I don't know if it's because the kids who grew up with them are now 75+ or because Discogs and E-bay made them easier to find, but a lot of 50's and early 60's records that used to list for $100+ are now 1/10th that. I recently picked up an extremely nice Johnny Preston Running Bear album for $1. An earlier seller had tried to get $15 for it, to no avail. Tim Neely's old Golmine book listed it in VG+ as a $50 record twenty years ago. Seen the same thing with that Scatman Crothers album on Topps. Of course junk Elvis reissues and soundtracks seem to have nose dived as well. What are your observations?
I don't think many of the Jefferson Airplane's (and their members offshoot releases) records go for much anymore -- maybe Bark with the paper bag, or mono copies of the first three.
Yeah, book value doesn't mean squat on a lot of stuff, like 50s and early 60s era 45s, much of which can be had for cheap. I'm not sure who's paying anything for Frankie Lymon 45s these days.
Spend time in used record shops, most vinyl buyers are under twenty-five, outside of Jazz and possibly a little Elvis, Country, Ska and Soul they barely buy anything released prior to 1967 and the generation who grew up with and bought the music of the fifties and early sixties are now elderly and rapidly becoming an uncommon sight in record shops. Even with Jazz that has undergone a big increase in collectors, pretty much anything before Hard Bop and large chunks after are barely fetching any money.
A lot of British Invasion (non-Classic Rock ) like DC5, Searchers, Freddie and the Dreamers, Herman's Hermits) LPs can be bought cheaply -- more so than 10 years ago.
I have to think that vast majority of surviving 1950s and early 60s LPs in the pop realm are in very bad shape, not to mention demand is low (jazz is a whole other story, of course). I never even see that stuff in the record shops anymore, but then I don't check the dollar bins.
80's albums by established rock dinosaurs. But I think they were always cheap. My second hand copy of Let's Dance still has it's price sticker on it. I think I bought it in 1993, and it was £1.99 even then. No one wants the Elvis mid 60's soundtracks. Ten a penny these days.
Agree on Elvis P., but my friends who run used record stores tell me that any time they get original issue Bowie records from any time in his career , they are gone within a week. The reissues sit in the bins though -- go figure! (too expensive ?)
Bark is one of those records that seems to be at every store. Overpressed? Re Bowie, I saw someone in line at the cash register the other day with an original LP of Never Let Me Down.
Recently picked up some Genesis albums in good nick on the Charisma label. Between £10-15 each at a record fair. Surprised how cheap they where considering they where original pressing !
There was a major warehouse dump of still sealed Herman’s Hermits back in the 80’s. Camelot cut out bins were full of them.
Volunteers was a successful album, so RCA assumed Bark would be, ignoring that the band had begun to fall apart by then.
We used to carry vinyl box sets of Glenn Miller, Fats Waller, etc. when I worked at Sam Goody in the Seventies. Now you can barely give them away . (*not a comment on their musical worth )
Every Mother's Son was another MGM Records act that had a ton of original 1960s pressing still in circulation in the '80s.
Some days at thrifts there are loads of vinyl box sets of classical as well as big band jazz. Now and then I see multiple Chicago at Carnegie Hall sets too.
Everything goes in cycles. Of course, as fans of artists die off, the price drops on their recorded output. Until the "good" music is discovered again far down the road, which also means that media like records become even rarer due to condition and scarcity. Are there any "original" fans left for Robert Johnson? Let me know when his records drop in value. Original Buddy Holly or Elvis' Sun records. Yes, I believe the Beatles records (original UK) will one day drop in value, but in time, great condition copies will rise to the top when future music lovers rediscover what all of us know now as to their greatness. I'm reminded of the scene in the original Indiana Jones movie concerning time and value: " Look at this. It's worthless - ten dollars from a vendor in the street. But I take it, I bury it in the sand for a thousand years, it becomes priceless." LOL. So keep your records in great condition, and 10,000 years from now, you'll get top dollar!
Like all things, many artists come and go. A lot of music that is loved by the Silent Generation does not translate with the younger generations thus lack demand with so much glut in the second-hand market. Mainly the "timeless" artists right now may not get the same amount of love from future generations since people's tastes are generally quite fickle, so who really knows which ones will stand the test of time when the Boomer and Generation X age out of existence.
i've been having a wonderful time lately sifting through dollar bins and finding great oldies gems in near-perfect condition - seems a shame that you can't sell a Lesley Gore record for more than a dollar but it's a win for me. i'll say something obvious that i notice in large volumes in every cheap bin are compilation records that labels used to put out - 'hits of today', 'disco hits' or those songs for teens fifties comps. only value is time capsule packaging or novelty. if only big shiny tunes had been on vinyl, i'd snap those up. also, extreme amounts of Wings Over America this past month for 10$ or less. Someone who owned 500 copies of Wings Over America must have kicked the bucket.
I think 60s stuff (even psychedelic) has slightly gone down. Now 90s and early 00s vinyl stuff (mainly by majors) is outrageously expensive
I don't know if Paul/Wings records have gone down in price but they don't seem to have had the price increase that has hit other 70's rock titles.
