Obsolete Musical Pasttimes

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Mixtapes are the obvious answer, but with mix cds, ipods, etc, one could argue that the 'mix' is more popular than ever

As for me, I miss taping music off the radio. There was something vaguely primal about 'capturing' a song you liked, something fresh about the uber-compressed FM quality of the Red Alert show on a walkman the day after, etc etc.

― Roger Fidelity (Roger Fidelity), Saturday, 29 January 2005 04:15 (twenty-one years ago)

- opening longboxes.
- cleaning your stylus.
- struggling with plastic spindle dingbats for your 45's
http://www.xs4all.nl/~groenf/images/spin_circle_7inch.jpg

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Saturday, 29 January 2005 04:25 (twenty-one years ago)

player piano
piano

― Snappy (sexyDancer), Saturday, 29 January 2005 04:45 (twenty-one years ago)

anticipating metallica albums

― latebloomer (latebloomer), Saturday, 29 January 2005 04:55 (twenty-one years ago)

anticipating release dates

― whenuweremine (whenuweremine), Saturday, 29 January 2005 05:39 (twenty-one years ago)

- opening longboxes.
- cleaning your stylus.
- struggling with plastic spindle dingbats for your 45's

Wow, instant grade school flashback. Cheers!

― Tantrum The Cat (Tantrum The Cat), Saturday, 29 January 2005 05:42 (twenty-one years ago)

otm about radio taping, it was thrilling unless you let it sink how you were spending your weekend(some things never change).
- taping a brand new song halfway through before you discovered it sucked, having to rewind to just the right spot before the next song came down the pike, which was bound to be a classic(you always miss the intro in that case), makes it more special somehow. I don't think I slept the night I first heard Outkast's 'elevators', after listening to it 30+ times learning Andre's part in one fell swoop. The perception of scarcity is sorely lacking in the modern music experience(yeah whatever).

― tremendoid (tremendoid), Saturday, 29 January 2005 05:44 (twenty-one years ago)

- taping a brand new song halfway through before you discovered it sucked...

On an 8 track no less. Maybe some of the fancier ones had rewind, I dunno, but mine sure as hell didn't.

― jim wentworth (wench), Saturday, 29 January 2005 05:52 (twenty-one years ago)

playing instruments just for fun

I often wonder what it would be like to be a music nut before the invention of recorded sound...

― Austin (Austin), Saturday, 29 January 2005 05:56 (twenty-one years ago)

Know what's sadly becoming an obsolete musical passtime? Actually going to record/disc shops! I personally prefer the Mom'n'Pop shops sprinkled around the Village, but in the past couple of years, all the HMVs in the city have closed, the Sam Goody and FYE (formerly Coconuts) on 6th Avenue just south of 8th street have shut their doors (not that there was anything great to be found at either, mind you). If I'm not mistaken, outside of the Virgin Megastore in Time's Square and the FYE on 51st and 6th Avenue, there really isn't many places to buy CD's anymore (`cept for Colony, I suppose). There's the excelent FUTURE LEGED in Hell's Kitchen, but who knows if that place will even survive? So many great music shops in NYC have gone the way of the Dodo bird in NYC. Nevermind "home taping", ONLINE MUSIC SHOPPING IS KILLING MUSIC!

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Saturday, 29 January 2005 08:50 (twenty-one years ago)

outside of the Virgin Megastore in Time's Square and the FYE on 51st and 6th Avenue, there really isn't many places to buy CD's anymore (`cept for Colony, I suppose)

...in MIDTOWN MANHATTAN, I mean.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Saturday, 29 January 2005 08:50 (twenty-one years ago)

good radio stations

― Mr. Snrub (Mr. Snrub), Saturday, 29 January 2005 18:11 (twenty-one years ago)

I often wonder what it would be like to be a music nut before the invention of recorded sound...

Kierkegaard wrote about his favorite piece of music, which i believe was the opera Don Giovanni, which in his entire life he must only have been able to see a handful of times -- maybe seven or so.

― Casuistry (Chris P), Saturday, 29 January 2005 19:49 (twenty-one years ago)

Uh, so Alex, your complaint is that aside from the one immensely hugetastic record store, if you're in midtown Manhattan (and good lord if you are I'm sorry), you have to walk a good 15-20 minutes to buy a CD? I mean...worse things have happened to the Jews, as my girlfriend says.

― Eppy (Eppy), Monday, 31 January 2005 07:00 (twenty-one years ago)

Alex - why don't you just take a subway downtown to J&Rs?? There's also Tower on E6th. This is to say nothing of Kim's Underground and Other Music, Fat Beats and Footlight, Gimmee Gimme and Academy, etc etc. Count your blessings my friend. It's hard to even get the most recent Wire within a 120 mile radius of where I am (not that I care too much, mind you...).

― Roger Fidelity (Roger Fidelity), Monday, 31 January 2005 11:01 (twenty-one years ago)

what was the little plastic dingbat actually for?

― dog latin (dog latin), Monday, 31 January 2005 14:52 (twenty-one years ago)

You guys are missing the point. It's that record stores/disc stores/music shops/whathaveyou used to be PLENTIFUL, but are now entirely scarce. It's not like I ever shopped in Cocunuts or Sam Goody or whatever, but it was kinda nice knowing they were there.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Monday, 31 January 2005 15:01 (twenty-one years ago)

i much prefer having a virtually unlimited number of excellent specialty shops at my fingertips (online) than having a few sucky, overpriced chain stores with an uneven selection in my general neighborhood.

― rentboy (rentboy), Monday, 31 January 2005 15:09 (twenty-one years ago)

I guess the basic difference is that I much prefer browsin in stores than shopping online. I love the act of seeking out that elusive single or LP. The chase was part of it. When I finally found that much sought after album, I felt a greater sense of accomplishment (or whatever) than had i just dialed it up on the computer. Color me a romantic, but it was just more fun.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Monday, 31 January 2005 15:18 (twenty-one years ago)

I miss mixtapes, at least until an easy realtime digital alternative comes along. Sorry, but digital file management, while efficient, is not as much fun as spreading out in your living room with a stack of records and CDs. And without the real-time componant it's a pain in the ass to put quick snippets in there (fuck if I want to open an .wav editor to make someone a mix CD).

― Mark (MarkR), Monday, 31 January 2005 15:53 (twenty-one years ago)

xpost
Basic plot #1: The Quest

― Bumfluff, Monday, 31 January 2005 15:54 (twenty-one years ago)

Obscure musical pastimes?

Taping off Peel, particularly if he played a song you've been waiting for at the wrong speed so that your first hearing will be completely clouded forever by the fact that it just might sound better at 33rpm rather than 45rpm (which is my experience of "Abba on the jukebox").

Gone but in no way forgotten.

― Rob M (Rob M), Monday, 31 January 2005 16:19 (twenty-one years ago)

Oh, I meant obsolete. And I'm very sad that it is obsolete.

― Rob M (Rob M), Monday, 31 January 2005 16:20 (twenty-one years ago)

and the plastic thingie? why didn't they make 45s the same size holes as 33s?

― dog latin (dog latin), Monday, 31 January 2005 16:26 (twenty-one years ago)

Kneeling by the video with your finger on the record button waiting for your favourite song to come on top of the pops. Spending whole summers watching the random mix videos that were made thusly. Taking photos of your favourite popstar on the telly and pretending it's an actual real life photo.

― Madchen (Madchen), Monday, 31 January 2005 16:26 (twenty-one years ago)

and the plastic thingie? why didn't they make 45s the same size holes as 33s?

-- dog latin

For jukeboxes. The larger hole gave a greater margin for error when the machine loaded the next single.

Never had the spindle things, though, the turntable adaptor was a much better idea.

― Mark (MarkR), Monday, 31 January 2005 16:29 (twenty-one years ago)

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Monday, 31 January 2005 16:32 (twenty-one years ago)

A couple of years ago, my wife gave me a tie with said dingbats on it. I remember going to a Christmas party wearing it, and withing the course of a half hour, two different individuals came up to me, commenting on the tie (I'm not making this up!):

- "Dude, why are you wearing Swastikas on your tie? This is a Christmas party!"

- "Nice Celtic Runes!"

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Monday, 31 January 2005 16:33 (twenty-one years ago)

At a party, someone playing popular songs on the piano and the rest of the guests sing along.

― tokyo rosemary (rosemary), Monday, 31 January 2005 16:38 (twenty-one years ago)

i always wanted to go to one of those parties.

― tremendoid (tremendoid), Monday, 31 January 2005 17:33 (twenty-one years ago)

Actually finding one of those plastic 45 adaptors so I could play Nervous Breakdown was a complete bastard. Lots of shops had one, but the owners wouldn't sell because they needed it.

― Sasha (sgh), Tuesday, 1 February 2005 03:28 (twenty-one years ago)

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