Pieces of Vinyl

When I was in college back in 1999-2004, I used to have quite the vinyl record collection. Even before that, I had vinyl. I was of that age. I wasn't into cassettes in the 80s that much, although some of my first albums I bought were on that format. But I began with vinyl. Mostly storybook or movie soundtracks on vinyl. I aquired some of my mom's vinyl for myself. Stuff like the Beatles, Huey Lewis, Billy Joel and others. My first record player was a Michael Jackson record player with a microphone. It looked like this:

Also in the house, we had a cool record player that lit up with disco lights and for a time in college, this was my player. It looked like this:

After that, It was cassettes from 1987-1993. Not many that were store bought. (My first cassette I ever bought was Whitesnake's self-titled album) I taped things off of the radio. Or I held a recorder up to the TV and recorded things that way. I did join BMG for a bit and get the standard 7 cassettes, buy 2 at double the price in two years and get another one free. In 1994, I got my first CD player with my own money I earned from my first job. I started buying Cds. Before my CD days were over, I owned over 400 CDs. I had bought and sold so many, I forgot how many I had aquired. The two CD stores I hit the most were Warehouse Records and New Moon Records in Mt. Pleasant, MI. (RIP to both)

Around college, I started to collect my favorite albums at the time on vinyl. Why? Just to hang on my wall, mostly. I wanted the shelf porn of it. But then I fell in love with a movie called "HIGH FIDELITY." I saw so much of myself in that movie, so much so that I would rank it in my top 3 favorite films of all time, sometimes feeling like it comes in at Number One with a bullet. I was always doing top 5 lists with my friends, I felt elitist with my music and movie tastes. I was overanalyzing relationships I was in. That movie spoke to me on so many levels. And I decided then and there that since I was such a hardcore music fan, I needed to have a vinyl collection. So I started collecting. And I didn't do it for the rarity or money value on certain pressings and all that. I got records I would actually play. They'd range in price from $2-20 each. I had over 100 pieces of vinyl by the time it ended for me. There was a period of 3-4 years where I listened to vinyl exclusively.

Before my mom died, she purchased one of those old style looking radio record players with a radio/cassette in it. It looked something like this:

I listened to my records on that. I also had a back up player with two external speakers that I used when I lived with my close buddy out in the country. Shortly thereafter, I met my wife, got married and he had to condense our things together. I had taken a job as a graphic artist and was bored to death at work all the time. I would bring stacks of Cds to listen to, and my poor records sat in a box, unable to be played. Ignored. Forgotten.

It was then that I learned of a new invention: The Ipod. I could literally bring every CD and my newly discovered love of Podcasts and talk radio with me everywhere I go, mostly to work, where I'd need it the most. So I began investing in ipods. And each time I got a new computer, my HD would crash or I'd get a new Ipod, I had to spend days reuploading all my music.. CD after CD to the HD of the imac to load up the ipod. It was tedious but I loved doing it. Eventually, move after move made me decide to do the inevitable: I had to sell off my vinyl. I didn't want to, but I never used it. It seemed silly to keep bringing it along. And I had Mp3's now. Easier. So off they went to various record stores in exchange for cash or DVDs I wanted. Or fast food money for my gut expansion. RIP my vinyl collection.

Eventually, I let my Cds go too. It seemed that Mp3 had the same sound quality as the CDs and it was impossible to find space for them all. Having them as files in a computer just made sense. So I sold off about 98% of my CDs. I still have about 25 of them. Mostly newer, special edition or remastered or rare ones. And I'll never get rid of them. And thats how I've lived for the last few years. I've even moved on from ipod to the convenience of having an iphone which now doubles as my ipod.

Still, my love of music tugs at me and makes me feel like I turned my back on it all. I felt not like a "real" music fan. I became envious of other people's collections. I just have that shelf porn mentality that I like a collection and enjoying it. But I've really tried to talk myself out of being like that. It's a brain struggle for me. And for the last few years, I don't listen to music as much as I used to. I have drowned in a sea of podcasts, talk radio and other things. My favorite bands only put out new records every five years or more. It sucks. But now the record companies (to stay alive) put out these remastered special editions and they have lit a fire under me to keep my head in the game I love.

Recently, my pal Shane has got into collecting vinyl and through our conversations, I began to recall how much fuller the sound quality is on the wax discs and how its lost on the digital mix, and its true. When you listen to an mp3, you are only getting about 25-30% of the music that was recorded for that song. You think: Someone set up a mic, recorded each part, the ambiance of the room. Its a capture. A window in time to a moment where music came alive and was created. Thats why its called a "Record." Its a record of an event. And I want to hear everything that was recorded that day, in the way it was intended. Its like seeing each brush stroke in a painting in person. The little things, that a recreation print or .jpg pic on google cannot show you. Mp3s are condensed and mixed down to save file space. In fact, it was created long ago when computers were slower and didn't have as big of memory. Now they do, and Mp3s are still the preferred file format and work with everything. Oh there are other options now like FLAC, but again, its a compatability issue. Mp3s vs. Vinyl, its like watching a movie on youtube. yeah, you can watch it, get the gist and its convenient. But If you saw it on Blu-ray, you'll see color changes, make up effects and other things in crystal clear clarity, the way it was intended to be seen.

Think of it this way also: I love to have things in the best possible form I can have them in. Absolute editions, trades, blu-rays. Everything cleaned up, clear, and in the best way possible. Thats why I rebought a lot of my favorite movies on Blu-Ray. Makes sense that I'd want that for my music, right? Now, records capture and show more sound than Mp3s or Cds can (70% more!). Thats simple math right there. Records are the better format. And the reason they still printed by certain bands is because they know that too. The only people that buy records anymore are "TRUE" music fans. Most others just steal it. (I know that will get me in trouble for saying that, but I think its true. You support the artists you can in the ways you can. If you do steal their music, at least go to their shows or buy a shirt. Help them financially so that they can continue to make music. That goes for any artform, okay?) And the good thing about most new records that are released on Vinyl, they always come with downloadable Mp3 links for free. So that appeases convenience of the modern era and sound quality nerds like myself. 

I'm a nostalgiac dude. Everything I collect is related to something in my past or something I love that reminds me of the past. I love holding books in my hand. I tried reading digitally on iphone or ipad. Its okay. But nothing beats the smell of old ink in a dollar bin comic book and the feeling of looking at the little trophies on the shelf showing what you conquored. Maybe its vanity. Maybe its silly. But its pieces of me, and I love having it. Also, I look at the things I own as an investment. If something were to happen to me, the wife could pawn these things and have money for them. Its better than wasting money as a gambler, or buying more food to fill my ever expanding gut. I'd rather have things to show for my money.

SO: What do I want to collect? I cannot collect EVERYTHING! I am left asking what is most important to me. I come back to music. Music to me is everything. I must have music. I must enjoy music. I must create music. I must celebrate music. And CDs, MP3s just don't do it for me. I need to hear everything. Every demo. Every outtake. Every bit of sound I am meant to hear. I want to experience it in the old ways. The style in which it was created. And I even need to hear the needle sound when it hits that wax disc and starts to spin and play. I need to hold the album and dissect the cover. I need to read the lyrics along with it, taking it all in. THATS how I celebrate music. Thats how I need it to be. For me. For me.

I think back to my early days and how I was happy with vinyl. How the sound effected me. When I didn't look for things in my life to be so convenient and clean. How when I was depressed, I could toss on a Dylan record and clean my house and feel better about it. Having the tiny ear buds in my ear and accidently hitting stop on the iphone in my pocket just doesn't feel the same. I've never liked it. I want the music in the air around me. I want others to hear it. I want my kids to hear it, and know why I love it so much.

All this comes down to a simple mathmatic decision: I'm collecting vinyl again. I want it all back and more. I want to keep celebrating music in my own way. And my way is vinyl. Its an old format, but its the best. They'll never quit making them, so long as us musicophiles exist. And we're not going away anytime soon. I've also come to the realization that my favorite bands are either breaking up, broke up or dead. And nothing much new is coming that excites me like my music eras did. So I will have my favorite albums of those times in the best form I can. And when I am gone, my kids can pawn my vinyl for cigarettes and hookers. OR maybe cue up the needle and drop it on a disc too and see a part of me they never heard before. They can connect with what I hear and feel when I hear my favorite songs and artists. Cause thats what music is to me. A doorway into the soul. And for my soul, I want the best I can get. Not for the trophies or the bragging rights of a shelf of nice vinyl, but the best key I can get to open the doors to the soul.

Hope you enjoyed reading this. Cheers!

P.s. Some of my thoughts on this same vein were talked about in the outstanding documentary called "SOUND CITY." Get it, watch it. Expand on these thoughts. Enjoy.

P.s.s. I currently don't have a vinyl record player. I let my friend borrow my mothers that she gave me, but we have since had a falling out and I am not likely getting that player back. So: I asked "santa wife" for one for Xmas. She will get me one I am sure. Meanwhile, I'm starting the collection now. Preparing.... 

P.s.s.s. The "Pieces of Vinyl" statements here are an inside joke to Stern fans cause Gary Dell'abate from the show refers to his collection as "Pieces of Vinyl" and Howard gave him a ton of shit for it. Now I call it that out of fun.