Archive for January 25th, 2009
Distorted Music Makes Honorary Oxymoron
I don’t know how old you are, but I’m like three hundred and twenty seven. One thing I know for sure is that this next statement has nothing to do with age. Distorted music is the opposite of every good thing about music.
(You know I’m going to throw out my disclaimer right?) When I say distorted music, I’m not talking about music that has a guitar riff being played by a guy with a distortion pedal, nor am I referring to some kind of avant-garde, punk, heavy metal, skaw, jazz fusion from Detroit, (which I’m a huge fan of by the way). This also has nothing to with volume level, (directly). I’m talking about music being played in direct violation of the recommended physical limits of the equipment that it’s being played through.
For example, the hippies playing Hacky Sack in the park with their jam box, blaring Grateful Dead through twenty year old, pot smoke covered speakers that sound like wet cardboard is a classic. The redneck party cranking Skynard with one speaker, that’s lost the woofer, lying sideways on the porch of the trailer home is another good one. Then there’s the ’96 Bonneville with duct taped bumper, extensive body damage and three tire “donuts” rollin’ down the street, kickin’ the bass so hard that it’s leaving a trail of nuts and bolts behind it. Recently, there’s the MP3, ear bud people with the music bouncing off their mushy brains and slipping out the side of there ears. All of these are great illustrations of distorted music.
The whole point of listening to music is to enjoy it and when the speakers are cracking, smoking, vibrating and ripping apart you’ve lost the whole reason to listen. Loud music is fun, (occasionally) but you need to have the system to support it. Still, your level of enjoyment increases when the decibel meter is at a pleasurable mark. If you’ve ever listened to a phonograph record on a high fidelity sound system, you know that high quality equipment really makes a difference.
How many John Cusack movies can you find in the above?
Egg On!
Ramblin’ Rooster
