“Prime Eight” Expertly Captures the Rise and Fall of the Myspace Music Period

For millennials of a sure age, there’s nothing extra synonymous with web tradition than Myspace. Particularly in case you had been a music nerd within the early aughts, Myspace was a spot to declare your allegiance to explicit underground bands — who had been probably related to the “emo” scene in a roundabout way, form or type — and scour the social community for brand spanking new songs to like, bands to comply with and potential crushes who had been equally well-versed within the methods of indie music devotion. 

However simply as shortly as Myspace arrived, carving out a spot in web music tradition that really felt genuine and user-created, company forces stepped in and introduced all of it crashing again down. So what occurred? How did one of many earliest social networks turn into a shell of its former self so quick? This fascinating rise-and-fall saga is the topic of veteran music journalist Michael Tedder’s first ebook, Prime Eight, which examines how Myspace modified the music trade, with explicit consideration paid to the positioning’s reference to the rise of emo. 

Tedder has been writing about music in some capability for many of his life, with bylines in locations like Esquire, Stereogum, Selection, GQ, and a gig as the previous managing editor of Paper, so he’s well-equipped to offer the cultural evaluation that the phenomena that was Myspace deserves. (And, full disclosure, Tedder additionally contributes to InsideHook occasionally, which is how we all know firsthand the caliber of his work.)

Half written-through narrative and half oral historical past, Prime Eight additionally attracts on the life experiences of musicians like Geoff Rickly (Thursday) and Chris Carrabba (Dashboard Confessional), two of the largest artists of the period who had been impacted by the platform, in addition to somebody like Nate Henry, a member of a band named Sherwood, who by no means fairly made it large. And as a lot because the ebook tells the story of an web previous, it’s additionally knowledgeable by Tedder’s hope that by studying from the previous, we are able to nonetheless reclaim the present social media hellscape. 

“Even by 2020 it felt like social media and the web was more and more corporatized and irritating to make use of,” Tedder tells InsideHook. “It simply wasn’t as enjoyable because it was. I needed to inform the story of why the web felt prefer it was such a spot filled with promise, the way it ended up the way in which that it’s, and provide a roadmap to how we are able to get again to a more healthy, enjoyable on-line expertise.” 

Under are just a few extra of Tedder’s ideas on the ebook, which is out now through the Chicago Assessment Press. 

InsideHook: How’d you get fascinated with writing a ebook in regards to the rise and fall of Myspace?

Michael Tedder: Properly, the pandemic hit, and I actually needed to search out one thing to do with my time. I hate to deliver up the entire meme of “Shakespeare wrote King Lear in quarantine, what are you going to do?” however I discovered myself with a good quantity of downtime, and I didn’t need to spend the years doing nothing.. I had some supplies from a Stereogum article I’d carried out in regards to the rise and fall in Myspace, and I had loads leftover from the article. I believed, “Okay, properly, I may be midway to a ebook,” and seems, I used to be not anyplace close to midway to a ebook. [Laughs] That was an overestimation on my half. Nevertheless it was sufficient to get began. I put collectively a pitch and it was off to the races by the top of the yr.

What was your private expertise with Myspace like?

I used to be on Friendster when that launched, however some younger woman I knew mentioned “nobody’s on Friendster anymore, we’re on Myspace.” So I joined Myspace, I consider I joined in early 2004. I immediately realized it was much more enjoyable; it felt much more wild and free. For those who had been buddies with somebody, you possibly can go to their Prime Eight and be like “Oh, okay, this individual appears cool,” or “Oh, she’s cute,” or “Okay, I like The Strokes, however I haven’t heard of Secret Machines, possibly they’re cool.” Like, “I like Demise Cab, I haven’t heard The Decemberists, I’ll examine them out.” You could possibly go down a rabbit gap to search out new individuals or bands. 

Did you have already got a way of the connection between emo and Myspace once you started reporting the ebook?

The purpose I made within the ebook is that if Myspace hadn’t existed, hip-hop would’ve continued to be large. If Myspace didn’t exist, Katy Perry would’ve finally gotten a report deal, had hit songs, and so on. Myspace helped this stuff, however they’d’ve been high-quality. I do consider that Myspace and the emo subculture actually discovered one another. The connection made each emo and social media larger than they’d’ve been if both half of that equation wasn’t round. As a result of emo was all about private connection, discovering your neighborhood, and let’s be trustworthy, messy oversharing — which can also be what social media is fueled by. In order that they had been an ideal pair.

Who would get pleasure from studying this ebook? Who would you say this ebook appeals to?

It in all probability could be music nerds. However anybody who’s simply into aughts tradition normally, who desires to know the way it was. It’s fascinating to me that Myspace and The OC began in the identical week. I don’t need to say that’s when the aughts started, as a result of the aughts had already been kicking, however your entire tradition entered into a distinct period at the moment. Finally Myspace was an increase and fall saga, and everybody enjoys an increase and fall saga. For those who like rise and fall story, in case you’re fascinated with aughts tradition, and in case you’re fascinated with the way in which the web has modified, you’d get pleasure from this ebook.

Order your copy of Prime Eight right here.