Comments on: The Art of Noise

By: Ross O

Ross O — Sat, 19 Jul 2008 04:04:49 +0000

Thanks Jason.

Your journey here reminded me of a similar journey that I had, together with my spouse, with Depeche Mode.

By: Peter Hirschberg

Peter Hirschberg — Sun, 13 Jul 2008 07:46:51 +0000

I love Art of Noise!

By: Herr Doktor Professor Deth Vegetable

Herr Doktor Professor Deth Vegetable — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 00:50:18 +0000

I remember spending the summer of 1987 trying to find someone, anyone, to sell me a Camper Van Beethoven tape. Eventually I ended up ordering it from the one and only record store in the town I lived in, and waiting eagerly for about three weeks for it to arrive.

By: Flack

Flack — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 00:26:45 +0000

It really was different, being a fan of music “back then.” When I was fourteen I got a job at a local concession stand that paid a lot more than any fourteen-year-old should be making. Once a week I would take my concession stand earnings and ride my motorcycle down to either Sound Warehouse, Rainbow Records or Midnight Music. With cash in hand I’d flip through the stacks of cassette tapes, literally gambling with my money based on a band’s name or their artwork. Sometimes it paid off; other times I’d end up with a $10 dud.

The best feeling in the world was discovering a new band. In the early days, a spin on the radio or a video on MTV was often enough to get me to drop some cash on an album and check out a band. I’d thumb through music magazines, making lists of albums to buy based on the bands featured on the t-shirts my favorite bands were photographed wearing. Later, shows like Headbanger’s Ball and Metal Shop featured metal bands both big and small.

I’m not sure kids do “tape trading” anymore — if they do I don’t suppose it’s in the literal, physical sense. I remember in seventh grade I spent the night with a kid named Ross. I brought my Fat Boys albums (yes, vinyl) and he had a couple of Run DMC records. We spent the night listening to the records and dubbing ours onto tape for the other one (most would say I got the better end of that deal). Yes, I listened to metal. I also listened to rap. I also listened to alternative. I also listened to “pop,” if you want to call that a category as well. I had no problem going from the Beatles to Beastie Boys, Fat Boys to Faith no More and from Duran Duran to Depeche Mode to Danzig. To me good music was good music, categories be damned.

And once you found one of these bands … my god, there was so much to take in. With each paycheck came more albums, VHS concert releases and more. There were t-shirts, there were posters, there were magazines … none of it free. I felt more strongly about music back then than I do today; perhaps it’s because I had as much financially invested in the bands as I did emotionally. Did I like Motley Crue? You bet I did — I had a couple of their albums on vinyl, bought the first five or so on cassette (replacing the vinyl), rebought some of the tapes when the sun warped them after leaving them on my dash, and eventually replaced them all on CD. That doesn’t count the concert tickets, t-shirts, posters, and videos. I may have single-handedly funded their drug habits for at least a day — I’m such an enabler.

So yeah, I was there too — signing up for the Columbia House tape club just to get 11 new albums for a penny, trading cassette tapes among friends and paying money to go see bands I’d never heard of. I’m not sure if it was the era or my age, but times were certainly different back then.

By: Josef Kenny

Josef Kenny — Sat, 28 Jun 2008 15:01:10 +0000

Jason – I had no idea you were into the Art of Noise! I discovered them a few years back and I have to say they are probably my favorite band. The use of sampling, the sonic collage, the entire LOOK of the band – a band that seamlessly integrated art and collage and an insane amount of musical inspiration really appeals to me personally. As a musician myself I am hugely inspired by them and their legendary use of the Fairlight CMI (or should that be plural? I heard they had 3 onstage once). As a 15 year old who has never owned a record player and was obviously not alive at the time they were most famous, I have no picture disks, no Paranoimia ‘89, but I do have the experience of the sheer amount of creativity they embellished their albums with; the experimentation and uniqueness that make them a cult favorite. I recently noticed the existence of and picked up ‘And What Have You Done With My Body, God?’, which was like a dream come true – bits and pieces of unfinished tracks and various versions of old favorites, such as the many evolutionary stages of Close to the Edit and the hidden multitrack parts of Moments in Love. This is a band that will have undoubtedly shaped me as a musician if it has not shaped me as a person and reading your entry today made my day. Thanks.