The Dumb Reason Why I Started Collecting Vinyl Records

This is a Rebel Post. Rebel Posts are off-topic posts about anything I feel like writing about. Please enjoy.

For a really long time I was one of those annoying people that couldn’t understand why vinyl was making a come back. It seemed like at every garage sale we had my dad was trying to sell off his records. No one ever wanted them year after year. I would go into record shops and see bin upon bin of albums no one wanted anymore. Collections that probably took years and hundreds of dollars to build up were dumped at shops for $20. It didn’t make any sense to me.

But then curiosity got the best of me. Why was vinyl making a come back? I started doing some light research into vinyl records. What players are out there? How much do they cost? What equipment do I need? After an exhausting 15 minutes of research, I decided vinyl records weren’t for me. $20+ for a new record? And that’s not even for big names like Ed Sheeran or Adele whose records can reach up to $50. I couldn’t justify the high price range when I pay $4.99 a month for seemingly every song ever recorded.

In January, The Maine announced their sixth album “Lovely Little Lonely” and with it came a ton of different pre-order packages. Many of them came with a limited edition colored vinyl. But I stayed away like a good person! Even though the blue and purple variants were enticing, I opted for the CD pre-order. I wasn’t going to sink $100 or more to listen to one record. That’s insane.

Fast forward a little over a week before the album comes out. I’m sitting at my desk trying to get work done when I see an Instagram post from The Maine promoting a new variant of colored vinyl. It was split yellow/black. Now let me say this: black and yellow is my least favorite color combination. To me it’s ugly and unsightly. Nothing about that color combination excites me. It reminds me of that dumb rap song from a few years ago. I want nothing to do with black and yellow, black and yellow, black and yellow.

But I looked at the caption. I read it and got a rush and immediately ran from my desk to order it. I was giddy with excitement and my heart was racing just a little bit as a I pressed “purchase.”

Why?

This variant was only available at Looney Tunes – one of the best records shops on Long Island.

I bought this damn record because you could only get it on Long Island. That’s the dumb-ass reason I started collecting vinyl records. Because Long Island.

But I’m glad that I did. Once I bought my turntable (the Audio Technica AT-LP60), plugged in my speakers (some shitty Logitech speakers I had from college that do the trick for now) and played the record, I couldn’t comprehend how I listened to music any other way. Every single song sounds amplified. The vocals sound life-like, the bass is unreal and I’m hearing melodies and instruments I hadn’t heard before. I’ve listened to “Brand New Eyes” from Paramore probably hundreds of times, but somehow listening to it on vinyl was like listening to it for the first time. I hate that I underestimated this vinyl revival.

Although I’ve only had my turntable for a little over a week, I have 8 records with more on the way. I’ve signed up to a vinyl subscription and even made a Discogs account. I have a lot to learn and buy, but I’m on my way to having a sizable collection and decent amount of knowledge to teach my friends about my new hobby.

If you’ve thought about collecting vinyl records, do it! The sound is absolutely fantastic and worth the steep investment. This was a happy accident and a dumb purchase gone good.

Shop the gear I use and the records I own down below!