#1 album of the year - that thing nobody wanted in their iTunes.There was no bigger album of 2014 – in terms of surprise, generosity and controversy. Songs of Innocence is also the rebirth of the year. Bono, the Edge, Adam Clayton and Larry Mullen Jr. put their lives on the line: giving away 11 songs of guitar rapture and frank, emotional tales of how they became a band out of the rough streets and spiritual ferment of Seventies Dublin.
These are not artistic categories. And if they are, they're auxiliary to things such as composition, melody, production, etc... and yet it wins album of the year. Bill Gates could release an hour long record of him imitating a screamo band and upload it to every Windows phone, and since it would be the most surprising, controversial, and generous thing (hell, he could still do it in December and come-from-behind win 2014), it could win along the same guidelines, no?There was no bigger album of 2014 – in terms of surprise, generosity and controversy.
Two thoughts - 1. When I got down to #2 and saw it was Springsteen I began looking over my shoulder for a Dylan album. Didn't think he'd put one out in 2014, but with RS you're never safe. Maybe a live album? A compilation? Guest appearance? A CD release of an award ceremony speech? Instead, of course, it was Bono. 2. I couldn't believe how many people spent actual time in their actual lives complaining about free music.
ORLY? We're adrift in a sea of free music. Spotify, SoundCloud, Youtube. And that's the stuff you opt into. Muzak blaring from the Abercrombie, One Direction with your Pepsi, ringtones on the bus, a million jingles selling a million things you neither want nor need. Generations were defined by their music collections. Those albums in the rack, those CDs in the stack, that was you. And while we're slouching towards a Spotify list defining who and what we are, there remains something sacred about that carefully curated collection of cuts that you permit into your pocket. That shit is yours, man. Yeah, other people listen to Taylor Swift. Yeah, other people even listen to Taylor Swift ironically. But not that many people listen to Taylor Swift ironically and that Fleet Foxes EP that your only cool cousin downloaded for you. Your choice in music is emblematic of your choice in everything and all of a sudden, Apple jammed a steaming bolus of geezer rock down into your goddamn DNA. The actual value of music is effectively nil. Any premium service will permit you to dip into the limitless well for pennies a day. I think I torrented 90GB worth of flac files during the recent what freeleech. But the shit I torrented? I torrented it on purpose. Except for, well, that Frost in Norway: Is not the same as Frost in Hungary.I couldn't believe how many people spent actual time in their actual lives complaining about free music.
Okay, point conceded. They were complaining about the small invasion of privacy. And probably the potential for future, larger invasions. But really in the end it's a goddamned U2 album. They used to be a good band! People were talking about dropping Apple. Dropping Apple. That's prioritizing your head straight into your own ass, right there. I don't know, man, my ipod's broken. Hasn't talked to the cloud in like a year and a half. I found about that shit on facebook. Then I snatched the album off what, probably.
Sayre's Law, dude. The less it matters the more pissy people get about it. Last U2 album I listened to was Achtung Baby. Still a damn fine album. So when Apple says "have a free U2 album!" I'm like, "okay." It actually took me 2 days to download it, about half an hour of puttering. And then I was like "...huh."