{"id":1486,"date":"2019-05-13T20:24:34","date_gmt":"2019-05-13T20:24:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/needletothegroove.net\/?p=1486"},"modified":"2019-05-13T20:24:34","modified_gmt":"2019-05-13T20:24:34","slug":"in-defense-of-rsd","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/needletothegroove.net\/index.php\/2019\/05\/13\/in-defense-of-rsd\/","title":{"rendered":"In Defense of RSD"},"content":{"rendered":"

In Defense of Record Store Day <\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

I\u2019ll admit it: before last Saturday, I was an RSD hater.<\/p>\n

Just like some of the posts swirling around social media protesting the day as a faux, greeting card-esque holiday, I\u2019d written it off a long while back, when I realized a line out the door of a local record store wasn\u2019t because the building was at capacity \u2013 it was because there were dozens of folks eagerly waiting to peruse three boxes of records placed on plastic tables at the front of the shop. Since I wasn\u2019t interested in the exclusives, I walked right in and browsed a floor that, aside from that snaking queue, seemed like a standard Saturday. That image has stuck with me for whatever reason \u2013 what makes these items so sought after when there are thousands of other titles readily available? Guess the thought just didn\u2019t jive with why I first started digging.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve \u201cobserved\u201d the day ever since, though in my own way. My brother and I would make a day out of it, visiting our favorite local shops and always picking up something. Since RSD is presented as an initiative to help promote local, independent record shops, we felt it was important to show up and support, even if we weren\u2019t indulging in the exclusives that garnered all the buzz.<\/p>\n

This year, getting a chance to see RSD from the other side of the counter, I changed my tune a bit. I had the opportunity to witness and interact with many pockets of vinyl culture I\u2019d otherwise judge from a distance, and it helped me understand what makes the day special.<\/p>\n

When I arrived prior to opening, I saw an older couple that frequents our store second and third in line. They\u2019d been standing out front on Tenth Street for three hours. Later, I encountered a man and two teenagers (his nephews? his sons?), all decked out in fresh Weezer gear from the band\u2019s Oakland tour stop earlier in the week and geeking out that they secured copies of the RSD Blue Album and Teal Album exclusives. They\u2019d turned the day into a bonding moment, a celebration of Rivers and the Weez.<\/p>\n

Similarly, there was a woman who frantically called looking for a Duran Duran exclusive. Though I couldn\u2019t guarantee availability, I could confirm we\u2019d received the title. Less than an hour later, I was greeted up front by a super fan \u2013 Duran Duran t-shirt matching a Duran Duran hat adorned with Duran Duran pins \u2013 who wondered if we might have any other stuff from her favorite band. Even for a die hard fan, I was able to locate a few picture sleeve singles she didn\u2019t think she had in her collection.<\/p>\n

The one that stands out the most though is a younger woman with glasses, who met me at the check out counter with two RSD exclusives from the Bird and the Bee. She had also called ahead, and was elated to find out we were the only store that carried the titles she was anxiously looking to procure. As I rang her up, she said \u201cI can\u2019t tell you how much this means to me,\u201d going on to mention that she had a chance to interview the bandleader in her school paper and has been a super grateful fan ever since. This support was her way of returning that gracious favor.<\/p>\n

While I\u2019ll always find it criminal that it\u2019s ok to significantly mark up a bargain record<\/a> simply because it\u2019s a shiny new color, I also recognize that Record Store Day is its own sort of phenomenon. Much like Black Friday, some come out for the rush, to see if they were able to arrive early enough to get that one record before the limited stock runs out. Isn\u2019t that why a lot of us dig in the first place, to come into contact with a title that\u2019s continued to allude us, or to discover something that renews our devotion to this beautiful thing called music?<\/p>\n

I\u2019m reminded of another interaction later in the afternoon, when a man was at the shop with his daughter and her friends. He played an Iron Maiden record at the listening station and handed the girls a pair of headphones, telling them this was the music he was listening to at their age. This may have been the first time those girls stepped foot in a record store, the first time their fingers have sorted through rows of unknown records, their eyes drawn to beautiful cover art or a familiar artist. If I hadn\u2019t accompanied my brother to On the Corner years back and spent four bucks on Steely Dan\u2019s Aja<\/em>, there\u2019s no way I\u2019d have the collection I\u2019ve accumulated today, much less chosen to DJ with that collection. I can\u2019t be mad at an event that can serve as a gateway for inspiring future vinyl lovers. We all start somewhere. I\u2019m not sure if I\u2019ll see many of those patrons again before RSD Black Friday, or even next year\u2019s event, and that\u2019s fine.<\/p>\n

Though I doubt my impatience will ever allow me to be the kind of person who lines up hours ahead of time on RSD, my experience helped me gain some needed respect and appreciation for those who do. The vast majority of folks aren\u2019t looking to make a quick buck by flipping their rare purchase for double the price on eBay. Rather, they\u2019re fans excited to support their favorite artist, dig deeper into a favorite album, or simply feel the energy of a lively record shop. The day injects a communal mentality into what can sometimes feel like an isolated pursuit, letting those of us who have spent hours searching through dusty bins to find that grail know that we are not alone.<\/p>\n

by Brandon Roos – 2019
\n@brandiathan<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In Defense of Record Store Day \u00a0 I\u2019ll admit it: before last Saturday, I was an RSD hater. Just like some of the posts swirling around social media protesting the day as a faux, greeting card-esque holiday, I\u2019d written it off a long while back, when I realized a line out the door of a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1487,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_bbp_topic_count":0,"_bbp_reply_count":0,"_bbp_total_topic_count":0,"_bbp_total_reply_count":0,"_bbp_voice_count":0,"_bbp_anonymous_reply_count":0,"_bbp_topic_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_reply_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_forum_subforum_count":0,"_EventAllDay":false,"_EventTimezone":"","_EventStartDate":"","_EventEndDate":"","_EventStartDateUTC":"","_EventEndDateUTC":"","_EventShowMap":false,"_EventShowMapLink":false,"_EventURL":"","_EventCost":"","_EventCostDescription":"","_EventCurrencySymbol":"","_EventCurrencyCode":"","_EventCurrencyPosition":"","_EventDateTimeSeparator":"","_EventTimeRangeSeparator":"","_EventOrganizerID":[],"_EventVenueID":0,"_OrganizerEmail":"","_OrganizerPhone":"","_OrganizerWebsite":"","_VenueAddress":"","_VenueCity":"","_VenueCountry":"","_VenueProvince":"","_VenueZip":"","_VenuePhone":"","_VenueURL":"","_VenueStateProvince":"","_VenueLat":"","_VenueLng":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/needletothegroove.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1486"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/needletothegroove.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/needletothegroove.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/needletothegroove.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/needletothegroove.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1486"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/needletothegroove.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1486\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1488,"href":"https:\/\/needletothegroove.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1486\/revisions\/1488"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/needletothegroove.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1487"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/needletothegroove.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1486"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/needletothegroove.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1486"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/needletothegroove.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1486"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}