HOT
Unwanted Free Music Infuriates
Judging by comments from many iTunes users, getting a free, easy-to-delete album from U2 is the worst thing to ever happen to music and computers. When it was revealed during the new iPhone announcement that the band’s new
Spam
Songs of Innocence would be placed in all iTunes users’ libraries, those who didn’t want it whined that it was invasive. You know the band isn't actually in your computer, watching you get dressed in the morning or something, right? The U2 hatred seems especially misplaced; as the band’s manager, referencing the big payday for the group, told The New York Times , “This is a gift from Apple to their customers. They bought it and they are giving it away.” As a STFU response, Apple launched a web page to let users delete the album instantly.
WARM
The Fade Out of Fade Outs
Slate recently did an interesting report about a major change in music that you probably didn’t even notice — the death of the “fade out.” Like an audio version of a movie’s “fade to black” ending, fade outs were once prominently used at the end of songs as a creative alternative to the “cold stop.” The article presents the history of the fade out and suggests that it may have caught on as an artistic choice because it gave the sense that the song is infinite. As for why the technique is being used less and less, the author offers some interesting theories, including society’s need for closure, trendiness, easy studio technology or, most likely, our current “skip culture” (as Cincinnati native and co-author of Carlos Santana’s huge hit “Smooth,” Itaal Shur, calls it), in which our need for instant gratification/lack of patience makes us click to the next track once a song has peaked.
COLD
Titans Need a Better DJ?
After dealing with major backlash following domestic violence and child abuse incidents involving its players, the NFL is undoubtedly watching its every step carefully to make sure the league, teams and players do nothing that could even be construed as inappropriate. But it missed one. Before the Tennessee Titans’ recent game, the music blared over the field’s PA included “Fight Night,” a track by Hip Hop group Migos that features the lines, “Beat it with the left, beat it with the right/Im’a knock the pussy out like fight night” (it was at least the radio version with the “p-word” censored). Easy mistake? A leftover from previous weeks’ pre-game playlists? Nope. A Titans official told ESPN the team reviews every song played on game days. Some free advice for the NFL: Don’t let Chris Brown or Gary Glitter perform at the Super Bowl halftime show.
