Back in the 80’s BCD (Before Compact Discs), you pretty much had two options when it came to purchasing music. You could either pick up a cassette or you could pick up a vinyl album. As a young music fanatic with very little income ($5.00 a week only went so far), you had to make some pretty crucial decisions. You had to make decisions like, “Should I buy two cassettes or just one record?” and “Should I just stockpile my money for a few weeks and then just go out and pick up a few things at one time.” The other decision was as to which albums to purchase on cassette or record. Compilation albums such as Masters of Metal, White Hot, or other albums that didn’t really have any kind of mind blowing artwork was usually bought on cassette. Those K-Tel metal compilations were usually like $4.99 or so on cassette so if you saved for a couple of weeks you could buy two at the same time. When it came to vinyl purchases, I was a lot more selective and choosey over just what band would get my hard earned 10 bucks.
Vinyl purchases were reserved for the mightiest of them all. You didn’t clean toilets, the tub, and vacuum the entire house just to go blow your money on just any record. Those purchases were reserved for the big boys; the bands with the coolest artwork that you knew would be worth paying just a little bit extra for. So I would save my money for a few weeks and then make my way to the local record store with my stack of cash (usually about 30 bucks). I would peruse the metal section just looking at all the awesome album covers. Sometimes I would buy an album just based on its awesome album cover. That’s how I ended up with Venom’s At War With Satan album. I can remember when Iron Maiden’s Live after Death came out. I saw it in the record store and it was kind of expensive, maybe 15 bucks or so since it was a double album but damn it looked so awesome. I was a huge Maiden fan and I had to have it.
When I got home with that album, I ripped the cellophane off of it, took out the first record and put it on. As “Churchill’s Speech” came through my speakers, I sat on my bed and just looked at the cover for what felt like hours. I spent my time look at every inch of the cover, reading the awesome included book and reading the lyrics to every song as they played. For the duration of that album I was whisked away and I was completely sucked into the magic of that album. I had the same experiences with every other Iron Maiden album, Dio’s Holy Diver and Last in Line, and Kiss Alive I just to name a few.
Back then, buying music was a complete experience of the senses. It was earning your money, getting out of the house, going to the record store, talking to the cool long haired guy behind the counter about the cool shit to listen to, finding that specific album, taking it home, putting it on and losing yourself in the art work. When lyrics were included as part of the album packaging you got to find out just what the fuck they were singing finally taking the experience into a whole other realm.
That magic of purchasing music these days seems to be lost. It seems to be not much more than a fond memory and conversation topic for people my age and older. It seemed to start fading away with the introduction of the CD. Gone were the grand album covers with the amazing art work, lyric sheets and cool inserts. Instead they were replaced with smaller and much less detailed art work and when there were lyrics in the covers they were too damn small to read. Fast forward to where we are today with the advent of digital releases and that experience is completely gone. These days, if you want to buy music you sit at your computer, you put your credit card in or use your iTunes credit to download an album to your computer. When it is done you move it to your digital device and you go about your day listening to music as you jog, do yoga, yard work or drive around in your car.
The magical experience of really listening to an album and losing yourself in the music just isn’t there anymore and you have to really put yourself into it to get that experience. Hell, even I am guilty of doing it that way myself as I have become adapt to modern technology and its conveniences. When I find myself in a position and I feel that need to lose myself in the music, I got out into my living room; I pull out one of those old records. AC/DC If You Want Blood You’ve Got It, Iron Maiden Live after Death, or Black Sabbath Live Evil, it doesn’t matter. I’ll pull out that record, I’ll put it on and I’ll lose myself looking at the covers, reading the lyrics, looking at the inserts, and on some occasions I will catch a whiff of the smell of the inside of the album. That smell will take me right back to my bedroom 20 something years ago where I sat listening to this very album for the first time. It’s really quite a powerful experience that I try to have as often as I can.
To think that there is an entire generation out there that has completely missed out on this kind of experience. I’m sure that they feel like they are getting into the music and what not but they really don’t realize that they are only getting a small fraction of the experience. To all of my younger readers, I will present you with a challenge. Go to a used record store and find a really bad ass record to get. Pick up a record where the artwork and the music are equally as awe inspiring. Take it home, turn of your computer, put your smart phone away, and just sit there and take in the music. Listen to the crackle of the vinyl scratches, read the lyrics, look at all the subtle details of the art work and allow yourself to be taken away just for a moment. For that moment, it’s just you, the music, and the packaging it came in. I guarantee you will find it to be unlike anything you’ve ever experienced. It was how I and other people my age used to experience music every time we listened to music. As I type all of this I am listening to Iron Maiden’s Live After Death through a pair of computer speakers. When I am done with this, I am going to get me another cup of coffee, head out to the living room and put on the vinyl version. The true listening experience isn’t really gone; you just have to seek it out yourself. Trust me, it makes it all the more sweet.
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