A very special On the Record report

Record Store Day

By Aiden Landman
Published: April 17th, 2009 | 7:45am

Tomorrow marks a holiday in the world of independent music retailers. April 18, 2009, is the second annual Record Store Day, and over 1,000 shops across the United States and the United Kingdom will celebrate the occasion with promotions, performances, and exclusive records you cannot find anywhere else, save artists' Web sites.

Over 1,000 vinyl records will be released to participating stores tomorrow morning, including 7” splits by the Flaming Lips (featuring Stardeath and White Dwarfs and the Black Keys) and Sonic Youth (with Beck and Jay Reatard), and a slew of others. Tom Waits, the Decemberists, Leonard Cohen, the Jesus Lizard, and Bob Dylan will all release 7” singles to mark the occasion. On the 10” and 12” side of things, Radiohead, My Morning Jacket, Mute Math, CSNY, and a limited edition 12” single from the Watchmen soundtrack are just a small portion of the new records hitting the shelves tomorrow. And vinyl re-releases from Green Day, Regina Spektor, and Metallica round out an eclectic list.

There will also be in-store performances galore. Some highlights being Erykah Badu and the Cannabinoids at Good Records in Dallas, Kelly and Kim Deal at Cincinnati’s Shake It Records, the Bad Plus at Minneapolis' Electric Fetus, the Pains of Being Pure at Heart and Bill Callahan at New York City’s Other Music, the Black Lips at Tucson's Zia Records, and a preview of the upcoming Bob Dylan disc at Jack's Music Shoppe in Red Bank, New Jersey.

Queen, Disturbed, and the Silversun Pickups will also mark the occasion by giving away custom guitars, which you can enter to win at Record Store Day’s Web site. And the date marks the exclusive release of Ashes of American Flags, a new concert documentary about Wilco.

Here at Venus Zine’s “On the Record,” we thought it would be fun to add a little something to the festivities. So, we asked four artists about their first record-buying experience. Their stories, while different and unique, share a common thread: discovery and exploration.

Record Store Day Ambassador Jesse Hughes of the band the Eagles of Death Metal, who will be performing at Rhino Records in Claremont, California, in addition to releasing Heart On for the first time on vinyl, described his first purchase as an assertion of his own independence.

“My first record-buying experience was at the Record Alley in Palm Springs, California. It was the first decision I made on my own, and I chose Fear’s The Record (Slash, 1982), not the best choice from my mom's perspective,” Hughes said. “However, I chose the record with the help of a true music expert, not a record-restocking robot. I was grounded for a week, and it was beautiful....”

For Laura Ballance, co-founder of Merge Records and Superchunk bassist, going to a record store set her on a path to musical enlightenment. She, like Hughes, was assisted by the recommendations of a clerk. “The first record I bought was the soundtrack to Close Encounters of the Third Kind (Columbia Pictures, 1977),” she said. “Don’t ask me why, I was just really into soundtracks when I was 9 years old! My purchases after that were the soundtrack to The Black Stallion movie (United Artists, 1979) and a 7” of 'Music Box Dancer,' which was on the radio in 1978.

“I was so behind the times, being 10 years old, that I probably did not buy it until 1979. Chances are that I bought it at the Record Bar at the mall near my house. Chances are that my mom or dad went with me and helped. I can’t really remember …. I do remember later, though, as I became an awkward teenager, going to that very same Record Bar and buying some awesome stuff there: Adam and the Ants, OMD, Bauhaus, Siouxsie & the Banshees, a New Order 12”, probably a Duran Duran record. I remember spending hours pouring over the bins of records, and they were all LPs or cassettes. No CDs in this picture.”

The experience of sorting through bins may have inflamed Ballance’s love of music, but it was the nonjudgmental help of a Record Bar employee that may have sculpted her later role as a guiding force behind a label known for being non-pushy with its clients.

“I remember there being one very helpful blond-haired, punky guy that worked there,” Ballance recalled. “He was really nice and helpful about suggesting good things to buy to a kid who felt really freaked out and embarrassed to even be talking to him, because I knew that I would reveal to him just how un-cool I really was. Maybe I was afraid I would let it slip that I had bought 'Music Box Dancer' there.”

Nedelle Torrisi of Cryptacize also described her experience as a watershed moment for her musically. “Call it fate, coincidence, or just dumb luck, but I was at the perfectly impressionable age of 7 when the film Dirty Dancing came out. Patrick Swayze's biceps mesmerized, while Jennifer Grey's dance moves exhibited all the grace I wished I had. And that white dress!” Torrisi said. “As soon as I saved up enough allowance, my dad drove me down to Vacaville Music & TV to buy the soundtrack on double cassette. He stayed in the car so I could execute the transaction by myself, and I remember struggling to count out the correct change to the clerk.”

Maybe it’s because we play the hell out of that record or maybe it’s because we never forget our first music loves, but something clicks and forever changes how we approach listening to music with that first independent music choice.

“I didn't make the connection until many years later between my first record-store purchase and my lifelong love of ’50s and ’60s soul, doo-wop, and girl groups,” Torrisi said. “'Be My Baby,' hello! 'In the Still of the Night,' of course! That's where it must have started! I'm sure I listened to that soundtrack a thousand times. Shortly after, I started tuning into the local R&B station every night when I was supposed to be doing my homework.”

Jamie Levinson of White Rabbits bought his first album on tape. “I came of age when the popular format was cassette tape. My parents had vinyl, but to me the epitome of cool was anything that had a Digalog sticker on the back, representing the latest in audio technology,” he said, adding, “That or anything with the 'Parental Advisory: Explicit Lyrics' stamp.”

Like Hughes, Levinson’s first record-buying experiences held an illicit excitement. “I can't remember the first time I purchased a cassette, but there were three in my collection that followed me through much of my adolescence: INXS Kick (Atlantic Records, 1987), U2 Rattle and Hum (Island, 1988), and Dead Milkmen Beelzebubba (Enigma, 1988). The latter was stored behind a panel in my bedroom wall so as to avoid being found and questioned for such titles as 'Life Is Shit' and 'Smokin’ Banana Peels.'

“I distinctly remember having a boombox that I would strategically turn down whenever a dirty word came over the speakers if my parents were around. It makes my childhood sound very chaste, and it should be noted that my parents were ex-hippies, so much of the fear came from my own insecurities. I wasn't much of a rebel then. Those three albums were the start of a long and expensive relationship with music.”

Whether it’s engaging in a single act of rebellion, losing or finding oneself in vinyl crates, or falling in love again with a certain sound that brings you there, tomorrow is the day to visit a record shop near you to celebrate and support the folks who make these experiences possible.

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A full list of promotions, concerts, and participating retailers can be found at the Record Store Day Web site.