There are certain things that I realize now which my kids will never have the joy of doing.
...And fun with audio is something that is going to be lost forever...
When I was about 11 or 12, I used to sit in my room with my friends and we would make our own radio show using a boombox and a cassette tape. I was "DJ Lion-O" (a quality "Thundercats" tribute, I must say), and my friend John was "John. He was the creative one of the bunch. It was a "shock Jock" show, along the lines of Howard Stern or Don Imus. We would tackle the tough issues like "Why are sixth graders cooler than fifth graders?" After many calls from listeners (our best voice talent abilities spoken through a handkerchief to make it sound muffled, as if we were actually calling on the phone line), we concluded that it was simply because sixth graders knew exactly what was not to be touched in MC Hammer's "U Can't Touch This." And in between these debates, we would plug in music from edgy artists like Weird Al Yankovich and DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince. And for the rest of the day, we would sit and replay it over and over, laughing at ourselves and critiquing our performances.
As I got older, music became more and more important to me. When I was 15, I started listening to Leonard Cohen, Nirvana and Velvet Underground. I became that "fan" from the song "Guitar Man" ("...and you like to sing along, and you listen for the meaning in each and every song"). But internet downloads were something of the future, only accessible to guys like Johnny Lee Miller in "Hackers." So, my evenings were spent in my room with a boombox and a cassette tape listening to the local college radio station. With my finger constantly atop the REC button, I awaited in great anticipation for the next song. I had many tapes that were littered with the DJ's voice at the beginning instrumental lead in or the fade out on the back end. Even to this day, when I sing along to "Mr. Self Destruct," I end the song by saying, "What a lovely romantic song for Valentine's Day..." Because, all I had heard in my youth was "Kermit the Hog" commenting on his special selection for the holiday during his afternoon show.
Ultimately, most of these tapes were destroyed by cheap tape decks in my vehicles. I used to keep a pencil in the console of my car just to spin the spokes to reset the tape after my cheap Sylvania head unit would consume most of them. Nada Surf's "Popular" will forever be garbled in my mind during the middle speech about the time limits for going steady.
And what better way to express your feelings during the courting process of young love than with a mix tape? How do kids do it now? Email a playlist? There's no time involved! How will that girl know how you care if you haven't spent an entire weekend transferring every sappy love song from one cassette to another? You were able to proclaim "Au contraire, Meatloaf! I WOULD do anything for love, including that! If 'that' is admitting to a girl that you know not one, but three Air Supply songs..."
So, just remember as your kids get older: it's not their fault they have no creativity. Everything has become so easy and user-friendly that it has sucked dry the processes of actually creating.
...And fun with audio is something that is going to be lost forever...
When I was about 11 or 12, I used to sit in my room with my friends and we would make our own radio show using a boombox and a cassette tape. I was "DJ Lion-O" (a quality "Thundercats" tribute, I must say), and my friend John was "John. He was the creative one of the bunch. It was a "shock Jock" show, along the lines of Howard Stern or Don Imus. We would tackle the tough issues like "Why are sixth graders cooler than fifth graders?" After many calls from listeners (our best voice talent abilities spoken through a handkerchief to make it sound muffled, as if we were actually calling on the phone line), we concluded that it was simply because sixth graders knew exactly what was not to be touched in MC Hammer's "U Can't Touch This." And in between these debates, we would plug in music from edgy artists like Weird Al Yankovich and DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince. And for the rest of the day, we would sit and replay it over and over, laughing at ourselves and critiquing our performances.
As I got older, music became more and more important to me. When I was 15, I started listening to Leonard Cohen, Nirvana and Velvet Underground. I became that "fan" from the song "Guitar Man" ("...and you like to sing along, and you listen for the meaning in each and every song"). But internet downloads were something of the future, only accessible to guys like Johnny Lee Miller in "Hackers." So, my evenings were spent in my room with a boombox and a cassette tape listening to the local college radio station. With my finger constantly atop the REC button, I awaited in great anticipation for the next song. I had many tapes that were littered with the DJ's voice at the beginning instrumental lead in or the fade out on the back end. Even to this day, when I sing along to "Mr. Self Destruct," I end the song by saying, "What a lovely romantic song for Valentine's Day..." Because, all I had heard in my youth was "Kermit the Hog" commenting on his special selection for the holiday during his afternoon show.
Ultimately, most of these tapes were destroyed by cheap tape decks in my vehicles. I used to keep a pencil in the console of my car just to spin the spokes to reset the tape after my cheap Sylvania head unit would consume most of them. Nada Surf's "Popular" will forever be garbled in my mind during the middle speech about the time limits for going steady.
And what better way to express your feelings during the courting process of young love than with a mix tape? How do kids do it now? Email a playlist? There's no time involved! How will that girl know how you care if you haven't spent an entire weekend transferring every sappy love song from one cassette to another? You were able to proclaim "Au contraire, Meatloaf! I WOULD do anything for love, including that! If 'that' is admitting to a girl that you know not one, but three Air Supply songs..."
So, just remember as your kids get older: it's not their fault they have no creativity. Everything has become so easy and user-friendly that it has sucked dry the processes of actually creating.
No comments:
Post a Comment