I was talking to a singer songwriter tonight. She said because so many people will now buy only select individual songs by download, people in the industry have lost the importance of putting together an “album” of songs.
The Beatles started the theme album thing, and it caught on quickly.
Do you think that will become a thing of the past?
Did you have a favorite theme album?
Billy
it may become a thing of the past, cause most bands dont make enough good music to have a whole album be any good, most people buy an album for one song, and most people dont want to pay 10 bucks for one song so why not just download that one song, but if nobody buys the cd to start with there will be no body to download it from
but thats just me rambling on
Personally, I wish more albums were like Metallica’s old stuff (the Master of Puppets, and “…And Justice For All” albums), where the songs actually had some meaning, not just like the unintelligent “Eff the police” rap stereotype
HABBY: That is so sad if it’s true. Unicyclists are getting better , but songwriting is getting worse.
Even Eminem’s first album had a theme running through it–poignant dramas, real stories, well told. How about Tommy by The Who?
Songwriting is getting horrible
I think it’s sad when a song that is literally about nothing (even something stupid, like most rap songs that are about chicks, is better than nothing) gets so much recognition and radio time
This is why I refuse to listen to radio
The good artists will keep making good music, and the crap ones will continue to make crap. Is there really more crap now than ever before?
Really, I don’t think so, I just think that the bad stuff just gets more attention thatn it used to
But I’m just 16
What the hell do I know?
When I was 16, I was an expert on music. Don’t underestimate youth!
You KNOW! Tell us!
I’m slightly knowledgeable about old hard rock…I pretty much avoid new music like the plague, because most of it sucks, and the only access I have to it, is through the radio, which sucks more
Not through the internet???
I don’t know any good sites, really
And I can’t get a downloading software, so…that’s a no go either
If I really wanna listen to a song I don’t have, if it’s not on Launch, chances are I won’t be able to listen to it
The question is whether crap is becoming more of the mainstream moneymaker? So much “pop” music seems boring and uninspired. Not very creative.
But it’s true, the good artists continue to make good music and lyrics. I hope theme albums don’t ever go away. Though music downloading is increasing in popularity, the vast majority of the money is still being spent on CDs. I expect this will continue to be the case at least until the stuff you download is at a roughly equivalent bitrate, not the 128kbps stuff you typically get now.
One of my favorite “theme” albums is -
Remember the Future by Nektar
Anyone know that one?
Wow, yeah. I saw them at the Beacon Theater in NY back in about 1976.
My kid doesn’t have a single album on her iPod while I put entire albums on mine even if I only listen to a couple of songs. I like the continuity.
Some of my favorite concept albums include, We’re Only In It For the Money (Frank Zappa & the Mothers of Invention), The Who Sell Out (The Who), Aqualung (Jethro Tull), Thick as a Brick (Jethro Tull), Ziggy Stardust (David Bowie), Tales of Topographic Oceans (Yes), and Ragpickers Dream (Mark Knopfler).