It’s all about the music
Warning: Long rambling post ahead.
I was asked last week “So how much a month do you spend on music then?” and I have to admit that it stumped me for a moment because since going off CD’s and totally onto downloads last year it occured to me that I wouldn’t know how to keep track.
Then I thought about it for a moment longer, and realised that being the email hoarder that I am (Have kept every single email I’ve sent since 1995, and have some dating back to 1992) I’ve also kept all the music store receipts that Apple kindly send out to you every time you buy something from them.
So I looked in that folder and was browsing through it, and what actually occured to me was the suprising number of times that there were single 79p transactions that I’d made where I’d bought just the one track. I’d always thought that I’d waited until I’d got a few tunes together that I wanted, and bought a few quids worth at a time, but no – more often than I’d realised, I’d bought just the one song, in a typically passionate Geoff ‘must have now!‘ kind of moment.
I sometimes think that music to me is a habit that I won’t be able to break out of – almost like a drug.
It can make me high, it can make me sad, it can make me experience a setting in a totally different way to how I might of otherwise experienced it. It can chill me out, it can wind me up, it can make me cry, it can give me goose pimples down my arms, it has a wide and varying range of effects on me that bring out various emotions.
And often – too often I think – when I get into a song, I get into that particular song, and have to play it to death to get it out of my system. Or should that be into my system?
A classic example is the last week and a bit. Eleven days in America involved a fair bit of driving about, which meant that I got to play my iPod – a lot. My ‘tour guide’ also kindly let me take over the car audio system and allowed me to play ‘DJ’ for almost every trip we went on, and in an effort to find interesting things to play it meant that I really dug through my collection and unearthed some gems that I’d forgotten that I had buried away on there.
But it wasn’t all just about the old stuff – it was also a chance to play new stuff, including the Madonna album which I’d got before Christmas, but hadn’t really got round to playing it.
My usual rules applied for a new album then – you stick it on in the background, and don’t actively listen to it but have a conversation and you’ll find that your brain subconsciously picks up on the track or tracks that it likes most.
This worked a treat as I suspected it would, and sure enough – when the eleventh track ‘Push‘ came up, my attention was captured as my brain seemed to say “Pay attention now Geoff! You’re going to like this song!”, and indeed … a few seconds later of concentrating on it properly, I found myself saying “Ooh, I like this one”, and when it ended, I hit ‘back’ and went and played it all over again. (Incidentally, I thought that ‘Push’ was going to be the new single from Madonna – but it’s not, it’s going to be the track “Sorry” from the album instead).
And so it got played a few more times whilst I was out there, and then I came home and I played it on the plane, and I played it whilst in baggage reclaim, and I played it when I got home, and I played it to fall asleep to on Sunday night, and it eventually all culminated when I played it on Monday night when driving home from work and I played it nine times in a continuous loop.
I decided at about that moment that I perhaps ought to have a new iBlog feature: “Geoff’s Choon of the Week” (or something) to reflect what was my current “play it to death” track – as I tend to do this a lot to new songs that I discover, and it’d just be interesting for me to see when I look back later on the year.
But … but … but then. How fickle am I? And what happened to for me to feel the need to spout on about this today? This happened – I changed my mind. I ditched Madonna, and in the space of under three minutes this morning I decided that I had a brand new ‘play it to death’ track.
The tune in question I’d heard on Radio 1 when I got back on Sunday. Then I heard it again on Monday morning and that’s when I first thought “Oh that’s quite catchy in an irritating sort of way”, and so by the time that I heard it for only the third time again this morning on Moyle’s breakfast show, it was a case of “Dammit … I have to go and download this .. NOW!“ And so I did.
So right now, I’m humming the bit of the song from the Michael Jackson & Paul McCartney classic “Say say say”. It’s been lifted and sampled, and worked into a frenetic 140 bpm choooon by an artist calling themself ‘Hi_Tack’ (note the underscore which is how iTunes think its spelt when searching for it) called “Say say say (Waiting 4U)” – and it’s not even anything special.
It’s just a routine dance style track that makes me wishes I was 15 years younger again – but I’m currently very addicted to it. Even typing/talking about it now just makes me want to go and play it NOW, but I can’t because I’ve left my iPod in my car. Dammit.
But having said all THAT, and banged on about it for the last few paragraphs, I just KNOW that by this time time week, I’ll be raving about something else instead.
That’s how fickle I can be with music sometimes. Even I don’t understand how I work. Typing all this was supposed to help, but I’m not sure that is has. Anyway, in summary:
iTunes of the week
Last week: Madonna – Push
This week: Hi Tack – Say say say (Waiting 4U)
Next week: Probably something cheesey & soppy like the new Will Young single ‘All time love’ knowing me …
After living in London for the first 33 years of my life and working for the 
So for ten weeks in June, July and August 2009, I drove 20,000 miles around the the lower 48 contiguous states of the USA visiting towns and places that shared the same name as places on The London
F5! Master blaster!
But you still haven’t told us how much you spend on music.
And for the record, Madonna’s CD is *fantastic*. Say Say Say? Not so much.
‘Master Blaster’ was Stevie Wonder – not Paul McCartney!
How much?
Oh… well since June 2005 when the UK iTunes store opened, I’m averaging about £12 a month on musac. things of course get more complicated if you work in the £1.99′s that i’ve spent on a few videos since getting my video ‘pod.
Do you think £12 is more or less than you spent before? That equates to approximately one CD album per month in old media.
I never really used to by albums on a regular basis – I was one of those terrible CD single buyers. I have several flight cases full of CD singles that I now never play, and only some are imported into my itunes/ipod.
I used to buy albums now and then – only artists that I really liked.
But the ITMS have pandered to the likes of me completely. I can buy single track by single track at a time for a decent price. I can choose a song, select to buy it, download it on broadband and be playing it in less than 30 seconds. Awesome.
They do the “well if you like this, then you’ll like that…” service. They produce a Top 10 of the most popular choons that day … it is an absolute haven for the likes of me and they know it. And I know they know it. And they know that I know they now it. And I love it.
The ITMS is shockingly addictive and caters to those of us who need instant gratification as well as those who want to find that one-hit wonder we once loved without buying the whole CD (that usually has the one hit song you liked and the rest clunkers.)
I actually bought the whole Madonna album, and was disappointed in most of it. Maybe it will grow on me.
Still haven’t bought anything from ITMS. Can’t be bothered to strip the DRM out of the files when you get them.
Plus, you can choose the bitrate of MP3s when you rip them yourself.
Another advantage to buying an old fashioned CD for those of us non-techs like Jeff (sorry, meant Geoff) and Jono is that you are not limited to a certain amount of burns, you don’t have to worry about backing up your ITMS store purchases, you get the liner notes, and nowadays you also get a little bonus like a performance DVD or other goodies. And you get the plain old fashioned fun of opening five cellophane wrappers on a CD.
I’d never buy anything from an online download store unless it was completely free of DRM and in CD quality uncompressed wave or aiff with no funny stuff. Currently IMO it’s all a rip-off, with poor audio quality and restrictions abound, and being forced to use proprietary media players to view the content. (yes, there is the option of burning to CD, but it’s a bit pointless since the audio regains no quality and ripping back to MP3 results in worse audio quality than you started off with; not that the download’s audio quality was any good in the first place).
For me, audio quality is important as the song. There is quasi legal allofmp3, but its back catalogue is not as extensive the others and also the audio quality on some of the files is questionable, and also it takes ages to have the latest releases. Also, nothing beats the feeling of opening up the CDs cellphane wrap, reading the notes and loading it into the tray. Perhaps I’m just old fashioned?
Grrr…After listening to that sample, i have a feeling im gonna like that song as well. Geoffs website costs me to much money to read with the purchasing of whatever hes going on about that week
And according to this, the cost of track might be about to drop from 79p to 67p …
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/money/main.jhtml?xml=/money/2006/01/15/cnapple15.xml&menuId=242&sSheet=/money/2006/01/15/ixcitytop.html
being old fashioned is ok .. i know what you mean. i think i’ve told a lie slightly, because i did actually buy the Audio Bullys album “generation” on CD back in November, rather than downloading it. and if another “fave” artists of mine (e.g Depeche Mode, LemonJelly, Pet Shop Boys) brought out something new, then I would definetely still just get the CD. but for something like Hi_Tack – iTunes is perfect, fantastic, so accessable and offers instant gratification to my musical lust. And I still love it.
I’m loving the Madonna album although it feels a bit ‘samey’. That said ‘Sorry’ is rapidly working its way up my ‘most played’ list – i didn’t realise it was set for release but i’m sure by the time it’s out I’ll be thoroughly fed up with it…
Well at least this post gives us something to discuss that’s not your cock.
Honestly, there’s always someone that brings things down to a gutter level! Thank you pxdl! – but I do have to take issue, as I wasn’t talking about my appendage per se, moreso other peoples!
In fact, based on a few emails i found when I got back last night (from those who were too shy to post here), and a couple more I got this morning, the latest tally is:
21 people now asked …
Yes: 5
No: 16
Pet Shop Boys have remixed Madonna’s next single, “Sorry”, which will be released in February. Not sure if “Sorry (PSB Maxi-Mix)” will be commercially released or only made available on promo copies to club DJs.
Chris and Neil remixed the track in December and Neil added some vocals to it.
sorry i havnt replied to your mail yet..i was away all december, and then obviously knew you were in states
n365 – you’re alive! and there was me thinking you were just ignoring me…
new PSB album out in April too, don’t forget!
Meh, might as well say, im proud to be the onwer of a completely intact soldier, so you can add me to the list
Well, I wasn’t going to bother joining in this one, but I don’t want to get left behind, unlike my foreskin which I last saw nearly 37 years ago…
Never downloaded a track in my life, but then I only got a CD player a couple of years ago. Have more vinyl and cassettes than CDs, and am dreading the day I can no longer play them
And before you tell me just to buy the CD back catalogue, the best stuff is so obscure it won’t ever be available on CD. Or online for that matter.
Oh, and while I’m here, my last attempted comment here didn’t work for some reason, so I’d like to point out that I always sit to pee, and expect male visitors to my littlest room to do the same. Now, what was the question again…?
Yes, my host (Clara) have been having SQL server “issues” today and yesterday, and I also had to re-type a comment earlier after it initially failed. Apologies for the interruption to service folks…
So that makes you how old Wayne? And could you not start transferring your tapes and vinyl to digital format using an analogue input on your PC, surely? I’ve done that with a lot of the 12″ vinyl that I’ve got (300 records or so), and then AAC’d them up, so that a lot of them are on my ‘pod.
Oh, and:
23 people now asked:
Yes: 6
No: 17
20: Give us the ratio between European born and American born in your poll. Is this mostly English guys here? Because that was the initial question, right?. Whether more Americans are uncirc’d than we think. (I think the current generation of American baby boys being born, say from 1990 on, will have less circumcisions, due to better education of parents.) Maybe we should take a poll of American women…which kind do they prefer??
14. PD…WELL SAID!!!
to all: New question…Are they or aren’t they?*
**Pet shop boys gay or not??
Of course they are. It’s hardly a secret.
Oh, right .. yes have only asked people in England – including my old colleague Chris who I just bumped into buy a cup of tea, so: Yes: 6, No: 18.
Bit mean of you to expose Chris’s knob status, isn’t it?
PSB: So Gay
Oh, and I did say Clara were crap…
No, by the way.
19. You’re right, lots of songs I have on vinyl are simply not available on-line. The internet
panders to the popular.
Geoff, add one more to the “yes” group, (from N. America of course)
Hope you’ve added my “no” already.
I thought that only one of the PSBs was gay.
You’re thinking of Erasure! Andy: Yes, Vince: No.
Right, I’ve got to go and re-totalise the “Polo neck or t-shirt?” poll, and I think we’re now up to…
34 people now asked:
Yes: 8
No: 26
You may even have a little excel spreadsheet if it helps you visualise…
The correct answer to “Are the PSB gay?”, is, of course…
Who bloody cares?
For the record, Neil Tennant is. Chris Lowe hasn’t said anything either way, but probably more out of privacy and “none of your damn business” rather than being closetted, clotted or whatever.
>>foreskin which I last saw nearly 37 years ago…
>So that makes you how old Wayne?
In 5 weeks I celebrate my 37th birthday; in 6 weeks I ‘celebrate’ the loss of my foreskin. As you can see I didn’t have much choice in the matter, but I’m quite happy with the outcome.
>could you not start transferring your tapes and vinyl to digital format using an analogue input on your PC
I guess I could. If I had the time, patience, equipment and know-how. One day…
Has our leader lost the plot? Shouldn’t he be finding birthdays in August and February?
I guess it’s just me who’s picked up on this, but I can’t believe that you leave your iPod in the car.
Where do you leave it Geoff? I wouldn’t dare do that unless I could lock my car in a garage. If you don’t, you must live in an extremely safe area.
(a). Please don’t encourage any more same-day birthday stuff.
(b). A more interesting comparison ‘graphic’ comes to mind for your excel chart… oh never mind.
(c). PSB probably are gay but their record label might want them to keep it quiet.
(c). (1.) There is nothing wrong with being gay.
(d) It’s so safe in our neighborhood in Hawaii that we can not only leave the cars unlocked overnight, but our keys, wallets, iPods and phones in them without worry.
What? It’s like SO NOT a secret that the PSB’s are gay! Nor is it kept quiet.
Ok, my iPod was in my car… in the car park – at work! Which is quite safe, yes. I wouldn’t leave it in my car if it was parked out on general public road, but within the confines of the BBC, it’s quite safe IMO.
Wayne : You just need a red/white phono lead to 3.5mm jack. Plug one end into your tape player, the other into the audio ‘in’ on your PC, download some digital recording software, and record away! Just do one tape a day. simple.
Re: point 9 – old fashioned is going to Selectadisc every Monday lunchtime to see what new releases have appeared on 7″ vinyl.
35. You mean “parking lot,” don’t you?
37. He certainly does NOT.
Just to bring the subject back onto nobs, for those wish to swap their T-shirt for a polo-neck:
http://tlctugger.com/
I just read the tlctugger page, and I was amazed, is it a wind-up? I thought only
women had problems “down there”. Regarding whether they have or have not had it done,
in the old days i.e. the 60′s,we ladies didn’t look,(it was usually dark anyway) and we wouldn’t have dreamed of asking such a personal question. Even if I did get a quick peek,
I would not divulge such personal info, your secret’s safe with me.
Looking at that device, it’s all the more reason to keep it attached in the first place!
No. By the way.
38. Anthony, remember he is trying to get more comfortable with American phrasing. Parking LOT. Elevator. Fall, etc. Let him practice properly!
40. Towerblock Prisoner: I know what you mean…In certain er…{cough/cough}…”situations,” women can’t tell the difference between cut and uncut. Right?
Geoff. I think we are in *URGENT* need of a new, unrelated blog post.
Ian, did you give us your status?
But you are right, he needs to update this blog. He used to be more regular.
Geoff: NB. That is not a cue for a post on bowel movements.
For someone living in a small flat, ITunes is a god send! There simply isn’t room for many more CD’s here. While we take paper and CD out of jewell case, and put into folder, it is SUCH a waste throwing all those plastic cases out. But saying that, while I download, The Husband buys.. then rips straight into Itunes and files the CD as we have no CD player at the moment *L*
Geoff, what method do you use for listening to your ‘pod in the car? We have an ITrip, but I find in Central London we’re constantly re-tuning it. Do you use the tape thingy?
As for the other discussion, The Husband might murder me if I started discussing his in public *L*
Talking of music, when should we expect the results of the end of year poll?
45/46/46 : Happy now? I have updated. I didn’t even think of asking Sven if he’d had “the chop” or not.
Sidethought : I did use a bathroom last night where you could sit on the toilet AND lean over into the sink at the same time – so I reckon I could triple multitask if I wanted to : Go the the loo, shave, and clean my teeth all at the same time.
47 – I do use my iTrip. Well I do on my “old” 4th gen iPod Photo (which broke yesterday when it’s battery died! Shit!), and I use two frequencies – 87.5 and 108.0
The thing to do, is dig out the software CD that comes with the iTrip, and DONT follow the installation procedure, but manually dig through the folders and find the two .mp3 files that relate to those frequencies. Import them into iTunes, turn them into AAC’s and then use those two depending upon which pirate radio stations are broadcasting in your part of town.
Tip : Unscrewing your car ariel (if you can like you can on my car) makes for better reception, because then your car radio only picks up on REALLY local broadcasts – ie. your iTrip!
I used to have a tape thingy doo-dah, but I gave it away as a present to my tour guide …