I hear the sound of music … but the keyboard's different - music on the World Wide Web - includes related guide to 15 Web sites on music

American Visions, August-Sept, 1997 by Henry Chase, James Dunn

Do you know where you were when you first heard "Sexual Healing"? And does that song, to this day, instantaneously, magically transport you back through time--back, say, to that first romance, to a night filled with a sweet tension that seemed to ratchet up higher and higher, or to the cafe where it all fell apart amid bitterness, recrimination and lacerating words?

Pity future generations then, for their initial exposure to a song is likely to take place while sitting in front of a computer screen, fondling a rodent akin to, but less appealing than, Minnie.

The brave new cyberworld is rapidly shedding the simulacrum of print, plunging all of us headlong toward a world where machines are like our children: not only are they inscrutable and recalcitrant; they also talk back to us! We're not quite there yet, but we are certainly at the point where we can snatch a song, its singer's World Wide Web page, and a host of Web pages established by the singer's obsessed fans virtually out of the ether.

So get used to music via modem, divas on demand, techno music by techno means, the soul in the machine and rap on line rather than up against your head. In addition, get used to the prefix "cyber-." Whether cyberrhythm, cyberblues, cybersoul, cyberrock or cyberfunk, the Internet lays out a smorgasbord of musical genres--one that will arouse, satiate and then arouse again any music junkie's jones.

Imagine, R&B fans, downloading and listening to the sultry sounds of Anita Baker or the soundtrack lyrics to pop diva Whitney Houston's The Preacher's Wife. Now stop imagining and hook yourself up. All you need to accomplish these mundane tasks is a hundred bucks' worth of computer accessories: Speakers, a sound card and software enable you to download and play audio files from the Internet. Not only is acquiring the sounds easy--and a useful way of expanding your musical horizons without the expense of purchasing a sampler of compact discs (which, of course, you can also do on line)--it's by far the least interesting aspect of music in cyberspace.

The real edge to cybermusic is the fans' obsessions, which are now played out in public. Take, for a modest example, Rachel's tattoo: ribbon lettering proclaiming "Whitney Houston Forever." A "self-admitted Whitney addict," Rachel is a computer systems engineering student from Canada and the demiurge of the Whitney Houston Worship Webpage (http / /www.uoguelph.ca/~redecoste). Her page abounds with Whitneymania: A picture gallery, facts and statistics, a hagiography, audio and video, lyrics, a discography and fan club notes all testify to a passionate embrace of a distant idol, to a frenzy that surpasses understanding.

The page draws, on average, 3,000 hits daily. (Between November 29 and December 1, 1996, as the movie The Preacher's Wife [starring Houston and Denzel Washington] was released, the Whitney Houston Worship Webpage reached a milestone: 11,281 hits.) For die-hard Whitney fans, Rachel's Web site contains software that will change their Windows95 startup and shutdown screens to pictures of the recording artist-actress.

Rachel (with her 11,281 friends) is not alone. The Internet is rife with fans' tributes to their favorite musical artists, many of which have a short shelf life. "Mariah Carey is my inspiration," proclaims Danny van Oosterbosch. "I can't imagine life without her. Her music gives me strength and pleasure in life. This page is my tribute to her and to her fans." The inspiration may endure, but the page doesn't: http://www.geocities.com/ Broadway has ceased to exist.

A prediction: Before long, we will be thrust into another cycle of religious wars -- this one in cyberspace, where the best will be overwhelmed by the sheer number of clamoring idols and the worst will be full of passionate intensity for the one true goddess. Note, for instance, the web site devoted to "Miss Diana Ross" (http:/ /www.ccn.cs.dal.ca/~ag249/ ross.html). Repeat after me the liturgy therein proclaimed: "Diana Ross is the ultimate superstar. She has more charisma in her little finger than Whitney has in her entire body." (Know, too, brothers and sisters, that the sun was in Aries and the moon in Capricorn when we first were graced with the baby Diana's presence on Earth.)

The nameless and humble worshipper who created the Sade Web Tribute underscored the distance separating the devotee from the idol, implicitly reminding mortals that we are all unworthy: "It's called unofficial, because maybe the lady doesn't know it exists, and I am just another fan." It's almost certain that the lady doesn't know that this abode of worship exists: http://awaland.com/Sade has disappeared from the Net, another victim of the ephemeral nature of the Web world.

Ritual sacrifices are somewhat difficult on line, as are votive offerings. In their place, the goddess's worshippers at this site got to vote for their favorite Sade song and album. (If only we could vote for our favorite commandments: Thou shalt not drive whilst talking on a cellular phone. Thou shalt not covet the remote control. Thou shalt return my calls.)