Record Store Day - By Ian C. Rodgers

Via FISTFULAYEN

My first albums came from my (nine years) older brother, KISS Rock N Roll Over and AC/DC High Voltage to be specific. I was 5 when he switched me on and I remember clearly my mom bought me a “Mickey’s 50th” album for Christmas and I was bummed. I was hoping for KISS Alive. I was visibly disappointed and felt guilty for hurting my mom’s feelings, but I wanted some rock, not kids’ music. I don’t remember buying them but I had an 8-track player at my dad’s house and a few tapes.

Mostly I remember KISS’ Dressed To Kill and Double Platinum, but also the Harry Nilsson album with “Lime In The Coconut” on it. I remember fucking around forever trying to re-cue that song on the 8-track, it wasn’t easy and I didn’t like any of the other ones. My parents had great records. My dad had every Dylan and Willie Nelson record, plus tons of great stuff that shaped my tastes like Sam & Dave, Led Zeppelin, The Allman Brothers, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Stevie Wonder, and Jimmy Reed. My mom was all about Emmylou but I do remember conning her into giving me her copy of Bat Out Of Hell when I was six; she was asleep and I told her I’d let her nap if she let me have it.

I also remember falling asleep in my mom’s bed listening to Billy Joel’s The Stranger many many nights. My step-dad had a serious collection, well curated and cared-for since the mid to late 60s including Velvet Underground, Moby Grape, Paul Butterfield Blues Band, and Blue Cheer (blew my mind) plus all the staples like The Stones and Beatles, etc. He kept buying records through the 80s (Husker Du, REM, Talking Heads, etc) and had all the gear (dual cassette deck, CD player very early, etc). Then in the 90s he decided he was getting rid of most of the vinyl and I got my pick.

I still have all those records. My hometown (Goshen, Indiana, pop: 20K at the time) didn’t have a record store, except for a couple of years there was a place called World Records which had like 25 records for sale (and drugs, according to my brother).

I only remember buying two things there: a Lucifer’s Friend cassette (sucked balls) and Judas Priest’s British Steel (ruled). World Records was right next door to the movie theater, which had a couple of live rock shows for a short time when the movie theater went out of business. I saw Blue Oyster Cult, Robin Trower, and Armored Saint there before that fun ended and it became a church.

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