There oncewas a vast, diverse clientele that kept record stores viable. Independentstores specialized in certain kinds of music and even the larger ones had muchof what was sought by vinyl fanatics numbering in the millions. By the 1960sand the cultural prominence of the LP, these stores saw the future and movedinto real estate within metropolitan areas that was close to where specializedrecord buyers lived.
Before thisera, sheet music stores and musical instrument shops had little areas set asidefor some 78s or 45s. At first, there was no significant difference between theindependent and chain stores as the album rose to prominence. Even departmentstores sold LPs and by the mid-’60s one had many options for record shopping,including hardware stores.
But it wasin the ’70s and ’80s that record stores began to create specialized buyinggroups and the split began between chains and locally owned stores. RecordStoreDays concentrates onthis era and cites various districts in major cities, with Brady Street among them, where music fansgathered and went to the nearest record store for a day of seeking new soundsby familiar and unfamiliar artists.Often, albums were bought by virtue of cover artwork alone. Owners ofstores, even in the chains, were music fans and only too pleased to let acustomer break the shrink-wrap to expose the music to customers.
By the ’90s,this kind of service was dwindling but still in place until the CD arrived.Artwork obviously diminished in size and so did browsing. Re-packagedcatalogues were the thing at first, and people began to replace vinylcollections with the newly minted disc format.
Record Store Days is full of wonderful anecdotes from rockmusicians remembering buying their first records at their favorite store,including a delightful photo of a young Jonathan Richman. There is a storyabout one store owner who forgot to lock up one night and arrived the nextmorning to find his customers sleeping in the store on guard duty. When thePatti Smith Group did an in-store, Lenny Kaye reports that “I was playing toall these records I love” and that this was the audience for him. “You feltlike you were part of the universe of people who made records before you.”
Were it notfor a closing segment that feels like it has been paid for as a Record StoreDay promotion, this book would be better. It’s a fan manual celebrating a worldthat is trying for a comeback but is surrounded by an unseen enemy. In yourcomputer, look through the wiring and try to see a song. If you do, try adifferent prescriptive drug, for music is no longer in the sound object, thestore or even permanently in your possession. It is physically gone, but youcan hear it.
Record Store Days shows where music once was and does so with naive enthusiasm. It is a wistful,hopeful but funereal account of something that cannot be unburied. Ownership ofsound is dead.
