i-Pod degeneration?

June 21^st – 1948 was an exceptional year.

Sir Don Bradman scored the first of his back-to-back centuries against India, the Hells Angels were founded in California, the first chapter of Alcoholics Anonymous is formed (I think they knew something about the future) HUAC started their persecutions, a pack of wolves killed several children in Russia, three of the top songs of the year were, Bumble Boogie by Freddie Martin, Woody Woodpecker by Kay Kyser and I Can’t Go On Without You by Bull Moose Jackson and his Buffalo Bearcats… and I was born, so, all-in-all a perfect year.

How times change.

Music’s grasp on almost every facet of our society and its people compares to a saturated cloth and it seeps into every corner, whether we want it to or not. The wonderful Porcupine Tree summed it up beautifully on their track; The Sound of Muzak (was it off their album The Incident? Not sure; if you feel the urge look it up, or you may know it by default, and let me know). Anyway, that track sort of encompasses music, its legacy and its very uncertain future. Certainly the methods of obtaining and reproducing what is one of the foremost discoveries and developments of humankind are legion now, and with that ease, I reckon, comes complacency. From what was a simple device for communication and descriptive storytelling we have created the soundtrack to our lives and loves. We carry millions of our favourite songs around in handy pods the size of a matchbox and can have its companionship at any time and anywhere…or we can at the moment. If earphones for iPods get any bigger we won’t be able to get into the back of a 45ft truck to listen to our streamed muzak.

The Dansette portable record player (portable providing you had access to a team of oxen and several well-proportioned friends that is) was the musical reproduction technology of choice when I was 11 or 12. It ran on a needle that travelled along the grooves cut into a revolving disc (called a record) and this needle was held by an arm that sent the sound from the disc along wires and out the speaker on the front. The needle (a high-cost piece of technological engineering which sported a diamond head – Mr. Bowie stole all his ideas) lasted a relatively short time so, if the need and depth of pocket demanded, it could be replaced by a thorn from a hawthorn tree.

It was also on this day in the year of our Lord 1948 that Columbia Records announced the breakthrough technology of the long-playing vinyl phonograph record which could hold up to 23 minutes of music…PER SIDE!!!! Eat your heart out, Apple.