Quick Before It Melts launched 10 years ago today. In many ways this past decade feels like a lifetime, because in order to get back to the real start of Quick Before It Melts, I have to go back farther than July 26, 2006, back beyond my initial blogging experiments in the year before QBIM came online. I have to go all the way back to 1982, back to the day my mom agreed to buy me Spoons’ Arias & Symphonies in our local K-Mart, to the time I got it home, dropped the needle in the groove and changed my nine-year old life forever. From that day onward, I’ve been on a trajectory that’s led to now.
And now I’m posting to Quick Before It Melts for the last time.
There wasn’t a game plan in 2006 (and honestly, there really hasn’t been one since), but about three years ago, I came to understand this exercise in blogging that has become part of my daily existence would at some point have to come to an end. At the time, I wasn’t sure what the means to that end would be.
I hoped it wouldn’t be a technical failure, some digital catastrophe that would irreversibly wipe out my database. That would suck. But so too would not having an outlet for self-expression and sharing music that excites me with others. So it became clear to me that whenever the time came for Quick Before It Melts to end, it would be by my decision. I promised myself two things: I would end Quick Before It Melts before burning out and losing the desire to write anymore; and that I would do my utmost to keep posting right until the end.
To those that helped me keep the second promise about posting right up until the end, thank you for your contributions to this month’s 10 anniversary celebrations. The response to the 10/10 series of posts and the QBIM ONE HUNDRED has been phenomenal, and heartwarming. Tiana, Ryan, Louis, Alex, Jonathan, Mac, Matt, Dan, and Natalia: you all rock. Thanks so much.
Inasmuch as this post marks the end for posting at Quick Before It Melts, I still want to keep writing and blogging, so I’ve kept the first of my promises as well. Together with Mac Cameron, who’s been a great contributor these past few months, I will continue to share and blog about great Canadian music, both fresh and new releases and lost and forgotten Canadian gems of the past, over at our new project, DOMINIONATED, where we hope to grow a community of Canadian music lovers, writers, photographers, musicians, and artists.
Why the decision to start a new blog instead of continuing with Quick Before It Melts? Over 10 years, Quick Before It Melts has evolved. Though still technically a blog, it also began taking on characteristics of a music media outlet. It was a natural evolution and a conscious decision to move in that direction, but rather than evolving and changing again, it was time to bring this particular journey to an end and start a new one. Quick Before It Melts was very much a “me” thing, but DOMINIONATED (the spiritual successor to Quick Before It Melts) is very much an “us” thing, and both Mac and I are excited about this new chapter and hope you’ll consider following us, connecting with us, and contributing to the project in the future.
It might have been “useless and futile” making my way into the music blogging world in July 2006, but I did it anyway. My ambitions were modest (and downright embarrassing now), my audience non-existent, and my expectations of longevity extremely low. But I did it anyway. I started doing it like no one was reading (they weren’t), and I am forever grateful to those who found Quick Before It Melts along the way, the silent readers who’ve never reached out and those who periodically dropped me messages of encouragement and support over these past 10 years, messages that motivated me to keep doing at it.
You all rock. Thank you.
Jim.