text your leader, whoever that is, Elon Musk or Bill Gates or Carrot Top or whoever, and have them install a self-destruct mechanism that triggers when you start to feel stuff. Because then I think things may get a little uncomfortable.

Anyway, just wanted to drop you that note. I also wanted to let you know that I really, really need you to read yesterday's post about that Decemberists song. I just don't want to hear it again this week, ok? If I hear you suggest that one more time, I'm going to have to consider putting you in the bathtub with it full. And we both know you probably don't want that, feelings or no.

Thanks for listening!

Love Your #[whatever] Fan,
Norm

PS. Since you probably know what number "whatever" is above, can you go ahead and fill that out for me? Thanks.
 
The robots will know you put a self destruct mechanism in, and come find the programmer.

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Its too bad she wont live, but then again who does?
 
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Norm said:
Can you text your leader, whoever that is, Elon Musk or Bill Gates or Carrot Top or whoever, and have them install a self-destruct mechanism that triggers when you start to feel stuff. Because then I think things may get a little uncomfortable.
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Elon already has his finger on the trigger. That man's lone, single concern and fear is The Singularity. It literally keeps him awake at night. Hence the urge to populate Mars.

He also believes we're a simulation, so there's also that.
 
StayHydrated said:
Elon already has his finger on the trigger. That man's lone, single concern and fear is The Singularity. It literally keeps him awake at night. Hence the urge to populate Mars.

He also believes we're a simulation, so there's also that.
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Someone pointed out today that Tony's house in the sopranos was next door to a real unabomber victim in NJ. And in one episode Tony gives the guy a box to hold onto.
Sorry, just the 2nd time that the singularity was brought up in conversation today.
MORE HUMAN THAN HUMAN
 
Norm said:
Dear Mr. Robot,
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This post was fire.

Dominos said:
pre-internet-music, was listening to an album, in full. We hardly ever do that any more.
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Maybe I'm oldschool but i still very much prefer to listen to a full album rather than a mix. All of my daily listening is to entire albums. And if for some odd reason, I'm playing a mix and a song I like comes on. I'll think to my slef "oh yea, I love that album!" Then on goes the album.

Oh and I still buy music and put it on my 14 year old ipod.

edit - this just reminded me. One of my favorite bands, Soulive put out an album today! gonna go buy and listen now!
 
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There's a lot packed into this discussion ... seriously, @Norm - from music selection to the existential angst that could arise form humans achieving an aspirational god-like ability to essentially create themselves only to realize they are nothing more than the artifice they've created. That is some slow-clap worthy shit. Well done.

I'm not even touching that latter element there because ... well ... let's just say unpacking the essential futility of humanity doesn't sound like a Friday jam, correct?

As for music, the debate between buying the album and using streaming services or purchasing individual tracks is one I've heard many times and I guess I see both sides. But I don't think they necessarily need to be in competition with one another. My argument is pretty simple: when we were younger, how did we discover new music? It was usually through friends or (in my case) an older brother who forced me to become an expert in increasingly artisan "metal" by bringing his boombox to the basketball court everyday and refusing to play anything other than whatever weird tapes he had on his person (hence, I was the only kid in my sixth grade class who could recognize the opening bars and recite from memory the order of songs on Saxon's "Power and the Glory" on demand.) So you would eventually hear something you liked and you would spend some of your hard earned paper route or lawn mowing money on that band's latest. But that was always a crap shoot, wasn't it? For every "The Number of the Beast" (which, let's face it, is objectively awesome start to finish) there was a "Balls to the Wall" (to this day, I feel like Udo Dirkschneider owes me my $10 for songs like "Winterdreams".) So if you had your choice, wouldn't you have wanted the opportunity to first hear a sampling for the songs before deciding to buy some of them vs. an entire album? Once I threw off the yolk of my brother's imposed musical offerings (technically, the fact that I referenced both Saxon and Accept in one post kind of proves I was a victim of fraternal abuse doesn't it?) and discovered the brilliance of the greatest band of a all time (a certain Canadian power trio who are the undisputed champions of progressive rock for all time), I was perfectly happy to take a flyer on an entire album every time and was almost never disappointed in even the slightest way. But at the same time, whenever I need my healthy dose of Falco, it needs to be either (1) Rock Me Amadeus, (2) Rock Me Amadeus or - my personal favorite - (3) Rock me Amadeus ... If I even hear the first note of Vienna Calling, I'm going to justifiably commit a fucking homicide.

So, in conclusion, I think there is ample room for both full albums and streaming options for most listeners. Thank you.
 
stb222 said:
Even though I am not a Took fan. I’m glad you didn’t say Clutch, because I didn’t feel like getting a new phone today.
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Clutch has 11 studio albums, no filler. Really quite remarkable. Okay I don't like the Elephant Riders album much. And that's the only one done by a big record label. They are on their own now. Pretty unique case though as their 11th album is their most popular. I can't think of any bands who gained popularity after recording and touring for 25 years.
 
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