The Insert Rant...

...for vinyl. Why do the inserts go missing? This is a real thorn in my side.

When I'm searching for that certain vinyl album on Discogs (or other sites), why is it that so many of the copies for sale are missing the inserts and/or printed inners? I just don't get it...even if it might be an old copy with lots of years under its belt.

What do folks do with them? Just leave them lying around, not putting them back in the sleeves, and they eventually get lost, thrown away, eaten by the dog, made into paper airplanes, etc.? The idea of that kind of neglect just drives me nuts, ha... I know some people don't have the same respect and care for things like I do, but come on! Put the darn things back where they belong! To me, it's only common sense, unless they enjoy seeing papers lying around the house.

Also, not that it has any clout here on this site, but I think Discogs should make it mandatory for sellers to say in their listings whether or not it includes the original inners, inserts, and any other items that originally came with it (hype stickers, OBI strips, merch forms). It would make it so much easier for buyers, since it would eliminate that extra step of having to contact the seller about it, wait for an answer, and hope the question is answered concisely and completely the first time.

Anyway, if this rant seems nit-picky and unnecessary, I apologize. But I like my vinyl to be complete, if at all possible.

Does this bother anyone else?

 

Eaten by the dog!!!! How dare you!!!!

 

Please insert

 

When vinyl was the only mass medium for music playback, records were the most basic and everyday commodities imaginable for most people. Like magazines and newspapers and junk mail, they were piled up and messed up and strewn about carelessly. The extreme opposite of the fussy modern collector with the outer and inner audiophile sleeves and the record cleaning machines.

Also, one word : partying.

 

Yes, it’s annoying, and bothersome that inserts are not included in old albums.

Why?
As you stated above, there’s various reasons.
Primarily, the owners just didn’t/don’t care.

I imagine many would have left out the inserted lyrics sheet out, to sing along to the record.
After a day or few, the record is slipped back into the jacket, if that, but the lyric sheet is left out, having fell underneath the bed or behind the bookshelf. Or thrown out with the daily newspaper and TV Guide.

Posters were taped to the bedroom wall, and just torn down when the teen moved out for college.

Obi strips were trashed. Useless advertising.

Hype stickers were junked as soon as the plastic wrap was completely torn off, to play the record.

 

Used is just what it says ... used.

I've found used vinyl that included things (stickers, poster) that my copy at home (from teenager years) no longer did.

 

drugs and alcohol .... and a bunch of folks who don't really care to look after things lol

 

I used to be a bit ocd about my vinyl .... i guess I still am with cd's and all the rest of it lol
My wife was annoyed I wouldn't let her take the stickers out of my Badmotorfinger box set ... she's like "why", and I reply "well you're going to sell your car at some point, so you essentially are just throwing away my stickers " lol

 

Yeah, I realize all those things that happen over the years to them...the partiers losing them, the kids tearing them up, etc.
But I've just always been this way...I've always taken good care of my music, even when all I bought were cassette tapes in the 80s. It's a characteristic thing more than anything else, I think...as well as having OCD, haha...

 

Posters, postcards, order forms and those sorta things....they got used.

 

You think people treated vinyl inserts badly? Try buying some old CDs.

 

True. I like it when those things are included, but it's not essential to me, like the inserts are.

Yup, I've had those experiences, too...somewhat recently, I received two CDs, both by the same band and both kinda rare (especially the first pressing of one of them, before they changed the band name slightly), and the inserts are moisture-warped. One of the booklets won't even open. And, of course, none of that was listed in the seller's listing. Needless to say, he got negative feedback, and this after contacting him and trying to work it out, to no avail.

 

Maybe it's the cynic in me, but when I see a first pressing of a record, but it has either an incorrect or a later pressing inner sleeve, my first thought is always that the album has had parts "switched out".

Or sometimes you will see "Early Pressing Jackets", but the record inside is a later pressing etc.

Which is actually quite common nowadays with old pressings being "collectibles".

Even with albums that always had inner sleeves that were similar, you have to be careful. For example, most of Elvis Presley's albums came with inner sleeves advertising his other RCA albums, but there was still a "correct ad sleeve" for the first pressings (usually). Later pressings would use ad sleeves more relevant to his newest or latest releases. So, for example, if you see a copy of a first pressing of "G.I. Blues" but the sleeve has ads promoting his mid to late 60's albums, you obviously know that it isn't the sleeve that came with the 1960 album.

It's no big deal of course, if one is just looking throw the vinyl itself on a turntable to hear the actual music, but as collectibles this stuff can matter.

 

When ordering, if the description doesn't say "includes original inserts" or "original inserts missing", best to send a message and ask!

 

A college friend of mine who was also a music fan, adorned his dorm room walls with the posters and inserts from The White Album, Dark Side of the Moon, and many more. The posters survived, but they were worse for wear and tear!

 

Just to say,hype stickers and merchandising sheets were not universal to all copies of the same record.

 

Of course inserts go missing - how could anyone resist wearing the mustache cutout from Sgt Pepper?!

 

People are careless with things they use and don't think much about them. Things have a habit of becoming worth something to others after someone has done their living all over it.

What era stuff are you looking at? 60s, 70s, 80s, etc.,?

 

Hey, man, I still have my poster insert from my Styx "Grand Illusion" album.

 

Back in the 80's, I bought my first copy of Let It Bleed used and it had the poster. If it had been s couple of years earlier I would have tacked it to my wall but I didn't want to ruin it, but for some reason instead of putting it back in the album sleeve I put it in a drawer and forgot about it. It's gone now, I scoured my mom's house looking for it several times over the years and I never found it and she never remembered having seen it. Still don't know why I removed it from the sleeve to begin with, for some reason it seemed wrong to keep it in there at the time.

Now I keep all inserts in LP's and I feel kinda sad for the posters that'll never get hung!

 

It's a miracle that old vinyl has survived at all, given the way it was handled by a lot of people (geeky audiophiles excluded). Discs and jackets were often just tossed about, handled with greasy fingers, written on, and left lying around collecting dust, crumbs and god knows what else. As for inserts, most of that I would imagine was pinned and taped to bedroom walls until torn or grown tired of, then tossed in the trash with last year's paisley shirt.

 

That is exactly it. Most posters went up on the wall with thumbtacks. Once they came down they were in no position to be preserved.

Alice Cooper's Muscle of Love album came with a paper book cover. I used it for my Latin book that year. It lasted a few months.

 

Calypso records from the 50s on Vitadisc records go one further...the company liked to include lyric sheets as extras with their albums. These were all individual songs and not necessarily all the tracks on the LP in question. On rare occasions, lyric sheets even appeared for songs that were not recorded. Given how rare Vitadisc LPs are generally, to find one with all its inserts intact is pretty special.

 

I forgot about that. I'm sure I must still have mine, along with the pair of blue panties wrapped around the School's Out disc.

From the Stacks: Alice Cooper – Muscle of Love

 

Oh man, that would be infuriating. Can't say I've had that happen, so far. Talk about deceiving!

Most of mine are 80s or newer, since that was the era I really began truly listening to music versus it just being background noise.

I do have some records that came with posters, and I've gone ahead and hung them up...but, 1. They're mine, 2. I do not use thumb tacks, and 3. They're not getting thrashed...anytime I want, I can take them down and put 'em back.