my name is mwd

Not sure if this is a sign of growing old or something else (Laura says it’s the former, I hope it’s the latter), but I note that in the last few years I’ve been slowly buying up albums that were in my Dad’s album collection when I was a kid. Pink Floyd, The Jam, Led Zeppelin, The Who, and so on. It makes for interesting listening when mixed with modern music, particularly when you hear the same sounds then and now: The Clash and The Libertines for instance would appear to be separated at birth (assuming people are in the habit of cryogenically freezing babies and thawing them out a bit later – perhaps I need better metaphors…).

Anyhow, I was listening (yet again) to The Kids Are Alright by The Who, which contains a series of live recordings. The opening is a version of My Generation performed on the US TV show the Ed Sullivan Show, which starts with a clash of cultures between the presenter and the performers as he tries to convince them he’s down with it. I’ve often felt I’m missing something when I listen to this by not seeing it – was Mr Sullivan really not getting it? was it part of a big joke? As luck would have it, You Tube provided. A quick look at the clash of suits tells you probably as much as you need to know.

But what struck me the most about this act of information retrieval, more so than the amazing sets and suits of The Who, was the ability to get that clip so easily and quickly. I think there’s something very powerful here that we’re almost reaching, if only the powers that be (and their lawyers (and other peoples’ lawyers (and lawyers that like to proactively file class action suits just incase anyone might possibly feel like that))) can figure it out with respect to the copyright ownership issues. This is not the first time I’ve gone to You Tube and typed in a random thing I wanted to look up with respect to cultural references I wanted to understand – from American advert phrases my former office mate would use (“Well turn it up man!”) to lost Fry & Laurie sketches that I remembered from when I was younger. The power of being able to find these things quickly and easy in tremendous. The quality isn’t great, and the clips are short, so it’s not going to challenge broadcast media, but the fact I can search for just the clip I want is actually part of what makes it so useful. It might even be something I’d happily subscribe to for a small amount to have that ability to look things up (perhaps in trade for slightly higher quality). It really is a fantastic repository when used this way.