First Post Of Glory: What's The Point Of All This?

Alright people, so here it is: a blog about punk records. I started this blog because I couldn't find any other good straightforward ones out there on collecting punk records-- and even if there are other ones out there, fuck you, I want a blog too. I'm by no means an expert on this subject, other than I spend way too long on eBay looking at rare overpriced NOFX records that were never that good to begin with, containing tracks that I can easily purchase on iTunes, or CD, or any other cheaper and more practical medium.

So why collect records, and why blog about them? To get overly (and perhaps irritatingly) philosophical, there's something alluring about having something tangible in a world where everything is going digital. When I first got into music, one of my favorite parts of the process was going to the CD store and looking through the albums. It was an EVENT. It was an experience where you would go out one afternoon with a friend, and arrive back home a few hours later with a handful of new albums, the remainder of the day to be spent listening to these albums track by track and looking through the liner notes of each accompanying booklet. 

To this day, the friends that I went out and bought albums with as a teenager are still some of my best friends in the world, as if going out and buying albums were a sacred bonding experience akin to losing your virginity, or drinking your first can of beer in some back piss-stained alleyway with kids from school. 

Yeah, I suppose there is a nostalgia factor involved in buying albums that will always be a part of me, but that's not WHY I collect records, and that's not why I mention buying albums as a kid. It's not because I think it necessarily sounds better either (because sometimes, it doesn't). It's because, simply put: it's fun.

It's fun buying an album that you always loved listening to front to back and, actually take time out of your busy day to pop it into a record player and give it its proper due. It's fun because when you have something on vinyl, every little choice the band or record label made seem completely intentional, from the cover art, to the little labels they stick on the records, to the very color of the vinyl, and the number of pressings of each each color. It were as if Fat Mike of NOFX were a regular Michelangelo, creating his own Sistine Chapel with his choice of colors to use for the vinyl pressing of Heavy Petting Zoo (which was aptly titled, "Eating Lamb"). 

I can't properly put into words why it's fun to collect records, but anyone else who has been bitten by the record bug knows all too well just how fun it is. And they know that this rabbit hole goes deeper than it looks. 

So yeah, in summation, it's pretty simple. I'm just a regular-ass guy who likes to collect records. This will be one of the few times I write a blog post without any actual record details in it, cause it's mad boring for anyone to read who isn't me, and this will be the last time that I compare Fat Mike to Michelangelo (cause we all know he fuckin' isn't). 

- Frankie D

Oh yeah I was going to write about the title of the blog and how it all related, but this shit is getting too long, so I'll save it for next time.