The Animated (GIF) History of Music

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1999.  Napster is launched.  Vast amounts of music had never been closer to peoples’ fingertips.  Also it had never been free-er.  This made many bands very angry, especially Metallica, who filed a lawsuit against Napster. The lawsuit ultimately succeeded, and Napster declared bankruptcy.  But it was too late.  The music industry would never be the same.

I am loving this site. Music History in GIFs, in which a musician tracks the development of pop music through animated GIFs that resemble old 8-bit gaming systems, is fun and informative, and just cool to check out when his updates come through my RSS feed. Yesterday, he posted an image about Napster and music file sharing, and how it upended and continues to upend the music business.

But this other one from last week, about Prince, was pretty nifty, too, and a nice use of animated art.

1993.  Prince changes his name to an unpronounceable symbol later dubbed Love Symbol #2.  At first everybody laughs, but then they remember he’s Prince and he can pretty much do whatever he wants anyways. Also, Prince’s label had to mail out a bunch of floppy disks with the custom image on it.  That fact makes me laugh.
And a little DEVO anyone?
1978.  Devo releases their debut album, Are We Not Men? We Are Devo!.  Their stage antics are full of wacky dancing, sci-fi outfits, and just all around amazingness. Also their songs are so, so good.
 Check out Music History in GIFs and get rocked.
Peace (in the music),
Kevin

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