The Playlist: Vinyl records

Vinyl records have never gone out of style. If you were to ask me, I would say that they are timeless and they show off more than your personal taste in music. They represent a part of how you collect and organize your music, or at least what decade has influenced your taste.

I started collecting records about two years ago, and what I think makes records different is that each of them has their own character. Every groove in the record has a speck of dust that you can hear. It transports me and causes me to think about the time period and how old it is. My dad gave me his copy of Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon. I can tell the album has meant a lot to him within the past years, and it was the most dust filled out of the records he has given to me. What the dust means is that he played it over and over, so much so that I have to play it at a high volume in order to hear it. To me it is meant to be heard that way.

Numerous records I have are classic rock, many of them being Black Sabbath and Led Zeppelin, and all of these other albums have represented so many of the bands my dad and I love. It’s a way to bond, and it’s a good conversation starter for the most part, so even if the person does not collect vinyl, they might be interested in what you have.

One thing for sure is that collecting records is a part of something that has never died. Vinyl has always been cool. Why else would people save them? The sound is different, it’s something about the grooves on the record carrying music is whimsical. It is more than looking like a frisbee, it carries a status about the popularity of a band and all the fans to go with it. A record carries a heart and a band being pressed onto vinyl is different than just a CD, and it shows the status of a band. More like a “Hey, you made it big time”, which is an honor to any artist or band. A band pressed onto vinyl is an achievement more so than being number one on the pop charts.

I don’t think that older records are better than the newer ones, it doesn’t matter, it’s music. Music is meant to live across generations, the worst kind of people are the ones who won’t give a different genre a try. As for a record, it shows a voice, whether it be the voice of a whole generation or the few who were out numbered by the overpowering voice. I think that vinyl records show a record of humanity to any generation.