[NJARC] Young person looking for a record player

[Magoun, Alexander]

It sounds like Darren has what the student is looking for.  She is part of a trend that explains why the P'ton Record Exchange continues to attract steady crowds for its vinyl as well as its CDs and DVDs.

Since the end of vinyl by the major labels in 1989, there has been a small backlash primarily by angry young men against digitization and all the soul-less rationalization that it represents culturally, economically, and technically.  The first shots were fired by small indie labels, most notably SubPop in Seattle, and the "Grunge" rock movement, which was the 1990s version of 1960s garage rock and punk.  Nirvana issued its music on vinyl as well as cassette and CD and when they went huge, they enabled the copycatting by mainstream performers at major labels, who insisted that 10,000-50,000 vinyl copies be pressed along with the million-plus CDs.

That tradition has stuck, as did the 12-inch remixed singles used in clubs by DJs.  Between them, and the search by every new, 4-year, generation of teenagers looking for something slightly different, analog vinyl has persisted so that most major labels press vinyl versions of albums while other companies find profit in repressing and remastering older albums, classic and obscure on 180 grams of new polyvinyl chloride-polyvinyl acetate compound (to be precise; the compound ratio oscillates around 85%-15%).

As a pragmatic female who is most interested in the delivery of music, Dave's daughter's friend doesn't want the complexity and volume of components.  Remember how many females you knew in high school or college or after who had component systems and really cared about matching speakers to amps to turntables and cassette players?  Exactly.  And she'll be happy to leave the paint splotches on and even the peeling vinyl.  They remind her that the player has a past.  She's not looking for mint condition; she's looking for something with a human, imperfect history that will play back the LPs, 78s, and 45s she acquires and give her a connection to a world she (and with the 78s, her parents) never knew.

Cheers,

Alex

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