“It’s because we’re supposed to be inspiring each other, not jerking off and cramming it onto an LP. Real metaphors.”
“I worked at Streetlight Records in Santa Cruz, California for 4 years after high school. Slinging vinyl was a coveted role and no aspiring young Beat like myself would look down on Streetlight’s selection. All good girls know there’s a big importance in protecting and sharing records. Fine records enhance the mind and what good are thick sticks if you’re running the ship with earwax?
I bought Cat Power’s Dear Sir LP after hearing the track “Mr. Gallo” on a rainy day. It wasn’t my first record but it was the first to be listened to front to back. It’s the type of record you sit down and you listen to. I mean you let it get at you—it’s your world for the hour. So it was then I knew how strong the concept of an album was. And it was then that I fell in love with vinyl as a format.
It was tremendously different from plugging in and zoning out to music on my computer. This makes me think we as a collective or as individuals should try harder to introduce friends to records.
Collecting records is both engaging and private. How do I convince whoever’s reading to go out and pick up Black Sabbath’s eponymous debut?”
—Rachel Fannan
