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1500 questions
30
votes
9 answers
Why doesn't anyone write great symphonies any more?
Most of the "great" symphonies stem from the 18th and 19th centuries. Shostakovich was the last great symphonic composer and he died in 1975. I'm not aware of anyone writing great symphonies since him. Doesn't anyone try? If Haydn could churn out…
Rob Sedgwick
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29
votes
4 answers
Standard vinyl vs Audiophile/Weighted vinyl - What's the difference?
I remember back in the days of my youth when everything was released on vinyl, you'd sometimes hear about "audiophile" vinyl or vinyl with a specific weight (which I think was 180g).
What's the difference in this vinyl? Why is the weight of vinyl…
Johnny Bones
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29
votes
6 answers
Is the double negative in 'we don't need no education' intentional?
The famous Pink Floyd Song Another Brick in the Wall (Part 2) uses double negative in the chorus:
We don't need no education
We dont need no thought control
...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=34ZmKbe5oG4
Using double negation in the above…
Shevliaskovic
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29
votes
2 answers
What are the historical roots of auto-tune?
Auto-Tune is a technique to hide bad vocals in a track. Good or bad, it seems that it's here to stay in popular music. Many people credit Cher's Believe as the first use of auto-tune in popular music.
Did auto-tune appear in music prior to Believe…
Taryn
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28
votes
3 answers
Why did Elvis Presley never tour overseas?
Elvis Presley was immensely popular around the world. Surely he could have drawn huge audiences and made a ton of money if he toured overseas. But he never performed anywhere overseas. What was the reason for that?
pacoverflow
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28
votes
3 answers
What is a "jazz standard"?
this is a song by ... which became jazz standards.
What is a jazz standard? Is it a jazz song which becomes so popular that everybody plays it?
Reinaldy Rafli
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27
votes
1 answer
Who started the encore tradition at concerts?
Was it one band, or is this more tied to a particular genre or era of time?
tarun
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26
votes
4 answers
In the song "Hotel California" by the Eagles, what are "colitas"?
Hotel California is one of my favorite songs. One mysterious line at the beginning of the song states:
Warm smell of colitas, rising up through the air
I speak some Spanish, but neither I nor my friends who are native speakers could decipher what…
Brian Rushton
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26
votes
4 answers
Was the radio talk in "Right Here, Right Now" real or created for the song?
The version of Fatboy Slim’s Right Here, Right Now from the album You've Come a Long Way, Baby ends with this radio talk:
[Host] WBCN, and who’s this?
[Caller] Hey, this is Brad, this is Brad, this is …
[Host] Now uh, who's your, who’s your…
unor
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26
votes
8 answers
How should I efficiently discover, collect, store and access new music in 2015?
Always been a huge music fan (of the stored terabytes variety). But I suspect my methods went out of date around 2008 (rip my CDs, rip friends' CDs, otherwise get hands on mp3s, rename everything manually on iTunes, keep everything in organized…
legatrix
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25
votes
6 answers
Who influenced The Beatles?
A lot of bands and musicians say one of their biggest influence musically was The Beatles and contribute the founding of rock and roll to them. Who musically influenced The Beatles though?
Dom
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25
votes
6 answers
The meaning of "Uptown Funk"
I have heard this new song titled Uptown Funk. I was interested in the line "Uptown funk you up".
I tried Google Translate and did not get a meaningful translation.
What does this line mean? And what is the music about? Is it a love song? A funny…
fasisi
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25
votes
7 answers
What song has had the most versions that have made the singles charts?
I can think of a bunch of songs that have spawned many covers... sometimes too many. But which song has had the most covers / versions (including the original, if it charted) that have themselves hit the charts ? (These could be straight covers, or…
user16
25
votes
2 answers
What is the quality threshold for recordings sounding better/truer?
I have a couple of "audiophile" friends who either obsess of vinyl or lossless FLAC files and invest a lot of money into special headphones and audio systems, and swear by the massive difference it makes when listening. There's an obvious…
Matthew Read
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24
votes
1 answer
How does Billboard assign songs to its various charts?
Billboard has many different charts, including charts for overall popularity and broken down by various genres, like the Hot 100, the Billboard 200, Pop Songs, Adult Contemporary, Hot Country Songs, and Hot Rock Songs. How do they determine which…
Bradd Szonye
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