My record collection is cool

I find my record collection incredibly cool, because I never let anyone actually look at it, they just see the wall of shelves around the listening area and they say, "oh, man you must have been a DJ, or worked in the business or something, how'd you get THAT MANY records." But them not knowing exactly what's in it, means they probably populate it with cooler stuff in their minds, than what's probably actually in there. The legend of my record collection, is probably bigger among my acquaintances, friends and neighbors than maybe the real collection is. And that's fine with me.

 

My CD collection all have little Fonzie jackets and dark glasses on. They won't let me play them but they'll let me look.

 

There are only a handful of people I know that are really into music. So cool doesn't factor into it. My collection is for my enjoyment alone.

 

I've had a similar issue for many years. I would often try to force myself to like something because every person whose tastes I agreed with thought it was good. So, I bought every Leonard Cohen and Tom Waits album that I could, thinking, "Maybe someday these will click with me. I mean, if so many people with similar taste in music like these artists, then there must be something I'm missing, right?"

A few months ago, in anticipation of turning 50, I looked through my record collection and came to a sobering conclusion: I've become more of a curator than a listener. There is no way on earth I could listen to all of the 3,000+ LP's that I owned in my lifetime. And in many cases, I honestly woudn't want to. At least not enough to make owning them worthwhile. I had become less a music fan, and more a collector.

So, I did a purge. The whole "Does it spark joy?" thing. And when I did, I came to some interesting realizations. I finally figured out that I will probably never really like Leonard Cohen, because he's too jaded for my taste. Anyone who can respond to experiencing any feeling in the human emotional lexicon with either a shrug or a sigh has gone too far beyond the pale for me. I'm a passionate person, and Cohen sparks no passion. Just my opinion. YMMV.

So, I got rid of my Leonard Cohen, most of my Tom Waits (although I kept "Anthology," because it has most of the songs I like by him), a lot of ephemera like "The Adverts BBC Sessions," etc. And I actually find myself listening to more music now than I did before.

After getting rid of so much clutter, I can finally see the forest that was buried in the trees. Funny that.

 

I only have Elton LPs because I got originals of the first 7 or 8 (up to Captain Fantastic) given in excellent condition. All UK pressings with posters, inserts, elaborate sleeves etc.

I was outside a local second hand record shop and got talking to someone who'd just tried to sell them, but they were all in filthy and nicotine stained PVC sleeves so the shop turned them down. I mentioned that I'd never heard any of Elton's early albums and he said "they're great, you can have these if you want". When I got them home the manky PVC sleeves had done their job. The sleeves and records are all near perfect.

Sadly I haven't played them much. I get the impression Elton isn't for me outside of a few songs. I do get stick from some friends for having them too!

I have seen Elton live. He was good.

 

I kept about 8 Tom Waits LP that I got from a car boot sale for around 8-10 years before I had a similar realisation, I respect him as a writer but I don't enjoy his albums. I couldn't get past his voice. A shame as it was a nice little collection with all his 70s and 80s classics. They didn't grow on me though. I liked them less the more I tried. So I gave some away and sold the rest.

 

Vince Guaraldi is cool- way cool! I have a bunch of his records. Wish I'd taken the opportunity to go see him when he was still around.

 

Yeahh, he is my favorite musician! have a bunch of his lps too, but here in Brazil is expensive and rare, so i found em on internet..

 

That's great!

 

Does all the music from the 80s sound the same or something?

 

Project for the weekend: buy Elton John LPs!

 

I don't know what a cool record collection is but I have 42 boxes of records going back to the mid 1960's.
A bunch of old blues albums from the 50's and 60's. Some are probably scratched up some, they went through the 60's and 70's with me..lol

 

I still like most of the stuff I got into 35 odd years ago and still have the vinyl i bought from that time.

At some point there may have been a cool factor in the forefront of my mind but any attempt at serious elitism went the way of pimples.

 

"The What????"

 

My collection is so large and diverse that I'm sure that anyone looking through it would find something they find cool, something they would find uncool, and something (or many things) they would hate. I've had many people put-down my collection/taste because they have found a record by "XXX", ignoring records they do like in it. As much as they would put me down in that way, I would see it as them displaying limited open-mindedness. Ultimately I don't care what anyone else thinks, they are for my enjoyment (and for the enjoyment of anyone else who may want to listen to them with me). If people don't like it, then they can listen to their music and leave me to mine.

And, because I have selected every record in the collection (excluding gifts), every record is amazingly cool and has personal meaning to me.

 

The two Gary Glitter LPs. Ones called 'Glitter' and the other is called... er... 'Touch Me'...

No Gary, **** off you disgusting ****!

 

I imagine you having some incredible and very rare records in those boxes.

Scratched or not, give one a play today, you'll love it!