People are getting kind of spoiled with music don't ya think?

Was thinking of this the other night because I bought the Mastodon cd called Crack the Skye and found myself listening to the first song on it over and over. Analyzing it and picking it apart. And of course really enjoying it as well. The odd Alice in Chains/Frogs sounding bridge, the crazy 6/8 rhythm that the verse and pre-chorus are in (and seriously, let me tell you that's not an easy riff to pick. To play? yes. To play properly in 6/8? no.)

So I was out in the alley looking at the stars and listening to it with headphones on, and I started thinking, "Man I've totally got my $10. out of this cd just with the first song, which I've now heard like 20 times. It's a great song, well written, well played, well sung and arranged. What's $10? Dinner from the Hong Kong Cafe down the street?"

It's not like I could eat that dinner 20 times for $10. and learn something in the process.

Then I started thinking about all the people who I've heard in the past 10 years say, "I wont buy a cd. Pay money just to get one or two good songs and a bunch of 'not so great' songs? Nope, I'll just buy the single."

And I realized people are missing out. I mean whatever works for them.....whatever. But me? I'd rather own the actual cd, with the artwork, and have a tangible piece of property.

Even if every other song on that Mastodon cd sucked (which they definitely don't) then I'd still have gotten my $10. out of them.

I'm starting to think it's unrealistic to buy a cd and expect every song on it to be awesome and amazing. That's demanding a hell of a lot out of an artist/musician. Pretty unreasonable actually.

I bet lots of people think, "man, if I could write just one really great song, I'd be happy."

Isn't that what we all want? To write a great 'Sitting on the Dock of the Bay' or a 'Stand by Me'? A great song that hopefully will outlive us? I mean,....I hope I do. I don't think I've ever written a great song, but I keep trying to.

I think some cd's like Tools 'undertow' or Alice in Chains 'Dirt' or Metallicas 'Master of Puppets' are almost flukes, where 9/10 songs on it are really great songs.

Because pretty much every cd I own has at least one or two 'ok' songs on it. Not bad, but not awesome either.

Anyway, I guess the point of all this late night rambling is it dawned on me that if I can get 2-3 really great songs out of a cd, then I feel like I got my moneys worth out of it.

People pay like $70. for a video game these days, $10. for a movie ticket that'll entertain you for 90 minutes, or $10. for dinner or 2 sandwiches from Subway. So I think $10 for a cd that might only have a couple great songs on it is pretty acceptable, because you're probably going to listen to those couple songs a whole bunch of times.

Especially nowadays where you can use YouTube as a sampler. If there's a band you're interested in, listen to them on YouTube. If you find you keep going back and playing the same song for awhile,....buy the cd and not the single.

I'm very sad to see cd's disappearing because I think owning the actual cd and not an mp3 is a hell of a lot cooler right?

It's nice to point at a stack of cd's and say, "that's my music collection!" Instead of pointing at an ipod or your cell phone and saying, "that's my music collection."

Matter of fact,....that's actually kind of lame.

Give me back the days where people had a crate of albums in their basement and when they played the record through some nice big speakers it actually sounded like there was a band in the room!

(But that's another subject, lol.)