Wednesday, June 3, 2009
It was a thing called record store day last month. Which is when record stores (remember them?) do a little extra to get folks to engage. Steve Albini, a producer known for his credibility back in the day had this to say in the form of an ad for Reckless records:
This generated quite a bit of commenting which I thought was pretty great:
And it goes on - here .
This generated quite a bit of commenting which I thought was pretty great:
April 17th - 5:59 p.m.
Who's Steve Albini?
April 17th - 7:09 p.m.
Isn't he that wrestler, Stone Cold Steve Albini?
April 17th - 7:16 p.m.
I only heard one line of my all-time favorite record store conversations, but instantly I knew the complete lives of both people involved in it. Rose Records, Broadway, circa 1995, I walk past the guy restocking classical talking to another clerk--
"Telarc isn't a label, it's a scheme for separating the unwary from their money."
"Telarc isn't a label, it's a scheme for separating the unwary from their money."
April 18th - 5:20 a.m.
Quaint read but Steve missed his mark here. It's also surprising to see him wax so unapologeticly nostalgic. It's a bad analogy. You chat with peeps at a farmer's market because they were usually involved with the production of the item at hand.
Record store clerks are record store clerks usually because they've failed at some aspect of trying to be involved with the production of the item at hand.
There are some exceptions. Jerry Wick comes to mind, but in general record store clerk = bad musician.
It's been 10 years since a record store clerk turned me on to anything worthwhile. There s such a flood of choice out there on the intertubes which deems these guys irrelevant. They are the old gate keepers (at the bottom of the totem pole, as opposed to label heads the top) in a dying system. It's still the same dying system we keep reading about and they are still on the "selling it" side it. I'll keep my nostalgia for the guys on the "making it" side of the record/music industry.
This hints at the problem I have with "Record Store Day". It's still commerce. These aren't volunteer operations. How about "Sports Equipment Store Day" or "Car Dealer Day" or, more appropriate "Cobbler Day". Those are all guys who exist soley to sell me shit, impart some half-assed wisdom about the product, and in the last example impart some quaint nostalgic for a bygone time when peeps actually talked to each other, face to face.
Record store clerks are record store clerks usually because they've failed at some aspect of trying to be involved with the production of the item at hand.
There are some exceptions. Jerry Wick comes to mind, but in general record store clerk = bad musician.
It's been 10 years since a record store clerk turned me on to anything worthwhile. There s such a flood of choice out there on the intertubes which deems these guys irrelevant. They are the old gate keepers (at the bottom of the totem pole, as opposed to label heads the top) in a dying system. It's still the same dying system we keep reading about and they are still on the "selling it" side it. I'll keep my nostalgia for the guys on the "making it" side of the record/music industry.
This hints at the problem I have with "Record Store Day". It's still commerce. These aren't volunteer operations. How about "Sports Equipment Store Day" or "Car Dealer Day" or, more appropriate "Cobbler Day". Those are all guys who exist soley to sell me shit, impart some half-assed wisdom about the product, and in the last example impart some quaint nostalgic for a bygone time when peeps actually talked to each other, face to face.
And it goes on - here .
posted by luakabop at
3:43 PM
