Do you remember the golden days of MP3.com? Ten years ago it was a wonderful musical community where new music could be discovered, popular music could be enjoyed, and band members would respond if you said something nasty about them.
The biggest perk, of course, was the free downloads. It wasn't like the music webstores of today like Insound.com or the current MP3.com where a band's label provides the website with a couple of the band's songs (which are free to download but only if you can navigate the confusing site itself.) Instead the original MP3.com was well-organized and content was provided directly from the bands themselves. Additionally those musicians received some small revenue per download, a tactic still used today by websites like Last.fm.
Most bands were either on small labels or completely independent. Either way they were simply looking for exposure. (It should be noted that many larger well-known bands and artists utilized the site as well -- Alanis Morissette was an early supporter, and this is where I listened to Sunny Day Real Estate for the first time. But the popular were far outnumbered by the never-before-heard.) They were happy that somebody -- anybody -- was taking the time to listen to their music. I talked to some band members via the Internet, physically met others, purchased CDs from still others... all of this would have been impossible without the communal camaraderie fostered by MP3.com.
Unfortunately the site met with financial troubles (as they always do) and the owners had to sell the domain name. And while the current MP3.com is nice, the artists are untouchable and there is no sense of impending discovery.
I've lost a lot of those original downloads. Computers crap out, memory is erased, or sometimes things are accidentally deleted. Fortunately a lucky few files have survived the years and still reside on my hard drive. Furthermore, I had burned a CD a long time ago of things exclusively found on MP3.com. I still have that CD.
Remarkably I've retained enough of these rare tracks to start a short series. This is Part One of that series.
Hopefully this will either open your ears to music you would have never ever never listened to (because these songs are over ten years old and residing in some online graveyard) or you will be taken on an awkward trip down a nostalgic memory lane.
We will start with a band called 2540. In the late 90's/early 00's it was trendy for Christian bands to name themselves after Bible verses without explicitly revealing which Bible verse it was they named themselves after. I supposed it encouraged dialogue, and I can't argue with that.
Anyway, 2540 played melodic pop punk, which was also all the rage in those days. I didn't know much else about the band. I do remember one of the band members kept trying to IM me on Napster, but I would be at class or eating dinner at the dining hall. I do kind of wish we had become friends because a few years later 2540 would drastically change their style of music and rename themselves The Showdown.
I saw The Showdown perform once. The lead singer promised to kick the audience into a case of ashes.
Listen to the 2540 track first. It's peppy and catchy like high-school punk should be. Then watch The Showdown video. That is some serious rock 'n' roll evolution.
2540 - "Aftermath"
The Showdown - Achilles - The Backbreaker
The biggest perk, of course, was the free downloads. It wasn't like the music webstores of today like Insound.com or the current MP3.com where a band's label provides the website with a couple of the band's songs (which are free to download but only if you can navigate the confusing site itself.) Instead the original MP3.com was well-organized and content was provided directly from the bands themselves. Additionally those musicians received some small revenue per download, a tactic still used today by websites like Last.fm.
Most bands were either on small labels or completely independent. Either way they were simply looking for exposure. (It should be noted that many larger well-known bands and artists utilized the site as well -- Alanis Morissette was an early supporter, and this is where I listened to Sunny Day Real Estate for the first time. But the popular were far outnumbered by the never-before-heard.) They were happy that somebody -- anybody -- was taking the time to listen to their music. I talked to some band members via the Internet, physically met others, purchased CDs from still others... all of this would have been impossible without the communal camaraderie fostered by MP3.com.
Unfortunately the site met with financial troubles (as they always do) and the owners had to sell the domain name. And while the current MP3.com is nice, the artists are untouchable and there is no sense of impending discovery.
I've lost a lot of those original downloads. Computers crap out, memory is erased, or sometimes things are accidentally deleted. Fortunately a lucky few files have survived the years and still reside on my hard drive. Furthermore, I had burned a CD a long time ago of things exclusively found on MP3.com. I still have that CD.
Remarkably I've retained enough of these rare tracks to start a short series. This is Part One of that series.
Hopefully this will either open your ears to music you would have never ever never listened to (because these songs are over ten years old and residing in some online graveyard) or you will be taken on an awkward trip down a nostalgic memory lane.
We will start with a band called 2540. In the late 90's/early 00's it was trendy for Christian bands to name themselves after Bible verses without explicitly revealing which Bible verse it was they named themselves after. I supposed it encouraged dialogue, and I can't argue with that.
Anyway, 2540 played melodic pop punk, which was also all the rage in those days. I didn't know much else about the band. I do remember one of the band members kept trying to IM me on Napster, but I would be at class or eating dinner at the dining hall. I do kind of wish we had become friends because a few years later 2540 would drastically change their style of music and rename themselves The Showdown.
I saw The Showdown perform once. The lead singer promised to kick the audience into a case of ashes.
Listen to the 2540 track first. It's peppy and catchy like high-school punk should be. Then watch The Showdown video. That is some serious rock 'n' roll evolution.
2540 - "Aftermath"
The Showdown - Achilles - The Backbreaker
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