recorded history

[jeremias at sover.net]

        I've been thinking recently on the ramifications of recorded
history, specifically  about music and how incredible it is that the
catalog of recorded music available today can all be traced back to a
specific time and place (Thomas Edison singing "Mary had a Little Lamb" in
New Jersey late 1800's being one of if not *the* first recorded song) Then
I think about the development of recording technology which, in some cases,
was sophisticated enough in the 1950's to pass for something recorded
yesterday. However we only have about 70 or 80 years worth of (recorded)
music, still small enough to categorize it into "styles"; doo-wop, jazz,
acid rock, heavy metal etc. Then I imagine one hundred years from now, how
will people be interpreting disco music for example? They will be able to
pin point the exact date "Funkytown" by Lipps, Inc. was recorded (1980) but
what will that tell them?
        Anyway I started thinking about this after seeing Pynchon's
technique of putting the year after all those movie titles in VINELAND e.g.
"Ghostbusters" (1984)