Editorial note: Opinions expressed here are solely those of the blogger
The author Stephen King celebrated his 73rd birthday last week. He’s someone I’ve long admired and who has inspired me in both the way he works and lives. Somehow Stephen King got me thinking about the band Blue Öyster Cult. Stephen King supposedly is one of, if not the most renowned fans of the band, beyond members of Metallica.
A few years back I had I wanted to listen to the band but the only songs of theirs I knew – “Don’t Fear the Reaper” and “Burnin’ for You,” were seared into my brain after hearing them countless times on the radio. So at the time I Googled “best Blue Öyster Cult albums,” created a Spotify playlist based on my findings and hoped for the best.
The next morning I set out on my run with a sense of First World trepidation. After all, how was I supposed to find my exercise groove if I wasn’t familiar with the songs? What if the songs sucked?
They didn’t. While not all the songs I heard were great, most were definitely well above average and some, including “Career of Evil” and “Dominance and Submission” off the 1974 album Secret Treaties, kicked serious butt. But most importantly, I was able, during my roughly 40-minute workout, to actually experience a band. I gained a sense of the band’s musicianship and lyrical writing; their unfashionable yet durable staying power. And I did it without relying on the singles that had been spoon fed to me for all these years.
Now I certainly understand the importance of singles in the music industry; even today, after the whole industry has changed. A band needs to get noticed. And having a catchy song (or ideally a few) in its arsenal certainly helps. Yet I’ve often believed that a band’s best work is overlooked when most consumers, fans and casual listeners alike, focus on the singles and give the albums themselves short shrift. After all, listening to singles is easy; it doesn’t require much investment. No harm, no foul.
But, and I don’t want to sound like an old fart, but our focus on singles – another way of looking at a singular focus, I suppose, has extended into almost all aspects of our culture and, I believe, hinders, more than it helps us. The irony is that we can get any piece of creative output – book, film, album in one click. But do we really take the time to appreciate any of it.
I see it every night with our two teenage kids when we watch television. They’ll literally exhale a sigh of relief when they realize a show is only 20 minutes but also groan and roll their eyes, if, G-d forbid, it’s over an hour. My wife Wendy and I constantly discuss movies from our formative years – Heathers, Stand by Me and The Karate Kid have all come up recently, and wonder aloud if we should screen them for the kids. But then we immediately dismiss the idea, saying “Nope, too slow, too talky, but today’s standards.”
But I also know how it works. To quote someone who knows a little something about albums, Bruce Springsteen, “Everything dies, baby; that’s a fact. But everything that dies someday comes back.” Perhaps a silver lining of COVID-19, of constantly having to live with delay, uncertainty, will make us view time in a different way – what a gift it is to possess it and consider creative ways to use it.
Can’t blame a guy for hoping.
shishkabobgirldad 