Record Store Day, Just Another Day For A Vinyl Junkie

On the eve of Record Store Day I have realised that this is one day I probably won’t be in a record store; because I have spent every opportunity I can over the past 40 odd years in record stores, they need me to be available on the other 364 days when they are virtually deserted.

I have an obsession with records. It’s a music obsession that has manifested with records and collecting in particular. I love live music, going to gigs in venues big and small, musical instruments, amps, hardware, rigs, guitar pedals, mixing desks all the paraphernalia that accompanies the musical event or recording process.< I was asked recently "What are your hobbies?" when my wife answered by stating that I had a house full of hi fi, turntables, record players, music centres and cupboards and music on all the formats you could name, vinyl, cassette, cd's, minidisc, DVD Audio, downloads but he always plays vinyl, he loves vinyl….he's a vinyl junkie.
When I started the collecting of music which continues to this day there were record shops all over town. They were a Mecca for meeting friends but just as thrilling on your own, scouring the racks searching out the forgotten classic, the best kept secret, the latest release all the while listening to what the shop was playing and hoping that you recognised it. Once purchased the bus home revealed the tactile nature of the product, I would devour the sleeve notes, the lyrics, details of the musicians and songwriting credits all made the journey home pass very quickly. Then the joy of having the house to myself to play for the first time following the ritual of removing the record from the inner sleeve by the edges with special care not to touch the playing surface and then the joy of the stylus descending on the lead in groove for the first time on a virgin vinyl is a guilty pleasure indeed.
I had a couple of friends who worked at local record stores long gone now (see previous post about Cardiff's forgotten record shop) who occasionally would keep a new album to one side once for me once they unpacked the delivery if the album was going to sell out. On a regular basis there would be queues as soon as the shop opened it's doors when the racks at the front of the shops would be stacked with the release of the day. Artists such as Springsteen, Bowie, Queen in the very late 1970's and a few years later Prince in the 1980's all generated queues on the morning of release day. The last queue I remember was for the Manics, This Is My Truth album which was by then only a CD release.
Stores changed by the mid 1980's clearing away racks of vinyl and replacing them with far more lucrative compact discs which stayed in the £15.00 price bracket for quite a few years. I stayed with vinyl during that fallow period and it was very hard to get the latest releases in the 1990's and the last decade until about 5 years ago.
I have always been able to source vinyl for my fix, shops, Internet sites like eBay,second hand shops of all descriptions and sometimes other sources. I have personally benefitted from contacts who have recently "gone digital" installing a server and hard drive under the stairs and streaming their collection digitally into different rooms of the house controlling the selection on an app on their iPad selling to me or allowing me to have the pick of their whole collection which in most cases took a lifetime to acquire.
Young people are picking up on vinyl, they won't give up downloading single tracks to their iPods, mobile phones and devices but they like the art work and the tactile nature of the whole rigmarole in playing records.
I set up a record club event in a local bar similar to other events happening around the UK. I realised at the communal listening event that you see a film, hear the radio and listen to records.
I also realised that I was pleased that I was addicted and I am not looking for a cure.
I know that Record Store Day will be a success on the 20th April 2013.
For one day I will suspend my obsession and wonder if it will infect anyone new for over the next 40 years.