Life Choice: Live Music vs. Recorded Music

[Frank Decent]

You people are all insane.

Allow me to translate to PRF:

Goat is a really great record. Probably the best record by a band that has put out some awesome records. Top 10 record for me for sure.

The Jesus Lizard live, even on their third drummer, in a stupid bar, weeks from hanging it up, was better.

This should be self evident. You guys have been to a rock show, right?

This. Fuck man, I love listening to my records. I love slipping into a hot bath at midnight, with some giant headphones, a donut pole, a Heineken, a bag of Doritos, my shame, and a bunch of my favorite albums. I'll do that every day I can, and it'll rule the fuck.

But it's still tame compared to going out, meeting some friends, or cool strangers and seeing a band blow my fucking brains out. Nothing is ever going to beat that.
There is something very powerful about community. There is potential. Live music is communal. Shit can happen. You can have a weird record listening party, or whatever. Maybe everyone dresses up in white robes. You light candles and all sit in a circle around one speaker, staring at it. But It will never have the potential of a live event because the record is always the same. Shows have the power of unpredictability. A band has the power to play for a whole month, playing different songs every night. I know that doesn't happen, but it's completely possible. In fact, Jazz does that. Bad example. But you could do that. You could get really good at it. You could make it not be a suck shit wank fest, but a truly creative, expressive endeavor. That would be awesome. Imagine; Night after night, people hanging out in the local club, playing different, cool wacky shit. Giving everything they have and being as passionate as they can because it's all you have. That would be awesome.
My comparison is biased because I love live music more than anything, at least when it's good. But there is no reason why the above scenario couldn't and shouldn't take place.
A record, like a photograph, could never ever do that.

[erskine]

i'm really surprised recorded music is coming out ahead. that's my choice too, but i always hear people say "oh, it's all about the live music, the momentum of it can't be emulated on record" etc.

I've tried many times to experience this "ultimate thrill" that live music is supposed to be.
Didn't work.

In retrospect, I think going to a gig is a good opportunity for teenagers to get drunk without being pissed by the parents.
Maybe that's the thrill.

[lemur68]

Choosing only live music means depending on things happening externally.

Records are for those times a band can't play when it's convenient for you. Which is 99.9-repeating percent of the time.

[Frank Decent]

Choosing only live music means depending on things happening externally.

Records are for those times a band can't play when it's convenient for you. Which is 99.9-repeating percent of the time.

Are you saying it's all that hard to see bands? I don't think so. Records are convenient, sure. They make it easier for me to take the band home and listen to them in my bedroom. Plus there's no odor. But, I don't think it would be hard to find live music if records didn't exist. It'd probably be easier.

[lemur68]

Choosing only live music means depending on things happening externally.

Records are for those times a band can't play when it's convenient for you. Which is 99.9-repeating percent of the time.

Are you saying it's all that hard to see bands?

It's hard to see bands worth seeing. As much as you would want to see them anyway.

[Frank Decent]

Choosing only live music means depending on things happening externally.

Records are for those times a band can't play when it's convenient for you. Which is 99.9-repeating percent of the time.

Are you saying it's all that hard to see bands?

It's hard to see bands worth seeing. As much as you would want to see them anyway.

That's beside the point. That's the whole point of starting a band. I guess, my problem with agreeing with you has to do that I'm not a passive listener. I participate, so maybe live music is more valuable to me.
Imagine this; there is no way to record music. No one has ever had a record. To this day, one can only experience live music. I think that would drive people to make better music.

[The MayorofRockNRoll]

Critics at the very outset decried the recording of music, as something that takes away from the experience of seeing it performed.

I think there's something more mysterious and romantic about the band so many people have seen but there's no trace of.

Records, well, for the longest time, it seemed like their sound was determined by the available technology at hand. This affects, I think, not only how a record dates, but the actual conveyance of the band's songwriting, playing and general aesthetic.

I'm thinking about this now, because I'm thinking about how The Sin City Disciples were so good live, they could win any audience, but their album is so bad. And I think it's because the guy recording it was like, "this is my chance to make a record that'll land me work with bigger bands and labels, etc. etc." So he glossed up and compressed material that really didn't call for it.

So live is my choice, because that's the event.

My waffle is because, I think, if somebody's really crafted a song, you can really only process that through individual repeated listening. Also, because I think there are records that were made for the sake of recording, and those can be good.

[ergo space pig]

both? they're two completely different things. recorded music is more like a movie or a "sound painting", and live music is about the energy of the moment. sometimes you want to sit in and read a book, sometimes you want to dance. i can't see giving one up for the other. i have sadly seen very little live music lately, though. i guess i prefer sitting in and listening to a record, a majority of the time.

[ogpuprison]

Live music was alright 10-15 years ago but what with the smoking ban and the cost of beers in a venue, it's just a load of shite. And i'm not interested in seeing any band in a fucking huge auditorium - Black Sabbath played some huge place in brum last week - wasn't tempted in the slightest. Tickets for £50-£150? Fuck that noise.
Maybe at a niche outdoor festival, or some low-key event, but live gigs these days are such a soulsucked sanitised experience, I've given up. And that's the way it should be. The young 'uns don't want 40 year old cunts at shows so it's best if I stay at home.
Also living in a small town with very few venues doesn't help, so maybe I've just gotten lazy - but when I was younger, living in Birmingham/London/manchester, I was going to gigs about 5 times a month, year in, year out.
Playing music live though - yeah i want a bit of that now and again

[jimmy two hands]

Do the rules allow that we could reanimate the corpses of Hank Williams Sr., Joey, Johnny, & Dee Dee Ramone, James Brown, Earl Scruggs, etc.?

[enframed]

So instead of "live music" it's "undead music?" Nah, the experience of a physical body playing music in real time for an audience I think we can all agree would constitute a "live music" experience. The hologram, as suggested by Dave, may be allowable, so long as they play to a record.

[Superking]

Easiest choice ever (for a hermit like me): Recorded Music!

Seems insane not to make that choice here.

It's like saying:

Pick one: you can hear spoken-word performances, or have access to and read any book ever published.

As I said, I'm kind of a hermit, so I'm not always seeing live music. But records, recorded music, has meant so much more to me than the live music I've seen. Occasionally, you see The Greatest Show Ever, sometimed accidentally, and it's wonderful... But I'm not trading in the whole of recorded music for that chance.

[AnthonyVillalobos]

Easiest choice ever (for a hermit like me): Recorded Music!

Seems insane not to make that choice here.

It's like saying:

Pick one: you can hear spoken-word performances, or have access to and read any book ever published.

As I said, I'm kind of a hermit, so I'm not always seeing live music. But records, recorded music, has meant so much more to me than the live music I've seen. Occasionally, you see The Greatest Show Ever, sometimed accidentally, and it's wonderful... But I'm not trading in the whole of recorded music for that chance.

+1

[The MayorofRockNRoll]

Okay, I have a new answer:

Live music, but only by cover bands.

I should get paid lots of money just to sit around and have great ideas.

[Bill Swansea]

Ideally bands would come to my house to play for just me.

[The MayorofRockNRoll]

Ideally bands would come to my house to play for just me.

If only you'd donated a couple of K to Kevin Second's Van kickstarter campaign, you coulda had Kevin Seconds come to your house to perform. Maybe you could request he not play 7 Seconds songs but, like, Murder Junkies or Mentors or something.

[P.J. Craven]

I suppose there's other ways for me not to live hermetically sealed. Records!

[flyinghouses]

I recently bought Miracle Legion's GLAD record, thinking the B sides were songs I already had on another record, the A side being brand new to me. I am listening to it now, and it turns out the B sides are all live versions. So far I prefer the B side

[jimmy two hands]

Would going to see a DJ count as recorded or live? Not that I want to go see a DJ "play" a "show" ever.

[The MayorofRockNRoll]

Would going to see a DJ count as recorded or live? Not that I want to go see a DJ "play" a "show" ever.

what if it's a laptop dj?