A Tribute To The Humble Record Store
I decided to write this because sometimes I get a feeling of guilt and regret deep down inside myself. One of the magnificent things about the availability of high-speed internet in this day and age is the ability to download whatever album you want, when you want and not have to pay a penny for it (even though it’s illegal). While this is bloody brilliant as you can save money and get hard to find music without the effort of looking, what I tend to forget about though is that I am helping to kill off the wonderful but dying culture of the record store.
Only a month ago I was in a store in Dublin called Borderline Records, although I’ve only ever bought a few CDs in there over the years it’s just one of those places that you have to go into just for the vibe. There’s just something about the high ceiling, dusty wooden floor and shabby interior that just feels right. They have an impressive selection of vinyl and they also stock some rare bootleg CDs. Only two weeks ago I learned that it’s closing down due to a decline in sales over the years and this made me feel a very sad. The area of the city that it’s located in, Temple Bar, is a wonderful place to visit during the day (not at night though) and up to a few years ago there used to be a few well-established record stores dotted around the area that were well worth the visit, making it the place to go to look for music. Now at the moment I think there are only two, and when Borderline closes there will only be one small shop called Mojo’s. It saddens me that this culture is disappearing before our very eyes. There still is however the wonderful Tower Records on Wicklow Street (which was part of the original Tower Records chain) that I always look forward to visiting whenever I’m in Dublin, and if you’re ever visiting here be sure to pay a visit. I just love browsing through the oceans of CDs they have by any artist you can think of and not to mention the nice selection of new vinyl they have, I always end up buying something there. Even though it’s quite big it has the feel of a proper music store and the staff are way cooler than you, obviously. If this place ever closes down all hope will be lost.
The first time I was ever in a music store was sometime around the early 90’s, 92 or 93 I think, with my mum and it was there that I saw CDs for the first time and wondered what the hell they were, my parents only had cassettes and a small collection of vinyl. Although I was still too young to know who any of the artists were it did start a fascination with music stores and I started to pay more attention to music in general. That store located in my town has been open for well over twenty years now, although has changed premises a couple of times, and now remains as the only proper music outlet in my town. There were three at one stage about six years ago, which isn’t bad for a town of 25,000 people, and now it’s down to just this one. Although they have a pretty mainstream and mediocre selection and the shop has no real character I’m still dreading the day that it closes its doors and leaves my town with no real dedicated music outlet to kill half an hour in on a Saturday afternoon. There are a video shop and a game shop that stock a small selection of used CDs but it just wouldn’t be the same. I’m keeping in mind that you don’t know what you’ve got until it’s gone.
Really nothing beats browsing through CDs and vinyl in a proper record store and being able to physically hold the product, especially the satisfaction you get when you find that CD you were after or the surprise you get when you find a CD you wanted that you never thought you would find. Nothing beats the vibe and atmosphere of a record store, the music that you’d never heard before playing through the shop speakers and seeing complete strangers dressed way cooler than you are. There’s also that feeling you get when you see some cute girl you don’t know wearing a Sonic Youth t-shirt and you can’t help but feel that you want to go up and talk to her but of course you’re too shy and she’s probably got a boyfriend so you just keep your head down and continue browsing.
You don’t get any of this with file sharing sites or on amazon.com and play.com, but unfortunately it’s something I have to resort to when I can’t find what I want or just don’t have the time or money to travel to a city to trawl through record stores. There is also the comfort of just being able to download an album there and then and listen to it within half an hour that is so simple and so tempting and most of the time gets the better of me. At the end of the day though while free music feels great, so does visiting a fine establishment stocked with loads of CDs and records that you want browse though for half the day and unfortunately I can’t help feel that I’m contributing to this culture’s decline. It’s hard to imagine what the world will be like with no record stores.