Despite All This Technology, We Still Love Vinyl

Despite the age posted on our driver’s licenses, thank goodness for the era in which we grew up. I am talking about the sweet simple memories from our youth and the humble vinyl record.

For some reason unclear to me, there was a warm and cozy feeling that went with a lighted dial, the smell of vacuum tubes, and the glow of a pilot light at floor level when we were listening to music.

It was a reassuring experience I cannot explain.

We’d place a stack of 45s on the turntable, gently turn the reject knob, listen to them flop one at a time, wait for the crackle of a stylus on vinyl, and feel raw emotion for the music we craved.

It was such a rush of euphoria.

Seems 33 1/3rd LPs sounded better than the 45s. It was like they recorded a different version of the song on 45s than we heard on the LPs. It is challenging to define what was different. All I know is they just sounded different.

There’s a certain comfort in playing records than there is in CDs or MP3. Something so familiar and comforting. Perhaps it’s a reminder of our youthful innocence – what we didn’t know about the world around us then.

Playing records was our “social media” in the middle of the 20th century. We gathered as friends and listened to our favorite music. My sisters were big “Monkees” fans thanks to the great success of their spoof rock group TV show and those very first music videos. Seems like The Monkees invented the music video did they not?

My younger sister crushed on Davy Jones. She had Davy Jones posters all over her bedroom walls. It was a big deal when The Monkees came to Baltimore to perform in concert. My sisters went to The Monkees concert while my parents and I went to see “Grand Prix” starring James Garner.

Two different worlds.

My big sister was so taken with The Beatles in the early 1960s. I remember the Sunday night when they debuted on The Ed Sullivan Show early in 1964. I have to admit, I love early Beatles more than I do what came later when it was time to change their image. It was their harmony as a young rock group and how it made us feel when we donned the “Hard Days Night” album.

Even more remarkable is how vinyl records are affecting young people today. They think vinyl records are kind of cool and are lining up to buy them in numbers even if they don’t have a record player. They count on boomer parents and grandparents to still have at least one around. They want to play records yet know very little about how to stack and play them. If they are not careful – which they are often not – they always manage to break your classic record changer by forcing the tone arm instead of waiting for the mechanicals to set the vinyl.

Darned kids…