Meme
Those of us who plod along the interwebz have no doubt come across one of the most viral ‘chain letters’ of our time: 15 Albums that Changed the Way You Look at Music. Some other forms have shown up now, such as my current favorite: Your iPod’s First 15 Shuffled Songs. While I have some difficulty really thinking about a whole 15 albums that I’d take to a desert island, it’s dawned on me that this kind of fantastical restriction no longer applies. Who needs 15 albums when I can have 500? Telling people your likes and dislikes is now just the type of thing that allows the socially networked to escape from mediocrity. Don’t get me wrong, I’m a sucker for quoting [drunk people], checking into everywhere just for the ability to say that I can, and tagging people in photos that don’t really want to be tagged. It’s our way of life now. Seriously, think about 2001 for a moment. Pre 9/11, we were living in a society where cell phones were actually called “cell phones,” Dubya had yet to snag that 15% approval rating, an iPodless Apple’s stock was still in the toilet, Amazon and eBay were changing shopping forever, and 24 had it’s debut season. I was 21 and man was it fun. Though, looking back, it’s hard to compare then to now. How did we ever live without constantly gratifying ourselves by endlessly recreating our youth through technology? Hell, how did we ever live without the technology? I can make dinner reservations, buy movie tickets, and check-in for a flight at JFK, all without touching a single piece of paper or god forbid by making a phone call on a fucking telephone. It reminds me of a couple of extensive ad campaigns from AT&T and Ameritech (Now also part of AT&T, formerly SBC) way back in the mid-nineties. They depicted everyday people effortlessly utilizing extraordinary leaps in technology. An earpiece the size of a quarter that makes phone calls, an ATM that instantaneously renews your driver’s license, and a computer tablet that allows you to turn off your house lights, wirelessly, on a train, a thousand miles away. Sound familiar? Christ, half of what we can do now makes that shit seem dated already. Well, save for the ATM, but who needs to go to an ATM anymore when you can deposit checks by taking a fucking picture of them?
Oh, it was Facebook’s character limit on status updates that prompted this rant. Before I forget:
God Moving Over the Face of the Waters – Moby
Renegades of Funk – Rage Against the Machine
War Ensemble – Slayer
Nocturne in E Minor, Opus 72 #1 – Chopin
I Don’t Mind the Pain – Danzig
Feels Just Like it Should – Jamiroquai
We Will Rise – Arch Enemy
The Becoming – Nine Inch Nails
Forty Six & 2 – Tool
Horrorscope – Overkill
Push It – Static-X
Shine – Collective Soul
Holiday – Weezer
Holier Than Thou – Metallica
Urgent – Foreigner
