We live in a glorious age. The technology we have today is amazing. Not only do we have phones that are also our calendars, email boxes, movie theaters, and video game arcades but we can RECORD to them as well with companies putting out amplifier simulation software for your phone and a cord to connect your guitar to said phone and even a headphone jack so you can hear what you sound like.
We also have MP3 players which is probably one of my most favorite inventions of all time. I can tote around my entire CD collection and listen to whatever I want, whenever I want, WHEREVER I want. Because of this and online music services, CDs are bordering on the obsolete (but are still clung to because 1) there’s no denying that we own them and can do whatever we want with them and 2) it’s a physical thing which is important when you’re spending money).
I don’t think CDs are going to die anytime soon though. Not only for the reasons above but because it’s also easier to press a bunch of CDs and sell them out of your trunk or off of a table at a gig than it is getting the music approved by a label of some kind and then approved for an online music retailer like iTunes.
One thing about CDs DOES need to die though.
The hidden track.
What a worthless thing. I have never seen the point of them. I seriously doubt the band or artist is really fooling the label into releasing something that they normally wouldn’t approve of. If it’s an issue of hiding a song of sensitive material from over-protective parents, it’s just as easy to name the song something inconspicuous.
These tracks come in two varieties: You have the track that is a stand-alone track, say, track 99 of a CD. If you must include a hidden track, this is the preferable way to go. The reason is when I rip the CD to my iTunes account I can get rid of all the tracks filled with a few seconds of silence and make it seem like that last track is worth actually including on the album. It’s way better than the other option which is putting an indeterminate amount of time between the last track and the hidden track.
I’ve been thinking about the options regarding why someone would want to do this. If a song isn’t of high enough quality to include on the album, it seems kind of silly to include it anyway and just not give it a name as if it’s not good enough for one. If it’s not good enough for a name, perhaps it’s not good enough for an album.
Most times the hidden tracks aren’t that great and I end up not importing those like I do the other tracks and I call it good but when the track is at the back end of the last song, I’m kind of stuck with it aren’t I? It’s like the band is saying “this song isn’t good enough for a name or a track of its own but it’s too good for you to just not include it on your iPod without the last song on the album.”
And that seems a little hypocritical.
The really bad part is when the last official track isn’t that great but the hidden track IS.
My point of all this is that hidden tracks are useless and obsolete if they EVER had a purpose in the first place. I don’t see the point of them, but perhaps I’m missing something (and if I am, please let me know). If you MUST include a hidden track on your album though, at least give it the dignity of having its own track. Maybe it WASN’T good enough for the album. Making it its own track will let the listeners be able to decide just how valuable it is to them.
-Pappy
2 comments:
Hidden tracks can be annoying and are often not worth the hassle. The latest Prince album has loads of empty tracks before the last song. Others just have a long silence in the last track. Those are more annoying. I've got a few examples of that. In some cases I've edited the track.
You say it's a hassle to get tracks on-line for download, but sites like SoundCloud and BandCamp seem to make it easy. I know several people making good money on the latter, even when they have the option to download for free. I don't generally use iTunes as it doesn't work on Linux without some messing around.
Amazing how a different opinion can make you reconsider... I just love hidden tracks on CDs and they are, for me, one of the additional pleasures of buying a hard copy. I've always looked on them as an extra little gift from the artist. And now I've reconsidered... I still think the same: They're unfailingly a good idea!
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