Records are signifiers and signals, like wearing a band t-shirt. But they are growing incrementally and now carrying a record album is an important fashion accessory and signifier, just like when the schoolboy Mick Jagger approached Keith Richards when he saw him carrying a record by Chuck Berry. Okay, the percentage increase in LP sales looks impressive but actual sales are modest. The wind-up cylinder and turntable gramophones are most certainly moribund if not dead (I however have one of the latter) and despite some people's best efforts it is hard to see cassette tapes suddenly rising from their marginal position into mainstream acceptance again.Īt some time in late Eighties/early Nineties I wrote a piece about the demise of the much loved record album – the LP if you will – and the article was illustrated by the Richard Dale image you see at the top of this page.Īt the time it certainly seemed like records were indeed riding off into the sunset. Not a lot of people these days rely on a Walkman or have a Beta tape player. When it comes to technologies however we may be on firmer ground. Jazz isn't dead either, nor it seems is punk or folk. I'd guess I've seen “rock is dead” being announced with certainty at least half a dozen times, but – yes, despite the prevalence of r'n'b and hip-hop on charts – rock music seems far from the grave. One of the things you learn if you've been around a bit is you are unwise to write anything off as dead.
There was an article doing the internet rounds recently in which some sage from the US announced that the CD was “dead”.
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