Wednesday, September 3, 2008

Authenticity for Sale, Part 2


Running the Voodoo Down linked to a recent article in the NY Times discussing the resurgence (again) of vinyl LPs. For all you youngsters, LP stands for LONG PLAYING, as opposed to EP which means EXTENDED PLAYING as opposed to a SINGLE which is… never mind.

It seems that in the ongoing quest for individuality, some have discovered that records are a cool way to say Look at me, I’m unique! While I agree that records are cool, this dependence on stuff for distinctiveness is not. If you’ve read some recent posts, you’d know that this kind of thinking really bothers me. Consumerism should not be a requisite of the counterculture (or any culture).Weren’t we supposed to be getting away from all of this? Haven’t we already agreed that rampant capitalistic behavior, if unchecked, is not healthy? Like, in a planetary sense?

Besides, it’s just so corny. All these quotes are straight from the article:

…As soon as she opened her door his instincts were confirmed: she had a turntable. So did he. They both spoke the language of vinyl… There was this immediate mutual acknowledgment, like “we both totally understood what we define ourselves by (Honestly, if you heard someone talking like this, would you be able to keep a straight face?)

Remember, its all about money. Do not think for a second that this “resurgence” is some precious underground movement…

“Even if the industry doesn’t do all that well going forward, we could really carve this out to be a nice profitable niche,” said Bill Gagnon, a senior vice president at EMI Catalog Marketing, who is in charge of vinyl releases. He said that people who buy vinyl nowadays are charmed by the format’s earthy authenticity. “It’s almost a back-to-nature approach,” Mr. Gagnon said. “It’s the difference between growing your own vegetables and purchasing them frozen in the supermarket.(Whaaa?)

If you’re looking for a conspicuous way to advertise your connoisseur status, I guess vinyl is the new Pabst. Just like the guy says:

When I can have all the music in the world in the palm of my hand, what does it say about me that I spend $15 to $20 for this format that is a pain to store and move and is easily damaged?

Let me take a stab at this. What it says, to me at least, is that we are on the eve of the apocalypse and your place in heaven will entirely depend on how you spent all your monopoly money.

Here’s a much more productive use of your time. This link will take you to a nice blog where you can learn how to:

- record vinyl to digital

- make glasses from old records

- clone a vinyl record

- Make your own vinyl record

I’m not going to get all preachy (too late?) and sum up this post with a plea for common sense or self reliance. Do what you want, by all means. But if you happen to appear in newspaper articles talking about how you attribute your identity to a fucking consumer product, you can expect at least a little bit of backlash. Peace.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Thanks for using the word "corny." I was watching a Looney Tunes cartoon the other day and it portrayed some "hepcats" don'tcha know and some "squares" as well, and everything the squares did was "corny," and it occurred to me for the first time ever (because I was thinking about it in a 1940s/50s context) that in the age of bebop and the new zippy urban style of that era, "corny" probably originally meant "country," i.e. unsophisticated, provincial, appealing only to someone who just came straight out the Corn Belt. (Still means basically the same thing, except now the whole nation is corny.)

I love how that Times article opens: It practically guarantees you a lay, if not the utter love of your life, if only you'd just buy some old records. (That and the thick-framed eyeglasses, bangs and vintage dresses.)

And what is this great mystifying "language of vinyl?" Words like "groove" and "sleeve" and "cleaner" and "stylus" and "spindle?" HOT!

Collecting vinyl went through a heyday in the 90s too, then fell out of favor. I started collecting as a kid in the 70s when it was still the only viable format. I hung on longer than many. But a couple years ago I took all my records, and the cabinet they were kept in, and set it outside on the sidewalk with a "FREE" sign. It was quickly gobbled up by people who will presumably use my shitty records to impress each other on dates!

M.Farina said...

Yeah, you're right. We're all corny now. It's everywhere, even in our gasoline. Can you make records out of corn products?

Anonymous said...

Seems to me that records have one thing going for them:

1) Size. Size matters when you're talking about good album art. But for that matter, size also matters when you're talking about storage. Ugh. Maybe this isn't going to work...

I know people love them, and I can't bring myself to get rid of the crates I've got, but they're no more authentic than reel to reel (which, incidentally, is a better archival storage medium than records OR cd's.) It's just a status thing, nothing more, and the fact that status of this kind is granted to THIS and not THAT just goes to show that it's random and ultimately hollow. Like the guy who sniffed at my 12 year old mountain bike, and proceeded to explain that he's not interested in bikes as a fashion statement... but he rides a fixed gear bike, just like the messengers downtown.

And they prolly can make records out of corn, they make "plastic" tableware out of corn now... As long as it stays out of my beer, I'm good (see previous discussion regarding PBR.)