ARTS
Wednesday, December 7, 1988
The Michigan Daily
BY NABEEL ZUBERI
P ETE Townshend is reported to
have once said that "the single is the
path to spiritual enlightenment."
Well, Pete hasn't done much to en-
lighten me lately, but he has my
eternal respect for this gem of wis-
dom. In the pop playpen, the single
(45 RPM vinyl disc) is the one
STATE OF THE
medium which massages therapeuti-
cally, and can still set the synapses
snapping. The single restores faith in
the possibility of the sublime exist-
ing in recorded popular music, and
sadly it appears to be heading for ex-
tinction.
Singles are immediate. I'm capti-
vated by their emotional grasp. Al-
bums insinuate themselves into my
consciousness, but singles flicker
inside me all at once. They are con-
cerned with crystallizing the particu-
lar moment: a perfect moment, a
singular mood, a unique rhythmic
pattern. Singles are instants of desire,
lack, loss, bliss, of orgasm. Singles
are little deaths.
Apart from the sense of smell,
music incites memory more potently
than anything else. I hear Patsy
Cline sing "Crazy" and it connects
with my own experience. The single
can touch me and touch the masses
because of shared experience; we say:
"I know that situation!" The spark of
recognition in the single binds us
together. Even if the lyric text of the
single does not excite, I am often re-
turned to the time that the single was
around on the jukebox, on the radio,
or on my turntable. When I hear
"Anarchy in the U.K." I recall my
general mental state back in 1977;
when I hear "This Charming Man," I
remember the winter of 1983. The
single can conjure up images in my
past which bear no specific relation
to its text.
The single can provide the ambi-
ence for existential meditation.
Roquentin in Jean Paul Sartre's
Nausea becomes immersed in jazz
blues record played in a cafe at the
critical moment of the novel. Ralph
Dead"
at
48
;
/r.
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time is with us for eternity.
I have to say that a large part of
my ongoing love affair with the sin-
gle is reification, pure and simple.
As Marx pointed out, we have hu-
man relations with inanimate ob-
jects. My commodity fetishism
stretches to caressing the shiny pic-
ture sleeve, tilting the 7" disc to the
light to decipher the scratched com-
ment on the run-off, examining the
color coordination of the label,
memorizing every bit of information
on it, and lovingly wiping away the
dust from the grooves with my lint-
free cloth.
The single is erotic. It's a much
more physical relationship I have
with the single than with an LP,
cassette or compact disc. An LP isn't
as intense, and with cassettes and
CD's you can't see the physical con-
tact between player and played. Call
me kinky, but I find the needle in the
groove is more visceral than the laser
beam on the CD or the cassette tape
rubbing up against the tapehead. But,
unfortunately, the latter formats are
replacing the single in the market-
place.
In the '50s and '60s, the hit single
was the measure of success in the
pop business. Now, a single is
merely used to move as many al-
bums as possible. In the '60s, mav-
ericks like Phil Spector and Berry
Gordy could dedicate their work to
crafting brilliant singles and succeed
S financially because the industry was
still in its infancy, and not the mega-
billion corporate nightmare it has
become. In the '80s, music biz exec-
utives know next to nothing about
and music; they are bankers and accoun-
Us tants with the creative intelligence of
zits. The pursuit of profit through
ical video exposure on MTV and conse-
The quent album sales take precedence.
s in The single today has become merely
d of a promotional device without the in-
:t at dividual artistic presence it once had.
>rd, The record stores in town don't sell
also many singles; some don't stock any-
ysi- thing other than Top 40 material.
the The single has always been
to a democratic. Punk resurrected the for-
, of mat after the wilderness years of the
Page 7
early '70s. Echoing the '50s rock '1'
roll explosion, punk caused hundreds
of independent labels to spring up,
releasing primarily singles. A rela-
tively unknown band could record and.
release a single without great ex-
pense, and had a chance of having a
national hit. Labels like Factory,
Zoo, and Rough Trade first gave us
Joy Division/New Order, Echo & the,
Bunnymen, and The Smiths. The
possibility of "making it big"
mainly through singles sales still
exists in Europe, but in the cultural
wasteland of America it is almost
impossible. The rock single is dead.-
On the dancefloor, things aren't so
bad. The 12" megamix single still
puts up a good fight against the likes
of Dire Straits CDs. In fact, House
music and hip hop are the only real
singles mediums left. This is where
creative boundaries are being
stretched, and where there is hope for
the continued life of the 45. Geniuses
like Frankie Knuckles, Marley Marl'
and Farley Jackmaster Funk are pro-
ducing entrancing slabs of sonic
pleasure that venture into virgin
territory. So it looks like we will
have to learn to dance if we want the
single to remain alive.
Ironically, the sad demise of the
single is really brought into stark re-
lief when one examines the career of
its proponent, Pete Townshend. After
being the consummate singles writer
with songs like "Can't Explain,"
"Substitute," and "I Can See For
Miles," he's now involved in making
the single's complete antithesis -
the dreaded "concept" album. These
are lamentable times indeed.
e
va-
C~zaMieko
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The
an
Ellison's Invisit
full self-realizat
to a Louis Arm
underground hole
lives!
The world wa
heard The Jam's
Station at Midn
nism in a differe
The Undertones
relationships b
women seemedft
ent after "96 T
Mark & the My
untimely en
ble Man comes to ton's "Young Hearts Run Free
ion when he listens Joy Division's "Love Will T4
strong blues in his Apart."
e. Singles can change For me, the single has a m
quality akin to the photograpt
s transformed when I beauty of the photograph resi,
"Down in the Tube the fact that it is an actual rec
light"; I saw hedo- the light that fell upon the sub
nt light when I heard a particular moment, and as a r
' "Teenage Kicks"; it can survive us. The singl
)etween men and holds history captive. It locks
fundamentally differ- cal energy, human feeling ar
rears" by Question musical breathing in the studio
sterians, Candi Sta- groove on a plastic disc. A pi(
single
meet
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>
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Presents California Comedian
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and student comedians
Jim Mercurio and Tom Franck
With Your Host
Peter Berman
Easily startled?
Unable to concentrate?
If you have experienced these symptoms for more than
a month you may be eligible for FREE evaluation in a
major U of M research study directed by George C.
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provided by health care professionals AT NO COST
U-M Anxiety Program
936-7868
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IN THE U-CLUB
Holiday Hours:
Mon.Tues.,Wed10-6
Sat. 12-5 Sun. 10-6
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ayLKpNRAK.THE
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