My record collection…
Records have made a comeback. They’re cool again, at least among a certain crowd.
We still listened to records when I was a kid. They had cassette tapes, but they weren’t a thing yet. Of course, I was apparently behind the times. I remember mentioning a record to a friend in 6th grade, and that friend said, “Record? What’s a record?”
He was being facetious, of course, but that’s kind of how records went away. I didn’t own many of my own. I liked to pull out my mom’s old records and listen to Maxwell’s Silver Hammer, Get Off of My Cloud, and Needles and Pins. I remember these songs specifically because I listened to them so often.
I eventually transitioned over to tapes, then CDs, then MP3s. I didn’t know what to think when records started getting popular again a few years ago. People talk about them having a “warmer” sound. I don’t know what it is, but I like the way they sound, even the pops and hisses from older records. I like the fact that I can’t just listen to (and sometimes tune out) and album, that I actually have to get up in the middle of it and turn it over.
I still listen to CDs and to my iPod. Modern music works best on those. I like certain “sounds” on records, like the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, and Pink Floyd. Amy Winehouse has a great voice for records, and so does Adele.
Music is emotional, not factual, and people who love that emotional connection are probably people who enjoy records. Records are meant to be social. Thinking of listening to records conjures up ideas of a dimly lit or candlelit room with a bunch of people sitting around together, eyes half closed, just listening.
Do you listen to records?
Doree Weller 