Turning Tables on the Turntables

In the early days of hip-hop music, actual vinyl records on turntables became musical instruments as DJ’s and rappers dragged a needle across the grooves to produce the trademark ripping sound in cadence with the chanting words. We don’t know who invented the technique, but it is likely the practice came from a perception that the vinyl records were expendable and worthy of their individual destruction just to make the sound. Now that ripping sound can be generated digitally, of course, and it has made its way into the techno genre as well, but we wonder if the subliminal message regarding obsolete media and its disposable nature is somehow being absorbed by millions of angry robot music affectionados.

A real consequence of this attitude is the endangerment of books in libraries all over the world. As Information Scientists continue their nefarious campaign against the codex, the perception of the book as an obsolete format grows daily. When books are considered expendable, and their value is seen as negligible, we at True Archives shudder to contemplate future trends in popular music. Who is to say that the sound of shredding paper might be the next trademark sound of rappers, beat poets, and punk rockers? Tearing pages out of a book while keeping the beat of a given composition is a frightening possibility as barbaric Philistines take to the recording studio in the next musical fad.

Perhaps not all is lost, though. If we can just convince them to use the telephone directories that seem to show up on our doorsteps several times a year we might be rid of that plague. After all, who needs a phone book when everything is online now....