The informant is a 23 year old musician who enjoys learning exchanging stories about legendary bands with his fellow musicians. This piece would be exchanged during a band practice  or when speaking with another musician to prove knowledge of game-changing bands.

“I’m talking about the Irish rock group, My Bloody Valentine, who, I guess rose to prominence in like the late eighties – early nineties. They released a series of EPs, um, that they recorded, uh, and attracted some attention of, like, independent labels. So they were signed to like one of the biggest indies in the UK, or in like the isles, the British Isles. Okay, so basically they, uh, they finally got the go ahead to start recording a full-length album on Creation Records. And they hauled in a ton of, like, vintage gear – which was less expensive at the time. Like it was valued as like a cheap alternative to new gear. Like it wasn’t like vintage gear yet, it was like this is a crappy amp from the sixties. It was like, you know, and it was worth like nothing then. So they had these like huge stacks and basically started getting really experimental in the studio. Um, and then… they would get tinnitus – which is ringing of the ear – from how loud all the stacks of amps were and would have to take a break. And so they would spend like a week trying to record part of a song and then have like a big bout with tinnitus and have to stop and then forget what they even wanted to do. So this album took, like, a couple years and, like, basically almost bankrupted their tiny label. Uh.. and I don’t remember the exact amount, but I think the legend has it that it was almost like half a million dollars they spent recording this album. And, I mean, it ended up, like… being the completely different, like, scene-altering record that they were going after. But it was like a huge, uh, a huge, um… risk for the label to undertake. And I hope they made that back, I mean, this really is on everybody’s list of the best albums of that era and most influential for bands. I could list, like, a ton of bands that were heavily influenced by that album and the tones.”

My informant heard this story from one of his fellow band members. It is important to him because this band changed the course of music in his eyes and people have different theories about how this band came to have such an original sound.

Analysis:

I believe this is in line with what most musicians do when speaking to one another. They love to exchange stories about different legendary bands and add to the legend of that band’s music and influence.