A thread called "Everything Is Lost! How Would You Start Over?"

Message Bookmarked

Bookmark Removed

Here's the scenario: you arrive home to find out that there has been a huge fire in your home/apartment building/commune/van/creepy tarpaper shack. While no one was actually hurt, your CD/vinyl/cassette collection (and/or your computer equipment with all your audio files) was completely ruined. So you're like all bummed out and stuff.

When you recover from the shock, you look in your pocket and find $20, enough for ONE compact disc. It is upon this disc that you will rebuild your collection, especially once the insurance money kicks in. What is the ONE disc you would buy?

― Neudonym, Wednesday, 26 February 2003 15:44 (twenty-three years ago)

It doesn't have to be your favorite CD or anything. Just the one you'd pick to begin again.

― Neudonym, Wednesday, 26 February 2003 15:45 (twenty-three years ago)

I'd buy summat new, I think. Not sure what that says about me.

― Nick Southall (Nick Southall), Wednesday, 26 February 2003 15:48 (twenty-three years ago)

Loveless, of course. Build up from there.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Wednesday, 26 February 2003 15:49 (twenty-three years ago)

i think i'd probably have to use it for a motel, no?

― jess (dubplatestyle), Wednesday, 26 February 2003 15:50 (twenty-three years ago)

Shelter? Humbug! Music, man, music!

Oh and just to make this a junior high personality test, tell what this says about you.

― Neudonym, Wednesday, 26 February 2003 15:53 (twenty-three years ago)

It says I have a very specific favorite album.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Wednesday, 26 February 2003 15:54 (twenty-three years ago)

it says i am sensible

― jess (dubplatestyle), Wednesday, 26 February 2003 15:57 (twenty-three years ago)

This is my worst nightmare (well, second to losing my loved ones, of course). I have a friend who lost more than 1,000 CDs in a B&E. I don't know how he goes on.
Anyway, I wouldn't pick any of my favorite CDs, only the one that was getting the heaviest rotation at the time. Ya know, the one I was currently addicted to. So if it happened right now, I'd buy the Go-Betweens' "Bright Yellow Bright Orange."
If it happened on April 1, it would be the White Stripes' "Elephant."
If it happened on April 8, it would be Lucinda Williams's new one.
And on and on .....

― Jazzbo (jmcgaw), Wednesday, 26 February 2003 15:59 (twenty-three years ago)

Velvet Underground - Velvet Underground

― Mike Taylor (mjt), Wednesday, 26 February 2003 16:26 (twenty-three years ago)

I wouldn't. I'd be DONE, hear me? That would be God's way of saying STOP THINKING ABOUT MUSIC SO MUCH. Sure, eventually I'd buy a little but really what I would do is read a lot. Or maybe start buying a lot of jazz. I would radically change my leisure time in response to this blatant warning from the lord on high.

― Anthony Miccio (Anthony Miccio), Wednesday, 26 February 2003 17:26 (twenty-three years ago)

The Lord on high? Or Satan, down below?

― Neudonym, Wednesday, 26 February 2003 17:29 (twenty-three years ago)

Satan would have no problem with a rock collection. duh.

― Anthony Miccio (Anthony Miccio), Wednesday, 26 February 2003 17:30 (twenty-three years ago)

I think I would invest in a cd burner

― Jonathan Williams (ex machina), Wednesday, 26 February 2003 17:34 (twenty-three years ago)

APOCALYPSE DUDES.

― matt riedl (veal), Wednesday, 26 February 2003 18:17 (twenty-three years ago)

honestly, sometimes I daydream that this has happened so i can start fresh with books and a radio and never think about accumulating music again

― Fritz Wollner (Fritz), Wednesday, 26 February 2003 18:20 (twenty-three years ago)

i probably wouldnt buy any, instead i'd save up for a new computer and then download everything all over again :)

― stevem (blueski), Wednesday, 26 February 2003 18:22 (twenty-three years ago)

Oh, you don't want a radio. That truly is the devil's tool.

With the $20, I think I might buy some used vinyl. More bang for the buck.

― Kenan Hebert (kenan), Wednesday, 26 February 2003 18:25 (twenty-three years ago)

radio is a wonderful thing and the fact that so many self-proclaimed music-lovers turn their back on it goes a long way toward explaining why they end up with boring know-it-all stuck-in-the-past attitudes (not you personally kenan)

― Fritz Wollner (Fritz), Wednesday, 26 February 2003 18:29 (twenty-three years ago)

Like some others here, I have a secret fantasy about this. Not a fire, though, that'd be terrible -- maybe everything is stolen & I come home w/ my music wall looking like something about of Whoville. In some weird way it seems like it would be a postive thing, bring some balance to my life. I could stay interested in music, but stop thinking about it all day, occupy my mind with something more meaningful. Yeah.

Ah, hell, who am I kidding -- I'd use $.01 to join Columbia House, get eight best-ofs for my free albums, bands from the '70s and '80s I've never heard before. Then I'd go down to Plan 9 and pick up 19 albums from the dollar bin.

― Mark (MarkR), Wednesday, 26 February 2003 18:32 (twenty-three years ago)

but Fritz, the ads, the radio ads!

― Anthony Miccio (Anthony Miccio), Wednesday, 26 February 2003 18:32 (twenty-three years ago)

the sound of an explosion and then the call letters!

― Anthony Miccio (Anthony Miccio), Wednesday, 26 February 2003 18:32 (twenty-three years ago)

flip the dial, oldies, college stations, hit radio, c&w, gospel...

― Fritz Wollner (Fritz), Wednesday, 26 February 2003 18:40 (twenty-three years ago)

i'm not dissing anyone - just thinking that becoming the sole dj you listen to can be a disservice to your palate

― Fritz Wollner (Fritz), Wednesday, 26 February 2003 18:40 (twenty-three years ago)

I would buy a copy of the first single that I ever bought with my own money when I was just a wee childe standing in the record store on main street in Danbury,Connecticut(looking up at the wooden shelves behind the counter that held the top 40 records of the moment)."Bad Bad Leroy Brown" by Jim Croce. The song that started my life long love affair with rap.I would listen to it at a friends house and then I would proceed accordingly.

― Scott Seward, Wednesday, 26 February 2003 18:45 (twenty-three years ago)

i think listening to the radio is more of a disservice to my palate.

― oops (Oops), Wednesday, 26 February 2003 18:45 (twenty-three years ago)

honestly? why? what might happen?

― Fritz Wollner (Fritz), Wednesday, 26 February 2003 18:47 (twenty-three years ago)

Without flinching; I would secure a copy of The Splendid Master Gnawa Musicians of Morocco.

― christoff (christoff), Wednesday, 26 February 2003 18:52 (twenty-three years ago)

All of my friends have exact replicas of my mp3 collection so it would be no loss.

― Lynskey (Lynskey), Wednesday, 26 February 2003 18:53 (twenty-three years ago)

I guess I meant if I listen to the radio exclusively, but I'm sure that wasn't what you meant to infer by your statement.
It's more of a waste of time than anything else. I'll still scroll around occasionally to see if I find something interesting, but 95% of the time I don't find anything. This is a sad thing considering that I live in the Chicago area. (89.3 is usually too staticy to listen to)

― oops (Oops), Wednesday, 26 February 2003 19:01 (twenty-three years ago)

I would rather not know what sound is about to come out of the speakers so I agree with Fritz. I categorized my records recently and found that I stopped listening to them completely. So I undertook a massive de-categorization effort and I'm back to normal.

I admit I have no idea how to "proceed accordingly" vis-a-vis Jim Croce. I wonder if Scott is going to tell us or if he's going to leave us in suspense?

― Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Wednesday, 26 February 2003 19:08 (twenty-three years ago)

oops, i know i'm romanticizing radio but i just think losing the randomness of radio & always appeasing one's own discriminating taste can flatten out one's relationship with music

listening to your own records is almost always wacking off while listening to the radio can occasionally be fucking

― Fritz Wollner (Fritz), Wednesday, 26 February 2003 19:11 (twenty-three years ago)

That's a terrible mataphor, Fritz.

But I agree with your larger point. You do need to shake things up a bit. But I don't think Clear Channel is the best way to do that. Sometimes I enjoy my local college station, but certainly not all the time, and the corporate-owned rock station usually makes me say something like, "OH DEAR GOD OH GOD PLEASE MAKE IT STOP OH FUCK YOU GOD I RENOUNCE YOU!!!" Or something like that.

But I like a lot of web stations, and they actually move me to buy stuff.

― Kenan Hebert (kenan), Wednesday, 26 February 2003 19:58 (twenty-three years ago)

metaphor? what metaphor?

― Fritz Wollner (Fritz), Wednesday, 26 February 2003 20:44 (twenty-three years ago)

I see records more like hookers.

― Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Wednesday, 26 February 2003 20:48 (twenty-three years ago)

After crying for several hours, I'd probably go the used shop and pick up copies of Smiley Smile (for sentimental value, and to give my new collection good karma) and hope they had something by Magma or Boredoms.

knock on wood knock on wood knock on wood

― dleone (dleone), Wednesday, 26 February 2003 20:50 (twenty-three years ago)

I actually sort of secretly wish this would actually happen.

― Amateurist (amateurist), Wednesday, 26 February 2003 20:52 (twenty-three years ago)

Please do not burn down my apartment, though.

― Amateurist (amateurist), Wednesday, 26 February 2003 20:52 (twenty-three years ago)

I'd just forget about the whole ordeal of ever having a record collection, and never buy a scrap of music ever again.

― Cozen (Cozen), Wednesday, 26 February 2003 20:53 (twenty-three years ago)

I would buy HISTORY: America's Greatet Hits because its soft, forceless beauty is perfect for zoning out, forgetting the ashes of what once was my past horde of dics. It is also easy to find.

― Fivvy (Fivvy), Wednesday, 26 February 2003 21:53 (twenty-three years ago)

THIS HAPPENED TO MY COMPUTER. 4 years of downloads. Gone. I was SO upset. (I still had my CDs, but I don't have many of those, can't afford it.)

The first thing I searched for was Madonna, I think.

― Maria (Maria), Wednesday, 26 February 2003 21:53 (twenty-three years ago)

I thought this thread was going to be about ILM being wiped.

― N. (nickdastoor), Wednesday, 26 February 2003 22:01 (twenty-three years ago)

I would not buy any music at all. I'd probably buy a carton of smokes instead

― electric sound of jim (electricsound), Wednesday, 26 February 2003 23:17 (twenty-three years ago)

I would not buy any music at all. I'd probably buy a carton of smokes instead

-- electric sound of jim (electricsoun...) (webmail), February 26th, 2003 6:17 PM. (later) (electricsound) (link)

Jeez, no wonder your apartment burned down!

― Jonathan Williams (ex machina), Wednesday, 26 February 2003 23:21 (twenty-three years ago)

if i lost all my music i totally do not see myself starting another collection. i think i'd probably take up gardening instead.

― electric sound of jim (electricsound), Thursday, 27 February 2003 00:04 (twenty-three years ago)

For me it would be a good excuse to move to France.

― Amateurist (amateurist), Thursday, 27 February 2003 00:07 (twenty-three years ago)

I would buy Selected Ambient Works Volume II... and leave it at that.

― Wintermute (Wintermute), Thursday, 27 February 2003 07:46 (twenty-three years ago)

I actually have lost my music collection before -- or at least a large part of it. A while ago, I found myself in a position I'm not used to. I had a car, which is weird enough, but I also had no job. Somewhere, somehow, I decided that keeping my car for a month or two was worth about 600 CDs. Ouch.

I don't have the car anymore. I have gotten back a lot of those records in one form or another, but not as many as I promised myself I would. The whole experience a very harsh acid test for my collection, a very real way of testing the question, "If these records were gone, which ones would I really miss?" The answer: out of 600, only about 100.

― Kenan Hebert (kenan), Thursday, 27 February 2003 07:54 (twenty-three years ago)

The first things I replaced: The Stooges, The Clash, Miles Davis, Van Morrison, The Pixies, The Smiths, My Bloody Valentine, David Bowie... etc. etc.

― Kenan Hebert (kenan), Thursday, 27 February 2003 07:57 (twenty-three years ago)

You are not your record collection...

― Tyler Durden. (Nick Southall), Thursday, 27 February 2003 08:39 (twenty-three years ago)

But I am.

― Your record collection (Jordan), Thursday, 27 February 2003 10:57 (twenty-three years ago)

You are not your record collection...

be that as it may, put enough time, effort and money (not to mention blood sweat and tears) into anything and losing it all would be more than devastating..

― electric sound of jim (electricsound), Thursday, 27 February 2003 11:09 (twenty-three years ago)

No gags about not having Blood Sweat & Tears in your record collection...

― Marcello Carlin, Thursday, 27 February 2003 12:14 (twenty-three years ago)

If All Your CDs Were To Suddenly Vanish, What Would Be The Next CD You Bought?

― Tom (Groke), Thursday, 27 February 2003 12:18 (twenty-three years ago)

Opps I goffed.

― Neudonym, Thursday, 27 February 2003 16:34 (twenty-three years ago)

If I was gonna lose my collection for whatever reason, it'd be nice to at least get back some of the money I paid for it. Then I could take a nice long vacation.

― hstencil, Thursday, 27 February 2003 16:39 (twenty-three years ago)

Opps I goffed

...it again.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Thursday, 27 February 2003 17:12 (twenty-three years ago)

My house was broken into a couple years ago, and as pissed at the thief/thieves as I was, I had to be thankful that they didn't take a single CD/LP or DVD. And I had box sets, etc. just piled up in the living room. They took the DVD player, about 1 month old, and left all my audio, which was nothing special but most of the other stuff they did take was even less special.

If I were to start over I think I would wait until I had an urge to hear something I knew I would want to keep, whether new or something I had had, and get it.

― nickn (nickn), Friday, 28 February 2003 03:00 (twenty-three years ago)

You must be logged in to post. Please either login here, or if you are not registered, you may register here.