14 U_ THE NATIONAL.OOL.L.EGE NEWSPAPER 0
,*Life and Art MONTH 1989 "
SEPTEMBER 1989 Re and Art
U. THE NATIONAL- COLLEGE NEWSPAPER
* 14 U. THE NATIONAL~OLLEGE NEWSPAPER* Life and Art * MONTH 1989 SEPTEMBER1989 3~andA~ U.. THE NATIONA~COLLEGE NEWSPAPERW
Vinyl
Continued from page 13
vinyl, every label will get on the ship,"
says Maxwell.
At radio stations, LPs started being
phased out in the late '70s with the
advent of the CART - a tape similar to
an eight-track onto which individual
songs are recorded. Today, most of the
music played on the radio is either on
CART or CD.
"The life of the CD is years beyond that
of an LP," Miller says. "A record could be
playedjust once, but still come away with
background noise."
Vinyl still does have its loyal followers.
The 12-inch single is faring well, along
with rhythm and blues, folk, and country
LPs. Alternative record stores continue
to stock older records which are not avail-
able in other formats.
"Some collectors have to buy LPs for
some of the music they want because it
isn't produced on anything else," says
Wes Gurley, a salesperson at Track's
Records in Indiana.
A lower price tag may also help the LP
cling to life. While cassettes and albums
are equal in price, a CD runs about $5 to
$6 higher, although the gap continues to
close.
Owen Thorne, manager of Rainbow
Records laments the trend. "I get a great
deal of satisfaction seeing a record spin
on the turntable, but I listen to CDs now,"
he says.
Acid
Continued from page 10
clock. According to Buhler, the heart of
acid house is "the churning, turgid bass.
That's all that it is."
The process begins by creating a beat.
The musician simply takes an appropri-
ate drum sound from any source, sam-
ples it and then molds it into a recogniz-
able rhythm inside a sequencer. Then a
bass line sampled from another source is
tacked on. And then more noises - per-
, cussion, found voices, guitars, sounds
from television shows - are synthesized
to create a sound collage that, in clubs,
is sometimes powerful enough to physi-
" cally move the dancers against their will.
And it's often created by a single individ-
ual in a studio, messing around with old
disco records, a sampling keyboard and
a computer.
Beyond the technical aspects of the
music, acid house is either about nirvana
or trendiness, depending on whom you
talk to. Tb some, the fad is simply a res-
urrection of the disco ethic of mindless
excess and trendy elitism. But for others,
it represents a forum where the most
diverse cultural elements - blacks,
whites and every class - can mingle in
soulless abandon, hedonism and true
euphoria for a few short hours.
Acid house fashion, modeled after
punk's once-vogue wardrobe of combat
boots and camouflage pants, mixes pais-
leyhead scarves, RayBans and tornjeans
SCOTT NORRIS, THE DAILY IOWANU. OP IOWA
The fourth annual World's Largest Beach Party was held this summer in a 40-acre horse pasture in Iowa. Fifteen hundred tons of sand
were placed on the pasture, and 10,000 people, including students from the U. of Iowa, attended the event.
Endorsements
Continued from page 13
another advertisement. Eric Clapton
doing a Michelob commercial is a perfect
example - he's canceled concerts because
of his perforated ulcer and he's gonna be
pushing booze on people - ridiculous."
It's tempting to side with Mason, but
it's hard to muster the same conviction.
As a fan, I don't like Ella Fitzgerald any
less because of her Memorex spots, nor
have Lou Reed's Honda commercials
deeply bothered me. What ifSoul Asylum
did a product endorsement? Would we
contemptuously cry "Sell Out!" or exuber-
antly claim "Cool!"? It would depend on
the product, how well the advertisement
was executed, and your current attitude
towards the band.'
It's easy to be selectively repulsed by
product plugs from Top 40 artists that
you don't like or respect to begin with, but
it's not as easy if it's a favorite band.
Where does the line exist between capi-
talistic crassness and pop culture bril-
liance? Maybe only in our minds.
with the mainstay smiley face.
The political statement of the mutilat-
ed smiley faces comes from the avant
garde comic The Watchmen, where con-
spiracy theories are brought to life and
paranoia is the only way to live. But in
America, things are a bit different.
Although acid house fashion has shown
up here, only a limited number of clubs
(such as NEO in Chicago) play acid house
music, and even then, only on designated
nights.
Although the dark side of the move-
ment has some in the United States
alarmed, it seems unlikely that acid
house will take hold here as completely
as it has in England. Kids in this country
have a tendency to see fads from across
the ocean, and then adopt them in just
enough of a dosage to seem fashionable.
Most will probably continue to buy lots
of shiny, smiling T-shirts, purchase a
token album and leave it at that.
Some predict a revolution, others pre-
dict that acid house will be here and gone
before the season's over.
But whatever the case might be, as far
as England, Europe and a number of NU
students are concerned, there's still acid
in the house.