It's kind of like listening on your transistor.
Our transistor radios were like the iPods of today. We didn't have enough money to buy them, our parents laid out the dough. We kept them in leather cases to prevent them from being damaged. And, at night we put them on the dresser by our bed, we put them under the pillow, and we listened.
First it was baseball games.
But then, after the Beatles, it was music.
It was a private world. Just you in your room. Oh, you could use the earpiece, but you almost never did. You held the little device up to your ear if you needed to get closer to the sound. But usually, it was quiet enough, it was late at night, the sound emanating from the little box filled up your whole room, and took you away.
MTV was never a transistor. TV is a cold medium. Movies work because you're in a dark room, you're transported. They're not the same at home, it's about not only the darkness but the alien environment. Whereas music is completely different. Music is about being in your head. What's going on around you is IRRELEVANT!
Suddenly, with MTV, music became a shared experience. You couldn't lose control in front of the box, for there were others watching. And, you rarely stared anyway. MTV was background. What came out of the transistor was foreground. You might be doing your homework, but it was all that mattered. Cousin Brucie doing the countdown.
And just when it appears the experience is lost, the way music gets inside your soul and takes you away, it's BACK! They just put the London, Philly and Toronto Live 8 shows up on AOL.
Go to: http://music.channel.aol.com/live_8_concert/highlights/london
Click on your favorite band. They're all there. From Pink Floyd to the Who to the acts you don't even care about.
Or, at the top of the page, click on "See shows city by city." On the page that comes up, featuring the performances from the three aforementioned metropolises, click on the act you want to see. They're all right there at your fingertips. As of now, except for London, you've got to go to the act's specific page. Where all their AOL Music stuff is. But the Live 8 performances are labeled, you can pick them out, you can play them.
And they're magical!
It's just you and the computer screen. Hopefully you purchased good speakers, if not, go to hifi.com, click on PC/Multimedia and buy the MicroWorks II for $149.99, you'll thank me. ANYWAY, there's this intimacy that rivets you. It's really like the sixties all over again.
Like right now I'm watching Bruce Cockburn doing "Rocket Launcher" from T.O. If you've never seen him live, this is your chance to be inches away, and to feel the power of just one man and his guitar, speaking from his soul.
Oh, I watched Bono and the boys do "One".
Bryan Adams delivered on "Open Road".
I know these performers were playing for the world, but watching them on your computer screen, you think it's only for you.
The Internet is the best thing to happen for music since FM.
Watch this stuff. The music is ENOUGH! You don't need big-breasted women, dancing is irrelevant, it's what we believed in ALL ALONG! And it bypasses not only MTV, which punted, which missed the boat, by selling out to lifestyle rather than tuneage, but terrestrial radio too. Neither of them have this power.
This is a breakthrough.
Live 8 is now Woodstock. The political message is irrelevant. Just like no one foresaw Woodstock blowing music up, bringing tribes together not only via the show, but the movie, no one realized that the ongoing airing of the Live 8 performances on AOL would herald a new era. It's like 1969 all over again. The youth knew. They knew the power of the Net. It was the parents that were out of it, who had no clue, who thought that old media, the CD AND VIDEO, still ruled!
And the fact that there are no CDs, no videos, and no ongoing TV coverage make the point even bigger. You've got to go to aolmusic.com to GET IT!
The revolution has finally begun.
Last week it was podcasting.
This week...Grokster is irrelevant. The detritus of the nineties has been wiped clean. It's no longer about how you look, how you market, how you dance, but how you PLAY! In one fell swoop AOL is reaching MILLIONS of fans, with no interruptions, on demand. Finally everybody has a rallying point. They feel like they belong. The fact that old wave media is clueless, that there's not a big story on this on the front page of the paper tomorrow, is IRRELEVANT! After the Woodstock movie kids knew it was about albums, not singles. After Live 8 music fans know it's about the Web. Sure, singles still existed in 1970, people are still buying CDs, the old marketing ways have not died yet, but they are en route to becoming MARGINALIZED!
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