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you couldn't rewind 8-track tapesAnd if albums didn't come with lyric sheets, you resigned yourself to never knowing all the words
Mimicking your idols, like Olivia Newton-John, required an endless supply of hair spray and headbands
To skip a track, you had to blindly fast-forward or rewind, or flip the cassette over
You actually had to, like, leave the house to buy music at a place called a 'record store'and if the one song you wanted wasn't available as a single, you had to buy the whole album.
This was considered a portable music player:our knowledge of upcoming concerts and albums depended entirely on posters and newspaper ads.
Navigating the FM dial was way finicky.
Mom and Dad were always complaining about the wall art in your room.
Same with your totally stellar clothes
If you forgot to tape Headbangers Ball, you would never see that episode again, ever.Recording songs off the radio demanded expert timing
and mixtapes took hours to prepare and assemble.Finally, concert venues charged exorbitant admission fees like, sometimes over $15!
Edits: 03/02/15Follow Ups:
nt
Vbr,
Sam
I think it is an art form, putting these sequences together. Good job.
(nt)
I wouldn't trade those "struggles" for any other way.
Round about 1978 or so I recorded a televised Stephen Stills concert by plugging the headphone jack of my parents television into my tape deck via a cable I made from parts acquired at Rat Shack.
Still enjoy that tape.
Those were the days.
Dean.
reelsmith's axiom: Its going to be used equipment when I sell it, so it may as well be used equipment when I buy it.
yet somehow we managed to find them. LOL.
Love'em all, thanks for posting.
Mark in NC
"The thought that life could be better is woven indelibly into our hearts and our brains" -Paul Simon
What strikes me is that the concept of an album is essentially dead. Now it is individual songs that you download. I doubt we will ever see concept albums (such as A Passion Play) ever again.
Thanks for posting all of these.
But do you really think the younger generation is listening to albums today? My sense is that they are purchasing and listening to individual songs--there is no "shuffle play" on an LP!
ADC Accutrac 4000 - I bought 10 of these from Sound Advice on closeout and sold 9 for a very tidy profit...
-RW-
I knew someone must have come up with it! Guess it didn't catch on though.
Steven's new LP "Hand. Cannot. Erase." is a unique and incredible blend of concept, prog, industrial, pop and just plain good song writing.
If you really want an album that is simply songs, but with a common theme, check out his album " The Raven That Refused To Sing; And Other Stories"...
The concept album, and prog for that matter, are far from dead.
BTW, Steven did multichannel and new stereo mixes for a bunch of old Jethro Tull stuff too (as well as Yes, King Crimson and XTC).
Dman
Analog Junkie
I'll add Tool to the artists who release an album instead of a group of individual songs.
There's plenty more, Slapshot missed the shot.
"Once this was all Black Plasma and Imagination" -Michael McClure
Zero Seven, Air, Schpongle, Mouth Music, Dream Theater, Aleks Syntek, Tosca......
This is not the music my students (college level) or my daughter (4th grade) are listening to. I think, for them, individually downloaded songs, not albums, are what is important.
the navigating made you feel like you were part of the process, which in reality you kind of were.
Agreed. Maybe someone will come up with an app for Tune-in radio that mimics this?
you never knew what you might come across while searching for the station you wanted to
land on. In the glory days of radio (both AM and FM) there was always a great chance of serendipity
being found in a new song, station or DJ that could change things immediately, just with a
snippet of a tune that caught your ear!
Didn't mention it earlier, but GREAT post!!
Thanks!
"Once this was all Black Plasma and Imagination" -Michael McClure
...and you got to choose.
Joe
As a child of the 80s I remember all that stuff very well. Other than going to concerts of that nature. Too young for that Im afraid.
I still remember swinging on my swing set and jamming records on a HUGE old motorola tube table top player my dad would set outside for me. So much fun. Even remember accidentally leaving records on top the sleeves and get so caught in the moment didnt realize the sun changes position and find a record warped. Oh well, sad collateral damage of a good time.
Also remember my first portable cassette player. Id put it in a basket on my BMX bike a ride around listening to music. Was an amazing tech achievement for me and many others. Sadly the bouncing would cause the player to stop allot. Again oh well. Was a red GE branded unit if I remember correctly. Sucked up 4xAA batteries quick too.
So many happy, fun filled memories of those times. And music was a HUGE part of my life then as a child. Still is. So happy my dad and neighbors gave me allot of records. Discovered allot of great music of the past. I see digital doing that for kids of this time.
I love that poster for the release of Love Over Gold! That cover rules!!!
Thanks so much for the post. Cool pics and great memories.
When we're busy enjoying ourselves we're always on the cutting edge.
With the current technology, today's kids simply face new and different struggles. I wouldn't say that they seem that much better off than the youth of the 1970's though.
The comment about timing radio broadcasts in order to tape the song really hit home with me. I had a run of reel to reel recorders back in the day (nothing really high end) and enjoyed trying to make tapes. We've seen some amazing changes in music formats outside of LPs over the years and digital still is a moving target.
I've tried most every format except 8-track for some reason. I'll stick to LPs thank you. I doubt I'll ever embrace digital other than keeping a working CD player in the rack.
Excellent collage of pics!
Memories
Really neat building with a unusual multi level structure for live "band" use. But it works.
Cant say Ive seen many places like it. But Im not exactly in or near major metro offerings :) Was a 4+ hr drive to get there.
Somewhat near there I was lucky enough to see Waters The Wall at wrigley field in 2012. That out door show was amazing! Wonderful music, sound, props. Simply incredible.
Yup shows like that are far and few between nowadays for me. And being in the middle of nowhere in WI really makes one appreciate a nice stereo for comfort LOL...
But it's a nice place to be!
Do you ever get to summer fest?
I really like that atmosphere although the line arrays don't help the sound quality. I used to go to alpine valley too, they used to have music there too.
My favorite place of all in Wisconsin is here below where i am every fall with my kids.
I dont remember ALL the shows Ive been to. Not just in that way ;) Just been a while and cant recall em all.
Ive seen, Rush, Pearl Jam, Tull, ELP, MOE... More. All at the summer fest grounds. And I agree that array isnt the end all. Powerful sounding and loud. Most of the time the bass was over bearing. But oh well. Loud is the biggest thing I recall being a trait. And not in the good way.
Ive seen, DMB, Black Crowes, Phish at Alpine. Far preferable sound and environment VS summer fest grounds.
On the whole I just dont care for the super thick, over crowded, difficult to maneuver environment of summer fest anymore. As a teen and early 20s I didnt care. But it just isnt that appealing anymore. Not that there isnt allot of fun to be had. Just the crowds and "extreme" folks and situations make it less fun for me now. Not that Alpine doesnt have some crazy situations too. On that notion thats TOTAL CRAP they stopped camping over night there. And create a situation where all the people they were only too happy to sell their $15 a beers to, have to drive home or where ever. Alpine is in the middle of NOWHERE. And its plenty large a wide open area near the stage where for years folks had a great time camping at for a show. Real shame its done and there are few places one could do that. Maybe theres more to it Im unaware of... But overall its a great place that sounds good too. Yes, it would be nice to see more quality bands play there. Again location is a real bear I imagine for acts. You really gotta count on enough folks showing up to make it worth every ones while. And weather. I feel bringing back camping would help this all...
Thanks so much for the tip on that Rock River event. Sadly never heard of it. I love blues and blue grass. Seems that may be a theme there. A great older fellow told me of how WI way back in the day played a huge role in the folk / blues scene. Wow. WI was pretty cool back in the day music wise.
If your here in WI thats great. I often wonder how many of us are near. :)
Thanks again for the tip!
I bet it would be a great time. And safe event to bring my son to.
Saw many bands there, Mountain, Litter, Zepher, Albert and BB king, Brian Auger etc. Many memories there indeed.
Do you remember the sound company that did the sound much of the time in the 70's ? Euphoria Blimp Works
I thought it would have been Showco or McCune. (Actually, I think Showco came along a little later.)
Now that I'm thinking about it, McCune did the sound for all the presentation rooms at AES last October. They used Meyer speakers. Next time I'm in SF, I gotta go see McCune's place. Surely, it's a pro audio historical site.
There was also Alembic, and our good friend John Curl worked there at one time. It seems to me, IIRC, that they also had a recording studio.
:)
All that's left of that great sign.
As for the rest of it: sh!t happens, and I wouldn't
trade anything for the wonderful and interesting
journey that I (and WE) had.
There was a fun, visceral and tactile sense of adventure
to all that that sure beats sitting at a sterile device to
pursue one's musical cravings and explorations.
"Once this was all Black Plasma and Imagination" -Michael McClure
It's hard to appreciate what's served up for free on a silver platter.
Trust me. Im far from a bleeding lefty.
But I really feel this has a silver lining for some.
IMO now more than ever, I hope more young folks stumble on great music outside the mainstream and what many of their friends may be listening to. Hopefully it will have an effect on others around them.
Again I get the negatives too. And agree. Its all a trade off. And in these economic times, seems this may be the only way for an affordable exposure for many would be music fans and musicians.
Just sayin...
I still contend that when all music was analog, it emotionally connected with a far greater percentage of the general population...... (Which in turn made people want to buy decent home audio gear at stores like Radio Shack.) If the recordings back then sounded like the digitized recordings of today, I believe most people would have just tossed worn out tapes in the trash rather than try to preserve them.
Oh please "when music was all analog"...
Wait'll he chimes in with how digital music, ecpecially PCM, physically hurts him...Oy!
-RW-
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