“I remember being a little kid and having this mahogany chest in my house that was full of vinyl and wondering why my parents still kept it around. It looked prehistoric to me.”
“It wasn’t until many years later, when I was in 9th grade, that I got heavy into sampling music and making beats that the world of vinyl came alive for me. Suddenly I was riffling through every left over record and yelling at my parents for getting rid of them!
You could sample from mp3s, but sound wise it was never even close. Vinyl just had a third dimension to it. It’s like when the needle drops you can feel the band there in the room with you. It gives you the feeling that your standing inside the music, not listening from the outside.
I still feel guilty to this day about the fact that I used to swap the good records into the cheap sleeves at the pawn shop. I used to take the good soul records and slide them into the Barbra Streisand sleeves and walk away with 30 dollars worth of good soul records for 5 dollars. Poor Barbra, her records were everywhere in pawn shops!
My favorite record was always Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon. I used to play that one over and over. Every time I heard it I felt like I was in another galaxy for a moment. It was just so strange and beautiful. I remember when I took my record collection to college when I finally got my own room and staying up all night listening to Dark Side of the Moon.
I stayed up so late I ended up missing my health class final exam and I flunked the class. I tried explaining to my teacher that technically it wasn’t my fault and it was all the vinyl’s fault but she didn’t buy it. I was so furious I had to take that stupid class again but I ended up sitting next a really beautiful girl and falling in love. So I guess I can thank vinyl for that too.
Life gets so hectic and it has been a long, long time since I have dropped a needle on a record but writing this is bringing back a montage of emotions. It might just be time to put my feet back in the water.”
—Mikey Mike
