Hello, music lovers!
I hope you all had a fun and music-filled Record Store Day on April 19! I know I did.
I was only able to spend about an hour and a half at my hometown record store, and while I feel like I’d need way more than 90 minutes to browse the store’s entire record collection, 90 minutes was more than enough time for the Record Store Day bug to latch onto me. The store was crowded but pleasantly so. The staff was as helpful and friendly as ever. And used records were half off, so I didn’t have to exercise as much self-control as I usually do I made my selections.
Even though I introduced a few of the RSD releases that I was excited about in a previous post, I surprised myself by not picking up any of those releases. I have to pay for rent, gas and groceries, student loans—you know, grown-up stuff—so I have to invest in my music collection wisely, to get the most bang for my buck. And quite frankly, the selection of used records at my local store excited me a more than the special RSD releases. I’ve only been to a small handful of record stores, but Toad Hall in my hometown of Rockford, Illinois is the best that I’ve been to, in terms of used vinyl selection. You’re immediately greeted by blues records, new wave records, and old 45s, in addition to shelves of new vinyl, when you walk through the door. The next room over is packed to (almost) the ceiling with rock records, folk records, jazz records, and more. There are, I’m quite sure, thousands of records in those two rooms alone. And as if that’s not enough, the basement is filled with extra inventory and overflow, and the staff is more than happy to look down there if you don’t see what you’re looking for on the main floor. Other stores I’ve been to have a comparable selection of new vinyl. But for people like me who enjoy the thrill of finding old records, nowhere else I’ve been comes close.
The RSD releases that I was the most excited about—by The Animals, R.E.M., Bruce Springsteen, and Jimmy Page/The Black Crowes—were either gone or never in stock in the first place when I arrived that morning. But the records I did pick out more than made up for that. Look at those beauties.
(Clockwise from the top left: Cosmo’s Factory by Creedence Clearwater Revival, October by U2, Who’s Next by The Who, Helplessness Blues by Fleet Foxes, Damn the Torpedoes by Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, and Wish You Were Here by Pink Floyd.)
Things I would have picked up had my wallet not been screaming “NO MORE, PLEASE” at me: Led Zeppelin’s IV album, an original copy of The Doors’ first album. Maybe next time.
I did have room in my budget for a CD copy of U2’s Zooropa album, though, thanks to $2 CDs.
I know I’ve been sharing mostly new folk artists with The Write Teacher(s) readers, but record stores are really great at reminding me that my music roots are firmly planted in old rock and roll music. I always gravitate towards that section of Toad Hall and I almost always leave the store with at least one old rock and roll record.
Special thanks to Toad Hall for being so good to its customers, on Record Store Day and every other day of the year!
How about you, readers? Anybody partake in the Record Store Day fun? Where did you go? Did you buy anything super cool? Feel free to share in the comments!
Live, Love, Learn,