Wanna check out my record collection?
"My record collection, it's phuckin' rad
Got all the Dischord, almost all the Touch And Go, almost all the Dangerhouse!!!
I got the Bags single and "Yes LA" too
My record collection, my record collection
It's rad! It's rad! It's rad! It's rad!
Got all the Dischord, "Legless Bull" too
SSD "Kids Will Have Their Say"
My record collection, my record collection
It's rad! It's rad! It's rad! It's rad!"
Yeah... records. I used to be obsessed with them what seems like forever ago. It started innocently enough. All I wanted to listen to certain records that were not on cd, or available at all back then. This was before you could go to the store and buy Youth Of Today "Can't Close My Eyes" or "We're Not In This Alone", 7 Seconds "Skins Brains and Guts" or "Committed For Life", the FU's records, etc on cd. I would scour flea markets, record stores, record shows, and this fairly new thing called the internet (newgroups were a great place to find records)... anywhere ever to find a gem.
It was fun. You felt like you were unearthing these awesome forgotten rare punk treasures. There were a lot of deals to be had back then. I remember passing up the DYS "Brotherhood" on Xclaim for $25 because I thought that was too much to spend on that record. I got the Necros "Conquest For Death" LP for $10 (I later sold it for $100). I bought a weird comp called "Bands That Could Be God" that was still in the shrink wrap for $3 at a record show because it had Deep Wound on it (I just had to pay $20 on eBay to get it back. The last one sold on eBay for over $100).
As with any obsession, there comes a point were it's out of control. Why did I need the Minor Threat "In My Eyes" 7" if I had it on cd twice over? Why did I need Youth Of Today's "We're Not In This Alone" on 1st mix vinyl, 2nd mix vinyl, bootleg cd, AND CASSETTE? I didn't. Around the same time my stereo broke and I accidentally replaced it with one that didn't have a phono stage.
As time went on more and more stuff became available on cd. It took me like five or more years to find the McRad "Absence of Sanity" LP, now you can get the discography cd on Amazon.com. I think that's great, but what are the odds that someone who buys that will be as excited I was to hear "My Weakness" again after all those years since the Powell Peralta video "Public Domain" came out? I doubt it.
So, I sold most of my records. Most I don't miss. Since I've recently got back into "collecting", I've been trying to replace some. It's a lot less fun now. eBay is the only place to find records anymore, which means I'd have to pay over ten times the amount I paid for the same records before. All the rare punk treasures have already been unearthed and are now going for hundreds of dollars. Some are impossible to find at all (Whoever has my Blood Bats "Stopping a Freight Train On a Dime" better give it back!).
Which brings this babbling full circle, because one of those things I was looking for and couldn't find was the Pillsbury Hardcore "In A Straight Edge Limbo" 7". The singer just "reissued" it in a limited pressing of 100 on cd (er... CD-R). I was stoked to get it because I sold/traded it to one of the guys from Kill Your Idols years ago and always regretted it. It had the funniest song ever on it, called "Wanna Check Out My Record Collection"...
Got all the Dischord, almost all the Touch And Go, almost all the Dangerhouse!!!
I got the Bags single and "Yes LA" too
My record collection, my record collection
It's rad! It's rad! It's rad! It's rad!
Got all the Dischord, "Legless Bull" too
SSD "Kids Will Have Their Say"
My record collection, my record collection
It's rad! It's rad! It's rad! It's rad!"
Yeah... records. I used to be obsessed with them what seems like forever ago. It started innocently enough. All I wanted to listen to certain records that were not on cd, or available at all back then. This was before you could go to the store and buy Youth Of Today "Can't Close My Eyes" or "We're Not In This Alone", 7 Seconds "Skins Brains and Guts" or "Committed For Life", the FU's records, etc on cd. I would scour flea markets, record stores, record shows, and this fairly new thing called the internet (newgroups were a great place to find records)... anywhere ever to find a gem.
It was fun. You felt like you were unearthing these awesome forgotten rare punk treasures. There were a lot of deals to be had back then. I remember passing up the DYS "Brotherhood" on Xclaim for $25 because I thought that was too much to spend on that record. I got the Necros "Conquest For Death" LP for $10 (I later sold it for $100). I bought a weird comp called "Bands That Could Be God" that was still in the shrink wrap for $3 at a record show because it had Deep Wound on it (I just had to pay $20 on eBay to get it back. The last one sold on eBay for over $100).
As with any obsession, there comes a point were it's out of control. Why did I need the Minor Threat "In My Eyes" 7" if I had it on cd twice over? Why did I need Youth Of Today's "We're Not In This Alone" on 1st mix vinyl, 2nd mix vinyl, bootleg cd, AND CASSETTE? I didn't. Around the same time my stereo broke and I accidentally replaced it with one that didn't have a phono stage.
As time went on more and more stuff became available on cd. It took me like five or more years to find the McRad "Absence of Sanity" LP, now you can get the discography cd on Amazon.com. I think that's great, but what are the odds that someone who buys that will be as excited I was to hear "My Weakness" again after all those years since the Powell Peralta video "Public Domain" came out? I doubt it.
So, I sold most of my records. Most I don't miss. Since I've recently got back into "collecting", I've been trying to replace some. It's a lot less fun now. eBay is the only place to find records anymore, which means I'd have to pay over ten times the amount I paid for the same records before. All the rare punk treasures have already been unearthed and are now going for hundreds of dollars. Some are impossible to find at all (Whoever has my Blood Bats "Stopping a Freight Train On a Dime" better give it back!).
Which brings this babbling full circle, because one of those things I was looking for and couldn't find was the Pillsbury Hardcore "In A Straight Edge Limbo" 7". The singer just "reissued" it in a limited pressing of 100 on cd (er... CD-R). I was stoked to get it because I sold/traded it to one of the guys from Kill Your Idols years ago and always regretted it. It had the funniest song ever on it, called "Wanna Check Out My Record Collection"...