Record Store Day 2012
Front page of NME 21/0402012
Happy Record Store Day! It’s the day when the nation celebrates what’s left of its network of independent record retailers. Taking place on Saturday 21 April, there’s lots to get involved with if there is a shop in your area. Participating stores will be hosting live music events and selling limited vinyl editions of reocrdings by groups such as The Arctic Monkeys, The Subways and Graham Coxon. This week’s edition of NME is dedicated to the event and lists all the shops taking part and what’s going on.
Over the past twenty years the independent record store has all but disappeared from our high streets. In fact there are are hardly any high street music retailers with only HMV remaining as the major store in many shopping centres.
In the Midlands you have to travel to Malvern or Cheltenham to join in the event. It’s pretty shocking to see that there is nowhere in Birmingham included in the promotion.
The decline happened bit by bit with the growth of shopping malls and huge corporations like Virgin, HMV and Our Price gradually stepping in and being able to offer better prices than the smaller shops. Tax- doging online setups such as Amazon and Play took much of their business away, and don’t forget the supermarkets such as Tesco and Sainsbury’s selling albums like Pearl Jam’s Ten amongst the baby food for £5 a go.
Illegal downloading chipped away a little bit more, finally Apple stepped in with ITunes, and suddenly you didn’t need to even leave the house to find your latest favourite band.
Stourbridge had an independent record store called Stourbridge Records in a little street behind the Sixth Form college and I remember going in there to buy some limited edition Red Hot Chili Peppers and Blind Melon 12″ picture disks. Sadly I don’t even know when it closed. Picture disks were a bit silly and when would you even look at them anyway; mine are stashed on a shelf with all our other records. But it did appeal to my sense of excitement about new releases and they looked very pretty. I also remember popping into Magpie Records in Halesowen and picking up new releases on my way home from school. I guess someone’s first download from ITunes just won’t have that same kind of special memory and there won’t be any old shops that they’ll walk past now converted into Charity shops or just boarded up that will pull on the heartstrings and remind them of a song they once loved.
I was never the kind of person who saved up all my lunch money for new singles or that hung around thumbing through the albums on a Saturday afternoon but I do have a sense of nostalgia about how music was available in the past and I think young people now will miss out on the geeky thrill of having a little collection of plastic disks. Even the loss of the album art and all the sleeve notes means being a music fan is very different now. Where will they pick up all the little stories behind the song lyrics or find out who the artist wants to acknowledge for inspiring their work…oh yes, Twitter or Facebook. But reading the notes was a bit like finding hidden treasure – lots of artists didn’t bother writing much so you were always pleasantly surprised when they did.
Another bonus of the record shop was that as a teenage girl you knew they were sort of cool and perhaps you might find cool people in there. Nipping in just on the off chance you might see someone you fancy in there looking at the Oasis album was part of a Saturday trip into town. You could also find posters advertising good club nights and gigs. I know that’s all done on-line now everything seems so scheduled nowadays doesn’t it? A nice illuminous orange or yellow poster with black marker pen was the perfect way of finding out about things to do on your nights out.
Having said all this, like most people, I don’t have time to seek out independent shops and if I hear something on the radio I like I will almost certainly download it from ITunes. It’s up to the students and people with a bit of time one their hands to keep the remaining record shops we have open. Perhaps I’ll try a bit harder to support the cause and if I see one I’ll go in and buy something just for old time’s sake.
Davy Jones
Last week Monkees lead singer Davy Jones passed away at the relatively early age of 66. He was a hero to many young fans throughout the 60’s, 70’s and 80’s as the two series of The Monkees were run and re-run.
For me, the happy sunshine filled show with Davy Jones, Mickey Dolenz, Peter Tork and Michael Nesmith was a special part of my childhood. I watched it every morning in the school holidays before going out to play with my friends over the road and the crazy adventures of the four teenagers would make me laugh and daydream about my own adventures that lay ahead for me as I got older. Ultimately the show was about music and their songs were some of the first I really enjoyed.
Each episode involved some kind of escapade where the band tried to get their big break on the music scene. Davy Jones would always fall in love with a beautiful girl and his huge brown eyes would melt the lucky one’s heart before moving onto the next love interest in the following episode. Clothes were brash and hippyish and colours were orange, yellow and bright blue, always evoking hot summers on the beaches of California. The sense of humour was slapstick and silly appealing to children and teenagers everywhere.
TV producers in America were keen to find a group to appeal to the youth market following the success of Beatles films ‘Help’ and ‘Hard Days Night’. Despite The Beatles being ‘The Beatles’ it’s The Monkees that caught the imagination of children of the decades following It didn’t really occur to me that these programmes were made before I was born and the characters in it were old enough to be my fathers. They had an appeal that didn’t wear off with time and I think the programmes aged better than the Beatles films which looked about 100 years old to me!
I remember buying the Monkees greatest hits on cassette in Woolworths and playing it constantly in my room. Songs such as ‘Last Train to Clarksville’, ‘Stepping stone’ and ‘I’m a believer’ stood the test of time and sounded good alongside the Blur and Oasis I was listening to at the time. Especially when The Wonderstuff and Vic Reeves covered I’m a Believer, meaning we got to hear it played out and about in indie clubs. ‘Daydream Believer’ was our favourite choice on the Kareoke at college parties, getting us all up and dancing on the sofas.
Like most fans, I grew out of them and hadn’t thought about the group that much until last week. Just hearing those songs again and seeing Davy Jones face brought back the happy sunshine filled memories of school holiday mornings and nights dancing away with my friends. Sadness for the loss of Davy Jones was felt by many people of my generation, and rock radio station Kerrang put some Monkees on their playlist recognising the influence this once ridiculed band had on many modern musicians and people who just love music.
I’m going to download some Monkees albums, buy the two series on DVD and remember to watch them when I’m having a bad day.
Why are all my favourite bands reforming now?
Old gig tickets
I love live music. Since my first concert at the age of 15 (New Kids on the Block since you ask!) I’ve been hooked on listening out for announcements of my favourite bands going on tour and making sure I get hold of tickets. Back in the old days this meant ringing a ticket hotline repeatedly until I got through, or even going down to a ticket office in person. You usually had good warning before the tickets went on sale and a bit of time to get some money together by saving or scrounging off your mum and dad. It didn’t really matter if you weren’t on the phone as soon as the tickets were available you had a good chance hours, weeks or even months later with some acts – I remember going into Birmingham to buy Reading tickets in July just weeks before the festival took place.
Now in the days of social media gigs are often announced the day before tickets go on sale and you have to be poised at your pc or clutching your smartphone ready to refresh your screen at 9.00am on the dot if you wish to attend the gig. Festival tickets can be released nearly a year in advance. It can be a nerve wracking and dairy wrecking thing as you hope that the event doesn’t clash with anything else in your life you haven’t planned yet. You have hours to make the decision to spend up to £100 on a single gig or £200 and to consult friends on who wants to come. Often you can end up buying more tickets than you need just in case or regardless of whatever else might be going on that day.
Obviously it’s a great way of creating a buzz, making people panic and rush to buy tickets. Nothing grabs the news more for an artist than if their tickets sell out within minutes – they must be massive!
I miss being able to hear an announcement, chat with friends about it over a couple of weeks, casually call a ticket hotline and book tickets. The mad scramble of hearing your favourite group are out on the road, frantically texting and Facebooking your friends, getting organised for people to sit at the refresh button and making sure there is space on your credit card for 6 tickets is just unpleasant. The nerves as you see that the website is unavailable, the elation of finally obtaining your prize, the bitterness at shelling out a fortune to see someone you love but not sure you do that much.
This year has been a big one for reunions particularly of ones who people in the 35 – 45 age group might like. Everyone from Guns N Roses, The Stone Roses, Blur, Pulp, Steps (!) and the best of Stock Aitken and Waterman can be found somewhere playing live.
Being a bit short on cash and time, juggling three small children and not working, it’s been a frustrating time for me. I have been lucky enough to bag Radiohead and Blur tickets. I will confess to New Kids on the Block (again!). However with more money and time I would have been buying Guns N Roses, Sonisphere, Stone Roses, Hyde Park Calling (Soundgarden) and many many more. Tours are a way of groups to cash in and pump up those pension funds whilst their fans are still young and nostalgic enough to care. Even if I can’t make it to all of them I have been swept up in some of the excitement generated by the announcement; presale for mobile phone customenrs; second presale for credit card customers; third presale for ticket website users etc etc. As a music fan I can see that things are getting a little cynical and perhaps we’re being screwed over by the big music promoters but we keep on buying into it as we need a bit of excitement in our lives and we all love to feel young again even when our heroes are clearing showing wear and tear (Blur at the Brit awards!).
This summer’s biggest reunions – The Stone Roses and Black Sabbath will testify whether it’s really worth all the excitement and I wait with anticipation.
whensevenoclockcomes 