The Loudness Wars -or- Death Magnet: How I Learned to Stop Hearing Anything

The following are Parts I & II of a video editorial on the so-called Loudness Wars—an escalating practice of pumping amplitude levels in sound recordings to the limits of digital media in such a way that induces distortion. Wikipedia’s entry on the subject may give you some useful background on the subject prior to viewing [...]

Technology and the Music Industry: Part Two – Media Going Social

In 1996, I wrote a paper on internet-based music distribution, which I saw as the inevitable evolution of the recording industry. Unfortunately, not many record labels saw it that way at the time, but Apple was already making plans. The roadmap toward a digital appliance-based approach to computing began here. Upon Steve Jobs’ return to [...]

When You’re Strange

Unquestionably, The Doors have influenced countless rock bands. As much as the director, Tom DiCillo, attempts to convince us of Jim Morrison’s calculated genius in a film comprised entirely of archival footage, it becomes evident that the iconic lead vocalist is anything but Machiavellian—let alone organized in his thoughts. Instead, whether intended or not, this [...]

A Decade in Music (1969-1979) – Part I: Get Back

From 1977, several memories converge into one of the greatest decades of the five I have lived through. While George Lucas put me to sleep with his laboriously-written, but visually groundbreaking, Star Wars, my babysitting cousin could only rock me to sleep with music. I had Steve Miller Band, Kiss, Cheap Trick, Nazareth and Heart [...]

The Runaways

Blood on the pavement—the opening shot—sets the tone for Floria Sigismondi’s biopic of the brief spark in the latter-70′s rock scene that was The Runaways. The boilerplate plot applies: humble origins, creepy producer giving them their first break, drugs, the big tour, the fall and the split. However, for her first feature, the Italian-born Ms. [...]