Modern thinking has led to debates and revisionism over the effect of tracks like "Electioneering" and "Fitter Happier" on OK Computer's importance, as if removing "Turd on the Run" and "Pet Sounds" would somehow make Exile on Main Street and Pet Sounds five-and-a-half-star albums. Which is why OK Computer, and it's Best Albums Ever companion Loveless, eternally top these polls: somehow we doubt we'll ever see their like again. The resurgence, and arguable final entrenchment, of manufactured Pop Stars by their handlers over supposedly more artistic fare- and more importantly the acceptance of such common pleasures by critics- razed the significance of the complete album. "Treefingers" and "Hunting Bears" were torn apart, not a piece of a 60 minute or so record, but as worthwhile 34-minute download times (this, remember, was right before DSL/Cable). Radiohead's Kid Aand Amnesiac were shallowly criticized as B-side collections because they were downloaded and assembled as such on home computers. The rise of MP3 technology and file downloading returned pop music consumption to collective pre-Beatles mindset, where songs are judged as singles. The end of the 90s will be seen as the end of the album.
0 kommentar(er)
