Friday, July 6, 2007

Stay down champion let them all have your neck


I finished work, walked into HMV, looked around, all i saw was tired cd's on sale and various unappealing dvd's. It was then I felt something very unnerving inside me, a sense that the world of records as we know it might well be on the way out.
I walked down Grafton Street and thought about how the record store is slowly vanishing.I turned left onto Wicklow Street and saw Tower Records with it's lovely window display calling out to me.
The first cd i ever bought was Different Class by Pulp, I bought it in the massive Virgin on the Quays. I popped on the headhones and listened to the first line of every song, it was here where my record collection started. In Tower Records yesterday I done the exact same thing, only this time with Boxer by The National. I'm now listening to it for the first time. And it's reminding me of how i felt all those years ago when you stumble upon a record that you instantly know that is going to stay in your life forever. It's a special feeling, one that shouldn't be forgotten in a world of quick fix downloading, where you can dismiss a band within 30 seconds.
If in a few years time, the likes of Tower and HMV may become relics of the past it'll be an absolute travesty if they do, because for all the convenience of shopping online there's one thing that the internet will never be able to generate : atmosphere.
Boxer by The National has, in forty three minutes and five seconds rekindled my absolute belief in music.

2 comments:

Unknown said...

i remember that day!! but let's face it downloading songs gives u a chance to hear stuff and exeriment with music that u'd never have never otherwise paid over your hard earned cash for!!

Anonymous said...

I totally agree. Read a review of "Boxer" on Pitchfork, went out and bought it. The songs sing around in my head, in the car and through the headphones of a shitty MP3 player. I have lain awake in my bed at night with a shit-eating grin on my face immersed in songs of which I have absolutely no understanding. In case you're wondering, that's a good thing.