It is a no-brainer to say that the price of music has gone up significantly over the years. In the long-ago days of the mid-1980s, I can remember going into a record store and getting some Dennis Brown and Bob Marley songs taped off for the whopping price of $40.
Now we are into the era of the double CD package, where the prices easily go over $1,000. Okay, so inflation has hit us all, no big deal there.
Inflation
However, inflation has also hit the music as well. Not just the final product, but the lyrics as well. Looking back at a couple of the songs and the amount of money that is mentioned in them is a trip ? in more ways than one. There is laughter and there is a sense of 'where did those cheap days go?'
Take the Supercat tune Trash and Ready, that came out on the immortal Sleng Teng rhythm in the mid 1980s. He speaks about all the hot clothes that is being worn, going on to the prices of the duds. And remember, these were really big prices at the time.
'The pants whe we wear cos' $250', Supercat chants. That was big, big money at the time, $250. Now, not even at the famous Bashco can you get a pair of pants for that amount of money. In fact, $250 is less than the cost of a taxi ride from Price Rite near the foot of Red Hills to downtown Kingston. It cannot buy an original CD. It can hardly buy a meal package at the fast food restaurant nearest you, come to think of it.
To make it even better, the pants was the most expensive item that the Cat mentioned in that song. So, the entire outfit could not have cost more than $1,000. That is amazing.
All products
Now, that is inflation ? the cost of a weight of herb becoming the cost of a bag in about 20 years.
And it is not even a big bag, come to think of it.
