Music Musings: Things I Miss

Every now and then I take a look back at my childhood (okay... maybe more than "every now and then") and think about some of the things I miss being a music fan back in the day.

1. Music Magazines

Now I know there's still music magazines out there, but I'm talking specifically about the Christian ones. CCM, Heaven's Metal, Harvest Rock Syndicate, and even This Prophecy were all part of my childhood. I still get magazines in the mail and it's still a thrill. Unfortunately  every single one of the magazines I mentioned died off at some point. Of course, the Christian music scene isn't what it once was but I still miss reading about the newest releases, news, and interviews. On the potty.

2. Demos

This one is kind of silly. It's a LOT easier to listen to samples today on Itunes or Amazon or whatever. Even so, I still kind of miss taking a fistful of tapes to the tape deck and sampling the latest releases. I always thought it was kind of weird that secular stores never did that sort of thing. I guess the Christian bookstores didn't want to deal with returns, so they let people preview what they were getting.

3. A Lack of Information

At strange as it sounds I kind of miss the days where you didn't know everything about everyone all the time. Where information on your favorite thing wasn't mere keystrokes away. There was a lot more mystery about your favorite artists. If you found someone who'd met one of your "idols," it was fun to listen to their stories of how they were like. Scandals could be contained - so as to preserve my illusions that these people I looked up to were actually living the kind of lives they sang about. I guess I could just not read the internet anymore, but c'mon! That's un-possible!

4. Surprise Releases

Closely related to the last point - the lack of information provided many wonderful surprises back in the day. I'd walk into the local Christian bookstore and surprise! A new Deliverance or Tourniquet. It was like a mini-Christmas! Nowadays I pretty much know months in advance when something is coming out. And while waiting for that release date can be fun (as well as preordering for special bonuses), I do enjoy the surprise. It actually happened recently with the new Coheed and Cambria album. Still don't know how I missed that one!

5. The Christian Music Scene

Is there one anymore? I don't even know. Granted, I do think it's actually better this way. However, I won't pretend that I don't miss it... just a little. It was a cool little community to be in. If you met someone who liked the same bands you became instant friends. Christian music festivals were a dime a dozen and featured a lot of great bands.

Don't get me wrong - there are a lot of things I like about the present. I like having to buy CDs online because then I get packages in the mail (which is like mini-Christmas). I do like being able to window shop for any band or style on Itunes. So it's not bad at all. This site's mostly about my nostalgia anyway - so there ya go!