Archived

Not Just Golden Oldies

They missed the era of the vinyl record. But some twentysomethings are making up for it now

  lej210@nyu.edu

It seems that America is slowly forgetting about the cumbersome record. Vinyl sales have predictably fallen over the past 10 years.

But you wouldn't know that by wandering into a vinyl record store, where an enthusiastic and varied clientele keeps the tradition alive.

Since CDs and mp3s were introduced in the late 1980s, vinyl record collecting has become a popular pastime for music aficionados and DJs. Some are young enough never to have experienced records as part of mainstream culture.

"You have to listen to the songs in the order that the artist intended it," said Mike Cowan, 21, who has been collecting records for just over two years. "The people I know collect vinyl because they're really serious about music."

Cowan thinks a record sounds warmer than a CD, and that the pops and clicks of the turntable add dimension to the music.

DJ Steve Pelaia, 25, collects vinyl to spin: many obscure songs are not released in mp3 digital formats (he smiled a little, admitting that he wasn't that computer savvy). It was easier to find original music on records than via fruitless Internet quests, he said.

"Since I've learned to DJ, my favorite thing about vinyl is the physical stuff [like scratching]," he said. "I don't know what you can do with a CD turntable. It definitely has an aura about it, the feel of a record."

Veteran collector Bryan Swirsky, 40, is a tad skeptical about youth interest in buying records.

"I don't know if it has to do about the love of music anymore. It's like a baseball card collection: Oh look! I have a Hank Williams special!" he said.

Swirsky remembers buying his first records for $2 or less, and has a pretty extensive collection, especially of punk rock. He says there are certain things he's looking for that he'll never have, because the prices are ridiculously high. He mentioned a rare punk single recently offered on eBay for $8,000.

"There's something wrong with that kind of mentality," he said. "It shows a complete and utter disregard for the social contract to spend $8,000 on two songs."

Cowan tends to stay away from trendy record stores, preferring little or thrift shops. When he's not shopping at places like the Salvation Army, he'll go straight to the source.

"If I'm looking for new stuff I get it from a band's performance or a band's website," he said. He said the records he buys at concerts are about $12- $15, the same price as a CD.

At The Sound Library, a small, airy record shop in Manhattan's East Village, customers sit at two turntables against the wall, eyes closed, engrossed in the sounds coming through the headphones. The walls are lined with record shelves, and boxes of $3 bargains are set up next to the window.

Record customers can be young or old, from any walk of life, depending on the store, according to Rasmus Jensen, 25, who has worked here for six years.

TSL sells records for $3 to $200, but Jensen remembers one he sold for $1,000. It was a privately-pressed Swedish record from 1972 by a band called Horselmat.

"There'll always be a few people who will buy that. If you have the right records, you can sell them at a price," he said.

When Swirsky is wandering in and out of vinyl stores, he tends to stay away from stores with a "gangly lot of unwashed hipsters."

But Jensen doesn't think vinyl collecting has become this kind of a trend.

"There's some of that, people buying vinyl because it's cool," he said. "But I think that can only go so far, because people are spending money on it. There are other things to spend money on to be cool."

Despite Swirsky's fear that the music on the vinyl could become meaningless for many collectors, he does think it's great that young kids are still buying rock records.

"It shows there's a continuity to what happened 40 years ago," he said. He said that often, young collectors get their start by raiding their parents' collections.

Cowan is living proof.

"I acquired a lot from my dad's old collection, 50 or so," he said.

But for Swirsky, regardless of trends, vinyl will always be about the music. "There's nothing better than finding a cheap record in a dusty bin somewhere."

Home | Using Livewire Articles | Contributors | Submissions | Contact Us