What the Fuck Has Gotten into Cougar and Prince? Long Live Music on The Web

Pink houses, purple rain and internet hate. Son of a bitch. What are we supposed to do when the very pillars of our crumbling elitist rock community refuse to embrace our digital connectivity? A Spartan mountainside is calling. Leave the withering giants to the birds and yetis.

In the past few weeks Prince and John, formerly the Cougar, Mellencamp spit fiery hatred on our digital selves. Prince pronounced the internet dead and Cougar likened it to the atomic bomb. Pause for a moment and forgive the Cougs for invoking the atomic bomb.

So, after watching two amazing shows tonight on this archaic and wholly dangerous medium called the internet. I couldn't help but start to jot down a few examples of why the internet is pretty damn swell and more of a tool than a implement of destruction.

1. Radiohead in Prague
Radiohead gives members of the audience flip cameras. They record. Footage is edited by fans. Radiohead releases sound from show. Instant awesomeness.

2. Arcade Fire Live from MSG
On August 5, 2010 Arcade Fire teamed up with Terry Gilliam and digicasted (is that a word?) their show. It's up again for a limited time. Simply amazing.

3. Arcade Fire's The Wilderness Downtown
It's like a music video if someone progressive was to think about how we'd really want to watch a music video.

4. The myriad of random blogs I love.
Gorilla vs. Bear
Day Trotter
Stereo Gum
NPR Music & All Songs Considered (not to mention their first listens where you can listen to album before it's released)
Pitch Fork
La Blogotheque
When You Awake
...just to name a few we're barely scratching the surface

5. Mix Tapes and Sharing
Links have been taken down for some of the greatest namely: Wu Tang vs. The Beatles and The Gray Album. But the 500 Days of Weezy and Big Boi for Dummies will do.

That's just a start. The digital space isn't a beast onto itself. It's not an escaped monster that controls us. The digital world is an echo of our desires and our growth. To ignore this space is to ignore the evolution of our connectivity.