The Record Store

I was going off about music once at work (unbelievable, I know) sometime last year and I was talking about how I had just recently been to Flipside Records and it made me really miss "The Record Store". A co-worker of mine, quite a bit younger, asked me very honestly what "The Record Store" was. He had grown up in the post Napster/Big Box revolution and honestly had no clue what I was talking about.

I have at least a dozen opinions on said Napster/Big Box situation but I don't want to go into that right now. I'd rather just plain talk about "The Record Store" and how much I miss it. One of my favorite memories is being in a record store some time in 1991. Some album was playing over head and the person shopping with me said "Do you know who this is?" my reply was "No but whoever it is, they're openly ripping off Roger Waters". The guy behind the counter then looked up and shouted across the store "Hey genius, this IS Roger Waters. It's his new album". I was slightly embarrassed to say the least, but more importantly I had to go find said album and purchase it!

That was the thing that I loved the most about the record store; knowledge. People that worked at the record store LOVED music and they knew everything about it. Much like people in the auto repair industry rely completely on the gathering of knowledge of all makes and models, The Record Store employee did the same. Ever been to a auto repair shop and described a noise or issue with your car and they come right up with the solution? That's how the workers in the record store were! Having put in more than a few hours, I can tell you that one of the more enjoyable things about working in the record store was every few hours when a person would come up and ask for "that song". If you worked in a record store, you know what I'm talking about. If you didn't, then you've been the person asking. The conversation goes like this; Customer: Do you have that old song by that band? Record store: Which one? Customer: It's the one with the guitar that's like 'daaa da da daaa DA!" Record store: Hmmm, do you know any of the words? Customer: Umm.... He says 'oh baby' in it, I know that for sure!

Generally inside of a half hour, someone at the record store figured it out for you. And it was cool as hell to either be that guy or have that guy around. One of my favorite such stories happened to me while working for Media Play. In the same fashion as above a customer once asked me for the "new AC/DC" and seeing as they hadn't had a new album for a while, I started to find out if it was a certain tune he was looking for. After about 40 minutes of discussion, I found out he was looking for Seven Nation Army by The White Stripes which I found amazing on many levels. Not everything sounds the same to all ears, but to this day I'm astounded that he heard Seven Nation Army and somehow thought it was AC/DC!

The record store was always a great place to get an opinion too. Most of the time, whether you were asking or not, they would share their opinion with you on what you were buying or what you should buy. I always used to laugh when I'd over hear conversations like these. You would have a counter top surrounded by promotional materials for say the new Def Leppard release and a record store employee complaining about hating "corporate rock".

For me though, I would always love the recommendations that came along with the record store. Employees always had a band or artist they were passionate about that you HAD to hear. Or if you were looking for a certain artist, they could introduce you to something or someone similar. Most of the time it was an artist who had originated the sound you were looking for from that new artist. There was nothing quite like picking up an artist you'd never heard of or got a chance to listen to and wondering where it had been all your life! You owed the record store employee for changing that for you.

Today, by and large The Record Store doesn't exist. People trade music the old fashioned way on the internet but it's just not the same. To those stores out there still hanging on: YOU ARE LOVED! If you're reading this and you have an establishment near you still, please I beg you, give them your business. These are experts trained in the art of what they love. You may pay $2-3 more for a new release as opposed to a Big Box, but I assure you the experience alone is worth the few extra dollars.

If you have a favorite record store that's still in business, please comment on this post with their name and website if available!

-R