Hatched with the noblest of intentions, Record Store Day remains little more than a vehicle for driving commerce on an arbitrarily-chosen day. With an arcane name celebrating records—a method of consuming albums enjoyed by a relatively small faction of music fans—RSD began as a way of keeping the mom and pop record store alive and well. For those of us who cultivated our appreciation of music in such businesses–modest conclaves with bright posters covering the walls above the racks and racks of vinyl fare, curated by a team of knowledgeable, and often delightfully smug, clerks, that was where we learned things like, “If you like this band, you’ll probably like this band,” or even more importantly, “Did you know this band has a new album out?”
These bastions of rock and roll education suffered two hits in the past thirty years, the first being the rise of the CD. While the cassette tape offered a portable alternative to vinyl, it never really threatened the majesty of a deluxe album served up on a turntable. But the CD proved to be a different story. The CD offered the big sound of an album with the portability of a cassette. Technology–stalled during the turntable era–suddenly burst to life, offering a staggering number of alternatives for listening to CDs– you could play them in home stereos (with two, four, and six CD slots!), in your car, in boom boxes, etc. Fatally however, the CD bridged the gap between technology and music, and suddenly big box stores like Best Buy began selling CDs alongside the latest and greatest sound technologies. And the CDs were way cheaper than they were at the mom and pop stores, who caught up a bit too late. Best Buy used cheap CDs as bread crumbs to lead you to the home stereo department. “How in the world could you take that CD home and put it in some crap-ass stereo? Here, let me show you how it sounds in Dolby surround sound…”
Retailers like Tower kept pace, and as long as you had Towers keeping the dream alive, the smaller shops could continue breathing, but just barely. Even then, going to a record store was a statement- a defiant rejection of corporate America. You didn’t mind paying a buck or two more for your CDs because you dug the record store experience. Hell, it was a great excuse to get out of the house for a couple of hours and get some fresh air. Until 1999, when the intersection of broadband cable and file sharing services like Napster removed the need to leave home to obtain current, high quality music. Sure, like every new technology, there were pitfalls and growing pains, but ultimately the coders figured it all out and the kids fell into lock step with the new movement. No longer did you have to drive across town to get the new album you’ve been dying to hear- you just had to boot up the computer.
Record stores still exist, of course, and they likely will for a very long time. As long as audiophiles insist on vinyl solutions to their rock and roll problems, there will be vinyl. To keep these little shops alive, Record Store Day was founded with the intention of getting people out of the house to support these tiny holdovers from decades past. Musicians and labels began offering unique content, only on vinyl and sold only in record stores, to get people out shopping. In that sense it has become a charitable grass-roots movement with artists giving back to a culture that sent many of them off on their musical odysseys.
I go to my local shop every year and each time it’s the same thing- I leave with a handful of CDs that I don’t really care about, that stay in my car stereo for six months until I go home, rip them onto my laptop and donate to the local animal shelter thrift store. I’d like to say that it feels good to do, regardless of whether or not I dig the music I buy, but I can never quite escape the feeling that somewhere in the Cosmos, Charles Darwin is shaking his head at me.
Here’s a list of this year’s metal-related releases from my friends over at Metal Sucks:
