Gravity Collapse » music

5 great 1980s remixes that are better than the album versions

gravitycollapse — Sun, 22 Feb 2009 21:06:46 +0000

I’ll continue the “5 great” list with these 12″ gems from the 1980s. They may not necessarily be my favorite 12″ tracks of the 1980s, but these are instances where the remix of the song improves markedly on the original version. And this also means it excludes tracks that were issued on 12″ first, or 12″ only (like Pump Up The Volume, for example).

What makes a great remix? Well, that depends on what type of remix it is. In this case, the criteria is remixes that don’t stray so far from the original as to be essentially a completely different song, but which alter the original enough that it really adds depth, or goes in a new direction

When I was in high school in the 1980s, remixing was what I really dreamed of doing, although I never pursued that path. Consider this my homage to some good engineers.

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Post tags: 1980s, 5 great, music, remixes

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5 great fucking songs

gravitycollapse — Sun, 18 Jan 2009 08:59:26 +0000

My last post got me thinking about posting some top 10 lists on my blog, just for fun.

But then I thought, “10″? Do I really have that much to say about that many songs? I suppose I could endlessly fill the space with tired music critic clichés, but we should all be spared that much bullshit.

And then I thought, “Top”? It’s impossible. I haven’t heard every song in existence, and even if that were somehow possible, I haven’t heard all of them them enough to develop strong feelings for them.

So that’s how this “5 Great” list came about. I’ll post one every now and then, and I’ll link to either iTunes or free downloads to the tracks, if possible, so you can get them yourself. I tried to use iTunes’ iMix thing to just link to the whole list, but the way the iMix feature works is stupid: have a song from a compilation that iTunes has on a different album? Then it doesn’t recognize it, or even make suggestions so you can map it properly.

Anyway, onto the fucking list already…consider it my tribute to the most versatile word in the English language. No, these are not (necessarily) great songs to listen to while fucking. Nor are these great Songs About Fucking (well, not exclusively anyway). Rather, they are great songs that have everyone’s favorite word somewhere in the title.

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When five is not enough

gravitycollapse — Sat, 17 Jan 2009 08:02:01 +0000

I am a closet music historian, and a not-so-closeted music geek. Anyone who bothers to get to know me finds this out sooner or later. On that “Rock & Roll Jeopardy!” show that VH1 used to run, they used to ask a lot of questions about ’80s pop, and I found out watching that show that, basically, I would never have lost.

It’s not really anything to be proud of though, and I’ll tell you why. When you have this affliction, you do things like spend hours of time hunting down obscure artwork of 12″ singles from crappy “blue-eyed soul” bands so that the extended remix of some obscure 80s song you got on a compilation has the proper cover art when it pops up on your TV screen via Apple TV. You make sure the song has the right name (was that Loving or Lovin’?). You make sure it’s classified in the right year, which can involve quite a bit of reasearch for, say, old soul music that was only released on 7″ singles.

All in all, I’m not sure this is really the best way to spend your time.

iTunes (and tools like it, though I use iTunes) have been a godsend for music-loving OCD-types like me. If you properly tag your music, you can do something like listen to music of a particular genre from 1973, or you can easily make a playlist of every song you have with “fuck” in the title (57 songs long at the moment if you care). Yes, the possibilities are fucking endless.

Well, almost endless.

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Post tags: itunes, music, organization, tips

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Clash of values

gravitycollapse — Thu, 06 Sep 2001 08:27:46 +0000

I just finished reading two books this week. It generally takes me forever to read a book, but I finished both of these very quickly. (Yes, I commonly read more than one book at a time…I am a Gemini, after all, and prone to boredom.)

Anyway, I think it would be difficult to find two books articulating such opposing values. The first was “Hit Men“, by Fredric Dannen, and the second was, at a friend’s recommendation, “Tuesdays with Morrie” by Mitch Albom.

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Post tags: books, business, music

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Boycott the RIAA

gravitycollapse — Mon, 27 Aug 2001 08:25:47 +0000

If anyone out there cares, here’s a site that I’m firmly in support of: http://www.boycott-riaa.com/.

This whole thing is a complicated issue, I agree, with validity on both sides, but in the end I just think the RIAA is desperately trying to maintain their castle while it’s under siege from all sides by Napster and GNUtella and the clones, CD burning, and a new movement for individual freedom and information flow.

They’ve successfully castrated Napster, but GNUtella will be a far more difficult beast for them to topple. And, presently they are trying to go after CD burning.

The problem for them, is that the cat has been let out of the bag. It’s too late. Sure, their armies of lawyers might score temporary victories against music piracy and the free exchange of information, but eventually they will be toppled. They’ve pissed off the open source movement, they’ve alienated younger listeners and that just means its going to become war.

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Post tags: business, internet, music

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