Lester Bangs' Basement

[Chalupa]

Food for thought

Lester Bangs, the late, great early-rock critic, once said he dreamed of having a basement with every album ever released in it. That's a fantasy shared by many music fans—and, mutatis mutandis, film buffs as well. We all know the Internet has made available a lot of things that were previously hard to get. Recently, though, there are indications of something even more enticing, almost paradisiacal, something that might have made Bangs put down the cough syrup and sit up straight: that almost everything is available.

A rarity might be less popular; it might be less interesting. But it's no longer less available the way it once was. If you have a decent Internet connection and a slight cast of amorality in your character, there's very little out there you might want that you can't find. Does the end of rarity change in any fundamental way, our understanding of, attraction to, or enjoyment of pop culture and high art?

In a recent issue of the New York Review of Books, the poet Dan Chiasson wrote at length about Keith Richards' autobiography and made an interesting point near the end, about how scarcity and rarity, long ago, actually fueled artistic endeavor:

[T]he experience of making and taking in culture is now, for the first time in human history, a condition of almost paralyzing overabundance. For millennia it was a condition of scarcity; and all the ways we regard things we want but cannot have, in those faraway days, stood between people and the art or music they needed to have: yearning, craving, imagining the absent object so fully that when the real thing appears in your hands, it almost doesn't match up. Nobody will ever again experience what Keith Richards and Mick Jagger experienced in Dartford, scrounging for blues records.

[Noj]

In my quest to dig up every original song which was sampled in hip hop, I used to have to spend a long time searching for songs. I'd pour through sources of information, remember things I'd heard and write them down in long lists. I'd go to the record shop or the CD store, and hope to find some weird out of print recording. Some were simply impossible to find...until recently. I found my way to the blogosphere, and was shocked when copies of even the most obscure, long-sought pieces were right there for the taking. Now, there's even a blog which has virtually all the samples, and who sampled them, available in batches compiled by hip hop album. Concurrently eMusic came along, and was so inexpensive at the beginning that it was like a tour of the Prestige/Fantasy catalog. Talk about easy pickings.

The magic of it is gone. The work has all been done by someone else. Now there's just sit back and listen to whatever, whenever. Missing something? Have it in five minutes. I have more than I can remember having.

[Rooster_Ties]

Those of us who don't buy mp3's can still live in the past. I've been missing my copy of Billy Harper's "Capra Black" for a good 5 years. (They guy I loaned it to up and died -- and I never did follow-up with his wife, who I barely knew.)

I could have replaced my copy with an electronic one in a heartbeat (and legally, even, and for only $5), but I never did. But I did jump at the chance to finally get a 'real' one when I stumbled on a Japanese CD of it in St. Louis last weekend. It set me back $30 (ouch!!!), and I could care less if it was Japanese or the previous issue I had before, but $30 later, it was mine again.

I imagine I'll jump into downloading music on-line eventually, but I'm in no rush. And when I do, I'm sure I'll always try to get "real" copies of things later -- or at least the dates that I find I like most.

[AllenLowe]

it's an intriguing idea, but completely wrong-headed; first of all, Jagger and RIchard's work is, to my way of thinking, simply not that great, so scarcity does not necessarily breed good work (I think they are good songwriters but their blues-related stuff sucks) - as for scarcity breeding hunger and then creativity, bullshit - look at literature. Every great writer was a voracious reader who read the things that were available, which is plenty. We music people sometimes forget that there is a much larger creative world out there than just ourselves.

as for myself, my work has gotten better and better, the more I have had access to. Simple as that,

Edited April 23, 2011 by AllenLowe

[A Lark Ascending]

Nobody will ever again experience what Keith Richards and Mick Jagger experienced in Dartford, scrounging for blues records.

Not sure that is true. It might be 'available' but you need to know it's there.

Kids are still going to be on very limited incomes ('free' downloads notwithstanding); and the range of music in the immediate public eyes, seems, if anything, to have narrowed.

Lots of scope still for searching and uncovering personal treasures.

[AllenLowe]

the truth is, I'm still experiencing things like that - I just find 'em in different ways -

Edited April 23, 2011 by AllenLowe

[mjzee]

I think the trick is exposing yourself to music and growing that way. More and varied music is better than less. Hearing a piece of music is better than reading about it in a book but not being able to hear it. Once you hear it, you can form your own opinions and make your own connections. You could even then disagree with the person who wrote the book.

[A Lark Ascending]

the truth is, I'm still experiencing things like that - I just find 'em in different ways -

Me too.

It's not quite the same as being 14 when everything was new, even what came out of standard radio. But every now and then I'll bump into something that opens a door into an area of music I hardly realised was there.

The difference today (partly a matter of technology and availability, partly having more money than I did at 14) is the ability to follow it up more quickly and widely. I'd not want to swap that for the thrill of the chase.

[JohnS]

Nobody will ever again experience what Keith Richards and Mick Jagger experienced in Dartford, scrounging for blues records.

Lots of scope still for searching and uncovering personal treasures.

Dartford, seeing the name I couldn't let it pass without comment. As contemporary of Jagger and as someone who spent most of his working life in the town I can say that there was no problem getting any record in the town. There were a couple of decent reord shops and for more specialised stuff the town is only an hour away from London. Sounds like a bit of a myth to me but it's good to see the town, which has probably seen better days, get a mention here.