Music or Meme?

When does music become a meme? When music becomes a meme--in other words, a virally repeated piece of internet humor--does it lose anything? Gain anything? Does the kind of cult status Neutral Milk Hotel's In the Aeroplane Over the Sea help the album or hurt it?

In a way, I guess any publicity is good publicity, and I'm not insisting this album should be more obscure. I think this release deserves the acclaim its received. However, isn't a bit of the beauty of this album destroyed when aspects of it are cut out and repeated as if they're nothing more than another catch phrase of the moment? At this point, what's the difference between "forever alone" and "IIIIIIII LOOOOOOOVE YOUUUUUU JESUSSSS CHRIIIIIIIIIIIIIIST!!!"? In my opinion, not much.

http://theneedledrop.com
http://bit.ly/tndsupport
http://bit.ly/TNDTwitter
http://bit.ly/TNDFacebook
http://bit.ly/TNDPodcast
http://theneedledrop.com/forum

Category:

Music

Tags:

• neutral milk hotel
• in the aeroplane over the sea
• king of carrot flowers
• i love you
• the needle drop
• anthony fantano
• jesus christ
• mountain tops
• stain
• anne frank
• itaots
• question
• comment
• talk
• discussion
• meme
• internet joke
• humor
• viral
• communist daughter
• holland
• 1945
• mangum

[MaggotDov]

i am the table

[jmcgrail821]

Hahahahaha IIIIII Laaaaaave Yooooouuuu Jesus Chriyiyiyyist.

[neonatalpenguin]

I love this album. I wasn't aware of any meme aspect.

[Malkmusianful]

I dunno.

I think the ITAOTS meme comes from the fact that people actually want to spread the album any way they can. They know that memes are the best word of mouth (mainly because they reach more people), so they use the album's endearing qualities (the surreal sex-inspired imagery, Jeff Mangum's inspiration, the potato on the cover) as a way to hook you in. People wonder "what are they saying?" so they check out the record.

I view the meme status of ITAOTS as a positive than a negative.

[MountainDaughter]

I don't get how it matters at all.

I didn't know it was that big of a deal over the /i/

[mussman717word]

Hey, Anthony. First of all, we've got the same name, which is kind of cool, lol. Secondly, a good point to consider is Led Zeppelin IV. How so? If the internet were around in 1973, the almighty runes would have become a meme almost immediately. Of course, Jimmy Page is far more "accessible," if you like, than Jeff Mangum, and would therefore inspire less harsh jokes, but that doesn't mean people wouldn't jump all over the mystic symbolism surrounding that album. You know they would.

[spacecowboy2606]

I honestly did not know it had been turned into a meme. And I could give less of a fuck. I love this album for my own reasons. Cheers Anthony.

[FrequentFly3r]

@GDHGDYFJH /mu/ is the music board on 4chan

[IAmMattLewis]

It's a bummer that people have made a joke out of such a wonderful record.

[Iburnchurches]

as seen on

/mu/ - Music

[khetti2006]

Isn't it because it's the 'go-to' hipster album? lol

[bigbabyjesus12]

I can has Mangum?