I might as well
face it; often times pop culture can be as fickle as hell. One day out of the
blue you hear about some new trend whether it's clothing, music, a new word,
etc. and sometimes you think to yourself either “that's cool” or “that's the
stupidest thing I've ever heard.” Maybe you're one of those people who really
don't care; I like to cover all my bases as you can plainly tell. But for one
reason or another, this trend will catch on and become so popular that it
unceremoniously pushes itself into your life somehow, someway no matter how
ridiculous it may seem. I've never watched one episode of American Idol but
thanks to constant updates by AOL news l knew about Reuben Studdard coming in
second to Clay Aiken. I think I just felt a cold shiver go up my spine.
Trends come and go
in pop culture, but somehow, someway some of them actually manage to make resurgence
later down the line after it was supposed to be dead and buried. A group like
Aerosmith gets big in 70s, practically grounds to halt through most of the 80s,
and suddenly they get big again. Who but the most die-hard fan would have seen
that one coming?
Technology is very
much like that, in just over 100 years we went from records made from acetate
and vinyl to cds to downloadable music files. Each new piece of technology has
made the previous one obsolete, but something very rare has happened in the
last few years. Out of the examples I made just now when it comes to listening
to music, one of these formats is making something of a comeback.
This is where pop
culture and technology meet as in the last few years since the advent of downloads;
records seem to be having a sort of revival that's usually reserved for actors
getting that big movie when a few years ago they would've called it a day. I'm
looking at you John Travolta. When you walk through stores like Best Buy,
Target, and Borders (when it was still around) there are a lot of things you'd
expect to see, vinyl records probably weren't one of them.
To say that
records went extinct at that moment, but one does have to ask “how did this
happen?” Aside from downloads, there are a few reasons why this happened:
1. The collectors market: if there are people who
go out and collect comic books,
old movie posters, etc. there has to be a group
out there that collects records. These folks are the die-hard fans of the
medium who regardless of whether the embraced the new technology or not, they
refused to let go of those wax stacks. The reasons vary, whether it was
nostalgia, whether it was preference to the lo-fi, warm sounds, the cover art,
etc. this group was one of a hand full that kept records from being sent to the
grave.
2. Indie and Underground bands: I remember when Hot Topic was still cool (shut up) you could get clothing, jewelry and, shock of shocks…..music from bands that may not get sold at your normal music stores. I remember going to a Hot Topic around 2002 and while I did have some records that I had inherited from hadn’t actually bought one myself. Until I bought NOFX’s “The Decline”, an 18 minute single on 7 inch vinyl. NOFX was never one of my favorite bands but I did enjoy putting that record on and jumping around in my room to it.
It
was bands like NOFX and many others in the underground and indie scenes that
kept the record alive mainly due to the fact that it was cheaper to record
vinyl.
3. DJs Keep them dancing: DJs in the hip hop scene
were another group that kept the record alive mainly because of how much easier
it was to use those than the new technology. There were specialized cd players
and rigs that allowed DJs to mix, cut, scratch, etc. like they would on vinyl.
However, a major complaint was a lack of feel
that was the majority of DJs preferred over the new tech. So many DJs
decided to keep their records for another day.
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