“My first record was Let It Be by The Beatles. It was given to me by a random woman (I can’t remember where) when I was in the 8th grade. At the time, I had just started getting into the Beatles and music in general, so I didn’t have a record player. I had to beg my sister to let me use hers, and even then she only let me listen to it once.”
“By the time I got my own record player, I discovered The Doors and their debut album ended up being the first record I purchased myself. I later got it signed by John Densmore. Since then, a majority of my money goes to purchasing records. I go to record shops regularly, even making sure to stop in a few in different cities while on tour. I still listen to digital music all the time, but there’s just just something special about vinyl.
Digital music is easy to carry around with you on your phone, but listening to vinyl is an experience—everything from hunting down the records, purchasing them, listening to them, admiring the artwork… it’s like a ritual. I get a buzz from digging through old boxes of LPs, taking them home and listening to them for the first time.
Records are what opened my eyes (and ears) to music not just as a background noise, but as a mythical art form filled with emotion and passion. Every day since my first vinyl experience, I’ve had music on my brain 24/7.
The way I’ve listened to records has evolved as well; when I first started, I would buy stuff I had heard before, or if I saw something interesting (a cool band name, a funny cover, etc.) I would take note of it and listen to it when I got home to decide if I wanted to purchase it later on. Nowadays I think it’s just more fun to get random stuff, even if I haven’t heard it. Records are just special, and sometimes the ones I’ve never even heard of end up becoming my favorites.
Having our EP pressed to vinyl was a really long process, so it was pretty relieving to finally put it on the turntable for the first time. I felt very proud and even got a little emotional—I sat there that first time, eating my blueberry muffin with a wide smile on my face that I just couldn’t get rid of.
It was a real full circle moment to see and hear something I put my heart and soul into in the form of vinyl–a thing I’m so passionate about. It was easily a music memory I’ll never forget.”
—Kenneth Frost
Enter to win The Cuckoos’ self titled EP on vinyl by citing in the comments below the first record that turned you on to vinyl—and briefly why. We’ll choose one enthusiastic commenter with a North American mailing address one week from today, October 3, 2017.
