The literal sound came to be used figuratively as a rhetorical interrupt
October 9, 2017 10:44 AM Subscribe
*Record scratch*
Freeze Frame.
Yep, that's the introduction to this post. You're probably wondering why I started with this cliche, but it all began with Merriam-Webster... *wavey flashback motion*
Freeze Frame.
Yep, that's the introduction to this post. You're probably wondering why I started with this cliche, but it all began with Merriam-Webster... *wavey flashback motion*
Holy cow, I was gonna go find and link the MetaFilter post for Freeze Frame Bot but apparently we've never had one! So, yes, a bot that grabs random videos and makes 13-second fake record scratch freeze frame trailer moments out of 'em:
@freezeframebot
posted by cortex at 11:03 AM on October 9, 2017 [6 favorites]
@freezeframebot
posted by cortex at 11:03 AM on October 9, 2017 [6 favorites]
You kids today with your vinyl obsessions. Why, in my day…
posted by ckape at 11:32 AM on October 9, 2017 [3 favorites]
posted by ckape at 11:32 AM on October 9, 2017 [3 favorites]
Annnd, this is how the Kottke article linked yesterday starts.
posted by Wetterschneider at 11:51 AM on October 9, 2017 [1 favorite]
posted by Wetterschneider at 11:51 AM on October 9, 2017 [1 favorite]
I'll have to wait until I have a chance to listen to the OTM segment, but it's fundamental to distinguish a needle-push sound (which can physically scratch a record) from the musical technique of scratching, which is a colloquial use of the term. Hip hop scratching was never meant to emulate the needle-push sound.
posted by rhizome at 12:44 PM on October 9, 2017 [3 favorites]
posted by rhizome at 12:44 PM on October 9, 2017 [3 favorites]
Odd the article never mentions Fresh Prince of Bel Air.
posted by Native in Exile at 12:45 PM on October 9, 2017
posted by Native in Exile at 12:45 PM on October 9, 2017
What I want to know is where did the combination of record scratch/freeze frame/(Comments about that being me or how they got there) come from?
posted by Canageek at 12:54 PM on October 9, 2017 [6 favorites]
posted by Canageek at 12:54 PM on October 9, 2017 [6 favorites]
I'll have to wait until I have a chance to listen to the OTM segment, but it's fundamental to distinguish a needle-push sound (which can physically scratch a record) from the musical technique of scratching, which is a colloquial use of the term. Hip hop scratching was never meant to emulate the needle-push sound.
this is like the hiphop equivalent of 'clips' vs 'magazines'. Everyone understands what is being conveyed.
posted by Sebmojo at 1:05 PM on October 9, 2017 [1 favorite]
this is like the hiphop equivalent of 'clips' vs 'magazines'. Everyone understands what is being conveyed.
posted by Sebmojo at 1:05 PM on October 9, 2017 [1 favorite]
this is like the hiphop equivalent of 'clips' vs 'magazines'. Everyone understands what is being conveyed.
Maybe, but it's the reverse: a signifier with two different referents rather than two signifiers with nearly-identical referents ("thing that holds bullets (cartridges!) and is inserted into a gun"). There is a musical use of the needle-push, but it's almost always in the "freeze-frame" punctuation sense, while the musical scratch is what I think of as "textural percussion."
It's also not like the clip-magazine harangue in that the story conflates them to make the needle-push a necessary precursor to musical scratching. There's a reason why Stevo sawing a needle across a record in "Ladykiller" is jokey.
I do acknowledge being That Guy on this topic, tho!
posted by rhizome at 2:04 PM on October 9, 2017 [2 favorites]
Maybe, but it's the reverse: a signifier with two different referents rather than two signifiers with nearly-identical referents ("thing that holds bullets (cartridges!) and is inserted into a gun"). There is a musical use of the needle-push, but it's almost always in the "freeze-frame" punctuation sense, while the musical scratch is what I think of as "textural percussion."
It's also not like the clip-magazine harangue in that the story conflates them to make the needle-push a necessary precursor to musical scratching. There's a reason why Stevo sawing a needle across a record in "Ladykiller" is jokey.
I do acknowledge being That Guy on this topic, tho!
posted by rhizome at 2:04 PM on October 9, 2017 [2 favorites]
Neither TV Tropes not a cursory YouTube check bear me out, but I associate the "record scratch you're probably wondering..." trope with the 90s TV show Parker Lewis Can't Lose.
posted by Diablevert at 3:48 PM on October 9, 2017 [2 favorites]
posted by Diablevert at 3:48 PM on October 9, 2017 [2 favorites]
Rob Schneider is... The Stapler.
The deedilly derp, the derp the derpty dumb.
posted by Robin Kestrel at 3:57 PM on October 9, 2017 [1 favorite]
The deedilly derp, the derp the derpty dumb.
posted by Robin Kestrel at 3:57 PM on October 9, 2017 [1 favorite]
Maybe, but it's the reverse: a signifier with two different referents rather than two signifiers with nearly-identical referents ("thing that holds bullets (cartridges!) and is inserted into a gun"). There is a musical use of the needle-push, but it's almost always in the "freeze-frame" punctuation sense, while the musical scratch is what I think of as "textural percussion."
Fair point. But as you say, it's 'scratching' vs 'scratch' - the link in the OP makes that distinction.
posted by Sebmojo at 4:13 PM on October 9, 2017
Fair point. But as you say, it's 'scratching' vs 'scratch' - the link in the OP makes that distinction.
posted by Sebmojo at 4:13 PM on October 9, 2017
Freeze-frame! (Freeze-frame!) [x3]
and all the video glory that is 1981
posted by Guy Smiley at 6:12 PM on October 9, 2017 [1 favorite]
and all the video glory that is 1981
posted by Guy Smiley at 6:12 PM on October 9, 2017 [1 favorite]
But as you say, it's 'scratching' vs 'scratch' - the link in the OP makes that distinction.
The musical act of scratching is composed of many individual scratches: ...among others. But the "distinction" they make is unnecessary because nothing about the "You're probably wondering..." scratch invokes musical scratching except that they use the same ingredients. They could have left musical scratching pretty much out of the essay, but then again MW tried to adblock-block me so I see their motivation.
posted by rhizome at 6:26 PM on October 9, 2017
The musical act of scratching is composed of many individual scratches: ...among others. But the "distinction" they make is unnecessary because nothing about the "You're probably wondering..." scratch invokes musical scratching except that they use the same ingredients. They could have left musical scratching pretty much out of the essay, but then again MW tried to adblock-block me so I see their motivation.
posted by rhizome at 6:26 PM on October 9, 2017
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posted by Miko at 10:56 AM on October 9, 2017