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.