unbornwhiskey replied to your post: I was genuinely shocked that the 33⅓ people didn’t…
wasn’t it ostensibly designed for classical music? dudes wanted to listen to their beautiful symphonies without owning a chain of rotting slabs. maybe there’s a gap in my understanding of its history
You’re right, of course; classical music drove innovation in audio technology throughout the twentieth century, as the then-equivalents of bitrate nerds and .flac hoarders continually attempted to get closer and closer to the sound of a live orchestra on record.
But it was the demonstrated commercial potential for long-form jazz releases and — probably more to the point, as it was the biggest-selling genre for the first two decades of the LP’s existence — Broadway soundtracks that convinced the record industry to switch from the 78 records which had been its backbone for half a century to the LP/45 format, which would dominate for almost as long again. The fact that the 33⅓ series, by focusing almost entirely on rock (even their hip-hop books are on hip-hop records that rock listeners like), essentially ignores the first twenty years or so of the LP’s existence makes a little ironic joke out of the umbrella title.
unbornwhiskey replied to your post: I was genuinely shocked that the 33⅓ people didn’t…
hahaha sorry my earlier comment is kind of pedantic as a result of sleeplessness; genuinely curious as much as i’m unsurprised at this particular arbitrary division by 33 1/3
Too late, dude, already answered it!
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unbornwhiskey said:
hey it’s okay a+ response
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jonathanbogart posted this
