I often find strange items during my weekend walks. The weekend of 4/20 was no exception. The only thing I can say about this tree is that the homeowner did an absolutely sensational job with his creativity.
For the longest time, I did not have the same affinity for used c.d.'s as I did for used vinyl. I'm not really sure as to why that was, but in the mid 2010's, that philosophy had pretty much changed. One major reason for the change was that my public library started having daily sales of all of used c.d.'s that they didn't sell during their semi-annual used book fair, and being the devotee of my public library at the time, what better way to help out my library (and boost up my collection) than to purchase c.d.s that were priced from $1 to $3.
The other major reason why, was that I was growing increasingly irritated on dropping major dollars on a new c.d. on an artist that I had a passing familiarity with due to their one "known" song, only to have that c.d. not live up to the hype of that one "known" song. So I figured that it would make more sense to drop a $1 on a used c.d. on that same artist to see if anything else of theirs would click for me.
This particular philosophy has worked quite well for me in the preceding 10+ years, especially when I started pairing YouTube with that same philosophy to my music purchases. YouTube has allowed me the luxury of sampling an artist's body of work w/o going broke before deciding to dive headlong into their back catalog (examples being Band Maid {Japanese hard rock}, Jinjer {thrash metal}, Samantha Fish {blues}, Sammy Kershaw {country pop} and The Pretty Reckless {hard rock}).
But man, it was such a very expensive journey that I had to undergo before I could reach that particular philosophical goal. In this particular case, "expensive" means dropping good money on bad music and in quite a few instances, dropping pocket change on bad music.
Let me give you a few examples of the former. The first one was the debut c.d. of one of those hybrid rap/rock (think Linkin Park, only with less talent) called Hollywood Undead. I had first heard of the song "Undead" from their debut c.d. first on radio (heavily censored) and the video maybe on Vimeo. I was intrigued enough to drop $15 (this was back in 2008) on this c.d., and let me tell you, while the initial song was decent, the rest of the c.d. was so bad, so juvenile that I gave up after five songs. The impression I got was that the "group" sounded like a bunch of wannabe suburbanites pretending to be thugs, and in fact it was one of the few times that I actually left a two star review on Amazon about it (before Amazon tightened up their rules on reviews).
This next one, while it technically didn't cost me any money, only a Border's gift card, was a great example of not reading the liner notes on the c.d. case. I had found a 3 c.d. set called "Best of Bluegrass Gospel", and I thought, 'cool this would be a fantastic listening adventure', since I was starting to get into other genres of music. Sadly, this turned out to be simply one of the compilations where all the songs were played by one band, much like those Pickwick Record compilations of the 60's & 70's.
Now, a few examples of dropping pocket change on bad music. To be honest, these don't bother me as much, because I'm of the mindset that my money is going to a very good cause (supporting my public library). Sort of the equivalent of buying a candy bar due to the hype, but ultimately having a "meh" reaction afterwards.
One example of this was a Russian pop duo called t.A.T.u. that were all the rage in 2000/'01 before flaming out (I think). I was intrigued enough to purchase this c.d. and suffice to say, even though I'm open to trying most genres at least once in my lifetime, this was not a good representation of what passed for the pop genre at the time. I think they could be classified as all show (the cover artwork really confirms this) and no substance. Very slickly produced and in a head-to-head battle with Milli Vanilli would come out on top, barely. So, this one cost me the equivalent of a instant lottery ticket with the exact same payout.
Another example of dropping pocket change on bad music, was on a "super group" punk band called Me First & the Gimme Gimmes (original, I know). Now, I had first heard about this band from a former co-worker way back in the late 90's who absolutely raved about them. So I filed this little snippet of info in my memory bank and moved on.
Fast forward about two and a half decades and I found a copy of a c.d. called "Take A Break" by the aforementioned band. So I dropped my hard earned, yet very worn out one dollar bill to buy this c.d. Suffice to say, I only got a few tracks in before giving up. While I'm all for listening to new cover versions of old songs, listening to punk versions of old songs was a whole other level of noise. There are times when certain genres aren't meant to inflict ear noise on old songs from other genres, and this was one of those times. To me, it was very irritating ear noise, because in my opinion, they were inadequate in their execution. I should note that this "band" is still around, sporadically playing gigs throughout the years.
In general, I have a very high threshold when it comes to music and books, and I often try to find the good in whatever book I'm reading/band I'm listening to, especially if it's something that I've got only a passing familiarity with. But there are times when something absolutely doesn't live up to the hype, and you ultimately lament the amount of money that you spent on a mediocre product.
So give my philosophy a shot. Buy used books and c.d.'s, especially from your local public library's semi-annual book fair. It's the best way to check out a writer or artist without breaking the bank, while supporting a worthwhile cause at the same time. And if it doesn't work out, you can take comfort in the knowledge that your money is supporting a cherished institution.
Oh, I remember t.A.T.u -- they had some notoriety for awhile in the LGBTQ+ community but no real talent. The two women singers who formed the group were supposedly lesbians and they relied on that to market themselves, but they were widely regarded in our community as fake lesbians just trying to cash in on pretend queerness.
ReplyDeleteI think I remember hearing/reading about that. That would certainly explain the record label at the time, Interscope, having signed them. Interscope back in the late 90's or so were notorious for signing bands that had some kind of risque/naughty edge to them, and that band would certainly fit that vibe.
DeleteI think in this day and age, you don't need to fake it in order to make it, no matter who you are.