The value of vinyl: Repository writer braves cold in hunt for Olivia Rodrigo exclusive
My toes started to tingle from the sub 30-degree temperature while waiting in line recently for Erie St Vinyl to open on Small Business Saturday in downtown Massillon.
Two hours had passed, and I wasn't about to turn back and forfeit my coveted second spot in a line that stretched nearly 20 people deep.
And I didn't begrudge the guy who was first and had arrived almost an hour earlier than me. Wearing a hoodie and going sockless in his HEYDUDE shoes, the fellow music lover was deserving of first dibs on the Record Store Day special vinyl releases.
A day earlier, he had scoured multiple record stores in Northeast Ohio in pursuit of Olivia Rodrigo's EP "GUTS: the secret tracks" to no avail. Meanwhile, I was partially successful on Black Friday when heading to Quonset Hut in Canton while woefully misjudging how early I needed to show up.
Twenty minutes before opening time put me around 40th in line. I still was early enough to score a copy of the Screaming Trees' "Wrong Turn To Jahannam (Live at Egg Studios 1991)" release, which was limited to 2,500 pressings. But too tardy to snag one of a handful of copies of Rodrigo's hot new release that was pressed in opaque deep purple etched vinyl.
Chasing a special gift for my daughter's 18th birthday was my mission. But it also more intimately introduced me to the wonderful world of vinyl, and what became a blissfully retro holiday shopping experience that can't be replicated browsing Amazon online.
Music that can't be streamed
I was already well aware of the vinyl renaissance. Record Store Day events are nothing new. Vinyl sales grow each year and have surpassed CD sales. And even members of Gen Z like my daughter have been lured to buy vinyl issues from pop megastar Taylor Swift and fellow sensation Rodrigo.
The whole thing blows my mind in the best of ways. But it took a chilly wait in line on a sidewalk on Erie Street to awake me to what vinyl truly and fully represents in the digital music age.
As someone whose childhood spans the '70s and 80s before becoming a young adult in the '90s, I've fully embraced the techno age − whether it's receiving a cellphone news alert updating me to the latest injured player for the Cleveland Browns ... or annoying my wife by digitally shuffling money from her checking account into my own to buy a quick lunch at Taco Bell.
Many times I lose myself in a nostalgic daydream about simpler times, however. Boy oh boy do I miss things like a trip to a record store and flipping albums or CDs between my fingertips, unsure what's in stock. And the anticipation of lowering a needle to a 12-inch vinyl record while training my ears to the crackle before hearing new music unavailable on Apple Music, Spotify and other streaming services.
Take me back to ... 2023 and sliding out a vinyl record
Rediscovering the tactile thrill takes me back to 1979, when I purchased my first album with money pocketed from mowing the yard. Kiss "Dynasty," featuring the disco-influenced single, "I Was Made for Lovin' You."
And fast forward to 2023 ... when I eagerly peeled off the plastic of the Screaming Trees limited vinyl release before carefully sliding out a record that was cleverly hued to mimic a fried egg. Super cool.
Even teenagers dig vinyl
Most curiously, the appeal of vinyl has managed to bridge the decades between a dinosaur rock dad and teenage Swiftie.
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My daughter even commandeered my record player. Now it sits on a table in the corner of her room doubling as the Taylor Swift shrine. Prominently displayed are Swift's "Lover" and "Speak Now" albums.
Album cover art, photos, lyrics, vinyl color variants, messages from Swift, they all come to life when she's forced to open and touch and hold a vinyl disc instead of clicking on a cellphone app or asking Amazon's Alexa to play music.
I found it charming when she obsessively counted down the days until a Swift vinyl record arrived in the mail. Now I'm doing the same thing as I anxiously await this month's delivery of the Guns N' Roses 7-inch vinyl single of "Perhaps" with the B side "The General."
One problem, though. My turntable now appears to be a permanent fixture in my daughter's bedroom, forever taken hostage. So that leaves me with the dilemma of figuring out a way to listen to a new G N' R song available only on vinyl.
Either I repossess the record player from our resident Swiftie ... or Santa brings me a new one. I'm hoping for Santa.
That way we can both spin vinyl, and maybe that's what it took in this digital world for me to slow down ... and truly listen to the music.
Reach Ed at 330-580-8315 and ebalint@gannett.com. On X (formerly Twitter) @ebalintREP and Instagram at ed_balint
This article originally appeared on The Repository: Vinyl records, Black Friday shopping and the hunt for Olivia Rodrigo
