Number 500

I recently purchased Mogwai's collection of BBC session recordings titled Government Commissions.  It's a collection of tracks from their entire career, done live in studio for the BBC, and includes such classics as "R U Still in 2 it", "Cody", "LIke Herod" and "Superheroes of BMX".  I wouldn't necessarily say that any of these songs are better than their original album counterparts, but the live feel of the recordings gives them a different glow and makes the CD a worthwhile purchase.  What makes it special, though, is that this CD marks a special milestone for me personally.  It is the 500th CD I have owned in my collection.

A little over 3 years ago, I received a 300-CD player for Christmas and in order to fully utilize it, I had to catalog every CD that I planned to put into the player, so I could note which position (1 to 300) the CD was going into, in case I wanted to play that CD - or if I ever wanted to remove it from the player.  So I undertook the several day effort of writing into an Excel spreadsheet every single CD I had, including some regrettable choices from the early '90s.  And in the process I found that I had more than 300, and quickly filled up the player. 

Now in the subsequent time, I have continued populated my spreadsheet with the names of each album I purchase, even though my CD player is too full for me to add any more to it.  Of course, my purchase of an iPod a year ago has made the 300 CD player rather superfluous - pretty much like my CD collection in general.  What was once a wonderful thing - to have 300 of my CDs available in one place, in one machine the size of a small microwave, was amazing to me.  No more hunting around for the single album or artist I was in the mood for - and no more forgetting about all these old songs I stopped listening to because the CD had dropped out of my rotation.

But the iPod took it to another level - putting every song on every CD I had into a portable machine the size of a deck of cards.  It's been a leap forward in light years, and has somewhat altered my listening experience -- away from "albums" and more towards "songs".  I no longer have to listen to the "bad" songs of a CD - I can just collect the best, and that has been a welcome relief.  Although I'm not sure I appreciate the brilliance of the great songs without the "filler".    And some albums, like Explosions in the Sky's The Earth is not a Cold, Dead Place or Bright Eyes' Lifted, or the Story is in the Soil truly deserve to be heard in their completion, as the artist intended.  But for most albums, who has that kind of time?  I mean, it's not like I've got time to sit around and post to a blog that nobody is reading, right? 

Anyway, Mogwai's new release is #500 on the list.  Which means I've spent roughly $6,000 on CDs over the last decade or so ($12 a pop).  A lot of money yes, but looking back at my collection, I would say I more than got my money's worth.

Bands with the most CDs in the collection (including Cd-singles and EPs):

1. Superchunk (16)
2. Bright Eyes (14)
3. New Order (14)
4. Pavement (12)
5. Modest Mouse (11)
6. Morrissey (11)
7. The Cure (11)
8. The Smiths (10)
9. Death Cab for Cutie, Dinosaur Jr, Guided by Voices (9)

If you include side projects/solo albums by principal members of the band and/or additional collections, the list looks like this:

1. Superchunk / Portastatic (22)
2. The Smiths / Morrissey (21)
3. New Order / Joy Division / Electronic / Monaco (20)
4. Bright Eyes (14)
5. Pavement / Stephen Malkmus (creator of the song "Vague Space") (14)
6. Modest Mouse / Ugly Cassanova (12)
7. Death Cab / Ben Gibbard / ATQ / Postal Service (12)
8. Pixies / Frank Black / Frank Black & the Catholics (12)

So Chapel Hill's Mac McCaughan (lead singer/songwriter of Superchunk and side project Portastatic) has gotten the most of my hard earned cash through the years.  Of course, he's also a co-founder of Merge Records, which has released such classic indie rock albums as Neutral Milk Hotel's In the Aeroplane over the Sea, ...And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead's Source Tags and Codes, and 2004's Pitchfork album of the Year, Arcade Fire's Funeral.  The sad thing is I watched the Superchunk DVD "Crowding Up Your Visual Field", which follows Mac and Laura and Jim and Jon  out on tour, and they're riding in a crappy bus and staying in shitty motel rooms and generally are living the opposite of a "rock star life", since they inexplicably never really made it big.  Of course, they also seemed very happy, and are still together after 15+ years.  Which is more than you can say for most "rock stars" and definitely more than you'll be able to say about any "American Idol" contestant in 15 years.  So good for them.