Record Store Day and the beauty (and drama) of music shops
I’m currently in the thick of recording songs that will make up my EP. I just got guitars back for what I’m fairly sure will be the first single, and whew. You’re in for it.
Another song that made the cut is called “Have You Even Heard of The Beatles?” It’s my cheeky response to the assumptions and dismissiveness of certain music fans. Yes, I’ve heard of / have heard The Beatles. I even like some of their music! Especially when covered by Sarah McLachlan or Tori Amos. When I wrote this particular song, I had a specific person in mind - the surly, grumpy dude at the record store counter wearing a torn vintage Led Zeppelin T-shirt. His unkept long greying hair is lifeless on his back as he clicks around on a computer, waiting to flip over The Beatles vinyl he’s playing for the entire store to hear. Ultimately, he’s harmless. As a teenage, that didn’t stop me from feeling sheepish as I brought my stack of used CDs to the counter. The scratched jewel cases of Fiona Apple and Natalie Merchant albums felt in contrast to the masculine dad rock that store clerks like this one would prefer. Going deeper, my purchase felt like a subtle outing of my gay teenage self. Again, he’s probably a nice guy. He probably even fucked with some Natalie Merchant in her 10,000 Maniacs days! But there are also music fans like him who assume we’ve all heard the same catalogues from the same bands. Rarely if ever are those assumptions based around the catalogues of women. While I wish I could speak in shorthand about the discographies of Björk and PJ Harvey with people in every day life, I know it’s rare for someone to have deep familiarity with these artists versus acts as ubiquitous as The Beatles.
During my freshman year of high school, I discovered Tori Amos through the online music message boards. My local public library had one of her albums, 1999’s To Venus and Back, in their collection. I brought it home and let the music transport me in my small bedroom. Venus is actually a double LP, the first disc being Tori’s fifth studio album and the second a compilation of live recordings from her previous band tour. It was the perfect introduction because it allowed me to hear where she was at now versus how she got here. Songs I loved from the live record were jumping off points into their original home records. Highly recommend this method of discovery!
For my teenage wallet, it made more sense to purchase the previous albums used. CDs used to range from $12-$18. Buying them used meant I was paying anywhere from $5 to as low as $2. One summer, my mom took my sister and I to Co-Op Records in Davenport, Iowa, an hour plus drive from our hometown. It’s the first time I remember going to a music store that wasn’t in the mall, and with the express purpose of buying used music. Unlike the big box chains such as Best Buy or Sam Goody, Co-Op felt lived-in and vibrant: promotional posters plastered haphazardly to the walls, band shirts on a small rack, new music prominently displayed in cardboard cut outs. This store was next to a Quizno’s, so you could smell toasted bread as you browsed. I didn’t have enough money to buy all of Tori’s catalogue, but I picked up her debut Little Earthquakes and its follow-up Under The Pink. This was 2001, so I also picked up the latest Ani DiFranco double album Revelling/Reckoning. This was a little pricier, but I was in the midst of getting into Ani’s music and wanted to explore.
At the counter, the dude with the long hair and unwashed t-shirt wasn’t working. Instead, a younger woman with glasses and a tank-top rung up my purchases. She picked up Little Earthquakes and said, “Wow. I love this record so much. And this one!” as she scanned Under The Pink. Immediately I felt excited about my decision to buy these albums, also feeling the kind of cool you feel when someone you look up to validates you. Before I left, the woman said “Tori’s album Boys For Pele is one of my favorites. You’ll have to listen to that next.” She gave me the breadcrumbs I needed and the encouragement to keep going. After running a few more errands that day, I kept thinking of the clerks’ comment about Boys For Pele. The way she said it made me intensely curious and anxious to experience it. Before we drove home, I asked my mom to take us back so I could swap Ani’s album for Boys For Pele. The same clerk was still working smiled and let out a “Ha!” as she processed my exchange.
Boys For Pele remains my favorite album of all time.
These are the types of record store experiences I hope everyone is fortunate enough to have. Even now, walking into a record store feels like the start of an adventure. You never know what you’ll find flipping through the stacks. When you come across a record you love with a $1.00 price sticker, you want to rescue it. How could anyone tire of such a magnificent, life-changing piece of work?! Before streaming music, this was the only way to (legally) discover large amounts of music. Especially as a young music fan, there was no way for you to buy everything you missed of artists with 5 to 10 to 20 year careers. It’s impossible to know the origins of how something ended up being plucked from a Best Buy shelf to being tossed in a disorganized bin of CDs with cracked, scratched cases - but I like imagining it.
This Jagged Little Pill CD? She was going through a breakup. This was her comfort. Eventually, she moved forward.
Pieces of You by Jewel? He secretly bought it from Wal-Mart and listened alone in his room. Eventually he wore it out and needed a new copy.
That second A*Teens album? It wasn’t as good as the ABBA covers album and his taste started becoming more alternative (this was me!)
I think a lot about the future of record stores. On April 19th 2008, the first Record Store Day was hosted. It was ideated by record shop owners and employees as a way to celebrate the kinds of stories I told above, and to help bring people into the stores during a time when buying physical music was declining. This weekend is Record Store Day 2023! Every year, artists and labels develop releases to help drive traffic into independent stores. Some of these releases are limited in pressing. I already have a few titles I’m eyeing, including a Frou Frou EP of b-sides and the first press of Poe’s debut album.
The day has gained popularity every year, as has vinyl itself. In March, vinyl overtook CDs in sales for the first time since 1987. Almost every new release has a vinyl pressing, usually on some kind of pretty color, sometimes with an exclusive cover, sometimes signed. You can even buy rare, limited test pressings of an album that the artist uses to gauge the sound and quality.
When I went to college, it was easier to leave behind my huge books of 200+ CDs and focus on growing the digital music collection I’d curated. In 2009, I started getting into vinyl. The original mass music media started making a comeback. Artists I loved began pressing their new albums on vinyl. This opened the door for a re-ignition of my music buying habits. Now, I wanted to own all of my old CDs on vinyl. I wanted to hear how they differed in sound due to different recording and pressing methods. I wanted to see the artwork enlarged, the liner notes easier to read than the squinting we had to do for CD booklets. Vinyl used to be cheap, too! Just like a used CD, you could buy an old Stevie Nicks record for a few bucks. New vinyl also ranged from $10-$15. Now, vinyl is more expensive than ever with a new title setting you back over double would it would have just 5 years ago.
Today, my vinyl collection is at over 450 records. *deep sigh*
I still remember my small and mighty collection that filled a 12x12 storage square. Now I have 16 cubes full. I’ve definitely sold a fair amount, and these days I am way more strict with what I buy. My excitement over this new-old way of consuming music turned into a bit of a collector’s habit. Not only did I want to purchase my favorite records from the 90s on vinyl, but I wanted every color. The fear of missing out on a limited release made me impulse buy two copies of the same record. In some cases, I would sell a variant for 3x what I paid. I’ve probably told everyone by now that half of my Lasik eye surgery was paid for by selling four Lana Del Rey albums to someone in China. These days, I try to listen to my records more and be less precious about collecting them. There are still albums that I want to own on vinyl that haven’t been pressed (a chunk of Tori’s catalogue and Nelly Furtado’s discography come to mind) but ultimately, I want to cool it down even more. Not to mention, moving this collection between apartments and state lines is one of the worst things I’ve ever had to do.
So on this Record Store Day 2023 weekend, I encourage you to dig deeper into your enjoyment of music. Whether that’s actually going to a record store to support them and pick up an exclusive title, playing a title you already own, or maybe even getting back into CDs - celebrate physical music and the physical hold it has on us. And don’t let the curmudgeon-y guy at the counter intimidate you from buying a Taylor Swift record.