Popular Categories

Vinyl records still rule the turntable




 

 

Once upon a time there was a black vinyl disc whose only goal in life was to make people smile. Like its grandfather, the wax cylinder, the disc marveled at how people acted when it turned in circles – round and round.

Some shook, some hopped up and down, some twirled; most did these things with other people. But even those who just sat quietly listening to the sounds made when that little needle moved along the disc’s grooves seemed to be filled with pleasure.

The vinyl disc heard it said that those sounds it made were called “music” and came in many varieties: folk and blues, jazz and pop, a jerky thing called rock- ’n’roll (which sometimes even made the disc bob up-and-down); rap, hip-hop, disco, and funk.

There were even melodies that people just looked at called “classical” or “long-hair” – even though most of those who watched this music kept their hair short.

One morning, the black vinyl disc awoke to find a small, shiny silver disc stamped “CD” beside it. It felt an uneasiness deep in its grooves and realized that it had been replaced. The digital age had arrived and the vinyl disc’s world would never be the same.

With little more effort than it took to lift a needle stylus, the vinyl disc – long referred to as a record – found itself relegated to closets, basements and musty old garages. Stored away in cardboard boxes amid the dark recesses of life’s castaways, its pulsating rhythms were silent – no longer moving people’s bodies; its grooves lay suspended in time, their sounds but an echo of the past.

Forgotten, the black vinyl disc and all its many siblings grew old and cold and dusty – even beneath their plastic and paper wrappings.

But the world continued to turn, though the vinyl discs could not. And in time, the small, shiny silver disc was replaced as well – by an even smaller digital invention called the MP3, and then….and smaller….and then…ad infinitum.

The black vinyl disc – likes its grandfather, the wax cylinder – was resilient, however. Music was embedded in its grooves and nothing – neither time nor technology – could remove it.

And, so, as the new millennium dawned and people – overwhelmed by the constant, almost instantaneous, changes of the technological age longed for a simpler time when one’s first 45 was something to cherish (I’m not talking Colts here), those who’d held on to their turntables began to emerge from the darkness.

They brought their collections of vinyl and needles – with albums by Pink Floyd, The Who and The Beatles. Led Zepplin, The Stones and Paul Rodgers’ great bands; Crosby, Stills, Nash, Neil Young before they were “and”.

Jimi and Janis and Cream resurrected, as everyone’s favorites were stacked and selected. And then the young who had known only computers, paused to absorb sounds from tweeters and woofers.

Soon music producers and those they produced felt it was time to return to the roost. Adele and Cat Power joined Dylan and Beck and went back to vinyl – just to keep things in check.

As for me, music in any format will do…but this is what happens when I trace my roots: which I did last week in the Black Hills, that’s final …and the new store I visited sold nothing but Vinyl.

Jim Kent is a freelance writer and radio journalist who lives in Hot Springs. He is a contributing columnist for the Rapid City Journal and Indian Country Today and former editor of The New Lakota Times. He can be heard on South Dakota Public Radio, Voice of America Radio, National Public Radio, Nebraska Public Radio, and National Native News Radio. He can be reached at kentvfte@gwtc.net.


Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.