MTV segment from the 80's about the dramatic decline of vinyl.

Thought some of you might find this interesting:

 

Days of mass insanity... A shameful page in the history of audio!

 

Mass insanity? How do you mean?

 

I mean the whole mankind was brainwashed to believe for years that CDs sound better and millions of people dumped their entire collections.

 

Nobody was brainwashed. Most people thought CD's sounded better, period. And I reckon most people still do.

 

I still own all of my vinyl, dating from early 70s onwards, and I invited friends during the CD buying decadence to give me their LPs if they wished. A number did, glad to have more room for their growing CD collections. I, meanwhile, found room for both.

 

It's interesting that in 1988 the king of all audio formats is actually the cassette.. such a dramatic growth between 1983 and 1988.

 

I've never shed a tear for vinyl.

 

So actually the cassette killed vinyl, and then the CD killed the cassette, which is a positive thing after all.

 

Darryl

 

In 1993? Wow! And did Dave Mustaine say a totally stupid thing or what?

 

Yes, Dave must be kicking himself that he said that!

 

Now if there was only a segment from 90s about the dramatic decline of music videos on MTV.

 

Yes, basically. I remember way before CD was even introduced watching "Late night with David Letterman", and letterman stating that vinyl records were "passé", and that Cassette tape was the new thing.

I resisted cassette tapes for a long time. After all, why should I pay a dollar more for the cassette version of the album, when I could buy the record and make as many copies on tape as I wanted to? I guess there was certainly wisdom in that thinking.

But a friend of mine had joined the Columbia tape club, and had quite a nice collection of cassettes going. I would go on and on about how records were better, but I secretly admired his tape collection (though I never admitted that to HIM!)

Eventually, I switched over to cassettes and stopped buying records altogether. Then, when CD came out, I resisted them for a while as well, but once I got my first CD player (huge discount, on sale, 1985) nothing else would do: I had to have everything on CD (and I guess I still do... or a CDR if all I can buy is MP3's)

 

What's even more stupid is the guy who says "144,000 samples a second sounds like a lot - but that's nothing!"

Uh... wrong. At 144,000 samples per second, rest assured that you're not missing a thing. Their "digital step graph" is flawed as is the entire video......

 

I love Dave Mustaine

 

Looks like vinyl and it's proponents are having the last laugh, as it turned out they should've been more worried about the dramatic decline of MTV and pop music in general, for which they are in very large part at fault.

 

MTV really lost it's way. As usual, it was the pencil-pushers I reckon. It happened because they tried a few shows, the shows were very successful and garnered more ratings than the music videos, they were able to charge more for advertising, more shows were ordered, less music videos were shown, it was a vicious cycle, and MTV ceased to exist as we knew it.

 

Nah, more like a "nervous chuckle"

 

Does Dave Mustaine say anything but stupid things?

 

Digital and CD recordings have a similar problem like vinyl records. Mastering matters a lot. Having said that, a properly mastered cd is not that much cheaper then a record.

This video makes a lot of sense to me, I only wish I heard it earlier in my life.

To be honest, I love the sound on a record. Nothing like it but I won't debate the sonic merits. It's been done too much here.

I love records because they have slowed me down. They solved my consumerism. It is about the music again. I now own jazz records, classical records, and am discovering artists I never listened to before. Including bob dylan. Even I find that incredible to imagine.

I listen less because I need proper time away from life to enjoy it. Records force me to be in the same place all the time. I won't even mention the beauty of the art of the jacket.

Music is no longer background static to my life.

 

What's really interesting is near the end when the Tower Records guy says he fears that most niche music will simply go OOP and never make the transition to digital. That didn't end up being true, thankfully. Yeah really obscure stuff is still available only on its original format, but almost everything anyone could want eventually made it to a digital format.

Interesting to look back to that era. I'm very happy the LP survived and is making a comeback.

dan c

 

I don't really care what mtv has to say about anything. I'm 39, been buying vinyl NON-STOP since I was 3. It never died for me.
I'm SICK of these threads that are created to start the argument between digital and analog. Enough already.

 

Exactly, well said. I remember in my teens there was that in between period where I would want to get into something...I'll use an example "Memo From Turner" soundtrack. It was not available on CD and I was only able to hunt down a copy badly worn LP at a grungy little record store in my hometown (Memphis).

By the late 1990's "most" titles had made the leap to CD and in some cases were starting to be issued over and over and over again. And by the early 2000's of course digital music stores online sprang up to succeed the CD as the major consumption format for the masses.

If anything, things are better now than ever. There are niche record stores to cater to those of us that still treasure the experience of going in a place and buying an LP or CD. And there are limitless options online; indeed now artists can produce and sell themselves without needing major distribution. All you need is a little word of mouth, a YouTube channel and a mechanism to sell your product either digitally or physically; some artists even forego usint Apple/iTunes choosing to simple DIY.

Really, the future's so bright, you got to wear shades.

 

Oh, look! MTV in the 80's predicted the End of Vinyl - and it didn't happen!

Amen.