In the days of Vinyl and Tape, the album was king - bands would release an album, and maybe from that one or two singles that were radio compliant. A masterpiece of this would be "A Night at the Opera" by Queen. From beginning to end it is composed as a grand sweeping work intended to be listened to in its totality.
Then along came CD and digital media. All of a sudden people could skip to tracks that they liked the most with ease and not have to listen to the whole thing. Album making changed. Musicians now made albums composed of individual songs which could be purchased individually via a generic online music provider and played on a generic mp3 player. Not that this is a bad thing - its simply that the focus has shifted from longer elaborate constructions to shorter instantly gratifying works.
I do find that on the whole when I listen to more modern music I construct my own playlists from individual songs depending on mood and what I feel like hearing - I own few post millenium albums that I regard as great (save for maybe "What it is to Burn" by Finch, and a bit or Muse and Radiohead). When listening to older music I tend to choose a whole album based on the same criteria (Plenty of Queen, Thin Lizzy et al). If this is either responsible for or due to my opinion I do now know.
So yea... TLDR: Stuff changed because music consuption habits reflect the manner in which it is availiable.
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Topic: A Discussion of Musical Albums (Read 2258 times)