Editorials

Vinyl is Cool Again

One of my favorite moments as a vintage store owner in 2015 was the moment that I realized that vinyl (aka LPs, aka record albums) was BACK and I mean back with a vengeance. Not even a year earlier I held a sealed 1970s Dave Brubeck album in my hands and wondered if anyone would ever be interested in buying it. As a child of the 60s and a teen of the 70s with two older sisters and one older brother, music was big and a turntable was how we listened to it. The Beatles & Herman’s Hermits rolled into Bobby Sherman & the Partridge Family who led to Led Zeppelin & the Doors. All of them helped shape my musical journey.

So, in this new “vinyl is cool again” environment, imagine my delight when I was given an opportunity to acquire a 300-album collection from the 1970s and ’80s. It was a virtual LP time capsule stored in plastic sleeves in the peach crates it called home for more than 30 years. The owner worked in a record store as a young man and painstakingly collected the music he loved. Colored vinyl, picture albums, the important rock & roll classics, unusual compilations (remember K-Tel?) and soundtracks were all there. He also collected new music from the new decade of the ’80s with unusual names like the B52s, U2, R.E.M. and XTC. It was a difficult decision for him to turn loose of this important piece of his history, and I appreciate him entrusting this treasure to me.



The last few months have been amazing for me, watching teens, twentysomethings and boomers my age flipping through these albums in my store. They say that music bridges worlds and has the ability to immediately transport you back in time. I believe it! Customers my age exclaim over certain records from specific, important times in their lives. Young people appreciate the cover art that is just not possible on a five-inch square piece of plastic. All of them can’t wait to get home and listen to that special sound that is unique to a 33 & 1/3 rpm piece of vinyl. I don’t know why it happened. I don’t know how it happened. But, I am glad it is BACK! You can see this special collection at April’s Attic Vintage Store in Centerville, Tenn. LIKE April’s Attic Facebook page to learn more.

by April Podnar, Centerville, Tennessee

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