Far be it for me to begrudge anyone who's jumped on this vinyl bandwagon -- God knows I loved my record collection when I was a kid.
Tower Records in Dublin (2023)
But that doesn’t mean I’m not LOLing that people are potentially paying $58(!) for an album -- Debbie Harry's "Koo Koo" -- that was quickly in the cutout bin back in ‘81, and left on the sidewalk by me when I went fully digital in ‘98, “special” edition or not!
P.S. Today on the subway I saw a group of kids -- possibly tourists -- using an old-school pocket camera, complete with winding film. (They even gambled on some selfies!) All of them had smartphones, so it got me wondering if that's which analog throwback is coming our way next.
2 comments:
Let me state upfront that I am old.
I remember when I went into the military in 1984. My first assignment was in Wiesbaden, Germany 30 minutes West of Frankfurt.
We would browse their extensive music selection at the PX-Army, Post Exchange in Mainz. There was this new thing called a disc. We wondered what it was. They told us it was like a mini album. What new space age thing is that. There was a limited selection since they were a new thing. We stuck to our albums. We loved our music. We would make our purchases and return to our dorms to play them. I had a roommate who protected all of his albums with plastic covers. They were priceless to him. He had every gay album and then some. Extensive collection. They were his babies. I had a patient who had a side hustle as a DJ and he gave me all the tips and tricks to purchase the perfect sound system. You do recall those big floor speakers? We had them along with a nice turn table. In the gay clubs, they would play 45s that were the size of albums. You could buy them at the German music stores and they would let you listen to them to see if you liked them before you bought them. I guess those little discs did catch on BUT now we are back to the albums. I believe the music is of better quality. I also loved to read the liner notes. I would poor over them for hours. And sometimes you might get a little extra inside. Oh, the good old days.
I guess what they say--What is old is new again--does apply.
Another Baby Boomer perspective. Growing up, I loved classical music. Yes, I know, I was an odd kid. But my Dad introduced me and I learned to love it. I had a stereo and a record collection, but with Classical records, the pops/clicks/hissing of the vinyl during the slow parts of the music, used to drive me nuts. Then, one birthday, my parents bought me this new thing, a "CD player" for my birthday. The first CD I ever played on it was "The Four Seasons" performed by the London Philharmonic. I remember pressing "play" on the player and nothing happened. I thought it was broken. Then, suddenly, the first strains of the violins came on. From that moment I was hooked and never wanted to play another vinyl record or cassette tape. I just laugh heartily now at all the hipsters with their vinyl and now their pocket cameras too.
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