[michael_michael]

Something similar happened to me. An artist I liked effusively praised Django Reinhardt in their CD liner notes. For a sheltered suburbanite, the words "Django Reinhardt" were more or less gobbledygook, so I had to figure out exactly who or what it meant and why it prompted one of my favorite guitarists to pen an ode of praise. All this sent me on a months-long quest to track down albums and information in a pre-search-engine flyover state about an obscure gypsy guitarist.

It wasn't till I was a year or so into knowing about Django Reinhardt that I learned he did it all with just two fingers on his left hand. It blew my mind.

I wonder if we've gained or lost something culturally by having the detailed discography and life story of every artist in our pockets.

[imp0cat]

We gained a lot! In fact, I think we are approaching the possible maximum (that maximum obviously being the nineties/early 2000 days of audiogalaxy, napster etc... when people shared pretty much any kind of music).