Viral Sounds
I was driving through the city with a friend of mine on Sunday morning when I popped into the stereo a random mix CD I found her in car. A mutual friend had made her a mix "For Sunday Afternoons" and she loved it so she kept it in the car for the times she was stuck in traffic.
I'm skipping songs, as I do, to see what our friend had included on the mix. When I get to the midway point and realize... wait a minute here... the usual suspects that I introduce people to are on this disc (ala the Tahiti 80's of the world). Well I certainly don't take credit for every Tahiti 80 fan out there but I realize a lot of these songs are things that I had contributed to the mutual friend. For all I know she fell in love with the New Pornographers on her own. Until 3/4 of the way through the disc...
I know this song came from me, no question1 but how and where it came from isn't what amuses me so much. It amazes me to see in action the spread of ideas, loves, and for me in particular... music. I quite often have no idea where my musical loves go when I throw them out into the world. More than once I've gotten bands booked into venues by hooking up the right band with the right friend and I believe sometime soon I'll hear I actually hooked up a band with a record deal2. What I love most is the idea that if I can turn one person onto something new, they will in turn spread that sound onto someone else.
1. I it bought in Tokyo on that same compilation I name checked last week in regard to Spearmint. For a long time I was in the habit of making bi-monthly mix discs and mailing them out to my friends. I know that particular Norman Bates song ended up on one of those discs.
2 No comment on this statement for now.
Buy some: Airpop 2, Norman Bates