Vinyl Junkies: Adventures in Record Collecting

by Brett Milano

Not too far away from the flea markets, dusty attics, cluttered used record stores and Ebay is the world of the vinyl junkies. Brett Milano dives deep into the piles of old vinyl to uncover the subculture of record collecting. A vinyl junkie is not the person who has a few old 45s shoved in the cuboard from their days in high school. Vinyl Junkies are the people who will travel over 3,000 miles to hear a rare b-side by a German band that has only recorded two songs since 1962, vinyl junkies are the people who own every copy of every record produced by the favorite artist from every pressing and printing in existance, vinyl junkies are the people who may just love that black plastic more than anything else in their lives. Brett Milano traveled the U.S. seeking out the most die-hard and fanatical collectors to capture all that it means to be a vinyl junkie. Includes interviews with Thurston Moore of Sonic Youth, Peter Buck from R.E.M and Robert Crumb, creator of Fritz the cat and many more underground comics.

Genres: Music, Nonfiction, Pop Culture, Memoir, Collections

230 pages, Paperback

First published November 10, 2003

Reviews

[Carey · Rating 3 out of 5]

#1 thing I learned from this book was that my fellow female record collecting friends and I don't exist, so that was pretty cool. -________________-

[M.L. Rio · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nothing to make you feel like your collecting habits are harmless like anecdotes about a bunch of dudes who have so much vinyl piled up they're about to fall through their apartment floors. Nevertheless, it's a mania that's easy to relate to if you've ever walked into a record store just intending to poke around and somehow walked out $300 poorer. Even if you don't know the first thing about vinyl, this book would make for an interesting character study and definitely a couple of laughs. Milano's ninth chapter, 'Valley of the Strange,' catalogs some of the weirdest, wildest bits of sonic memorabilia out there, and some of it's so accidentally hilarious that I had to stuff a sweatshirt sleeve in my mouth to keep from making a scene in the bookstore where I was reading. (For example: "Distress Cries of the Cottontail," which is six straight minutes of a rabbit screaming, or two full sides of a Broadway musical starring Loretta Swit that's about, of all things, Listerine.) This would have been a four-star review if not for one thing: Chapter 11, 'Love and Vinyl,' which is all about whether fanatical collectors can manage to have love lives. It's pointless, but it's also infuriating, because it does what so many other books on music do, which is to assume that women only listen to Joni Mitchell and have no concept of what a real passion for real music is like. It's the non-fiction equivalent of a bunch of Nice Guys bitching that women don't like them and blaming it on some trivial character flaw (in this case, the compulsion to collect records) when actually, it's because they're a bunch of condescending dickbiscuits. (Noticeably, the one lesbian collector he interviews doesn't have this problem.) The whole chapter was so ridiculous and unnecessary that I wanted to rip it out of the book, but you could probably just skip it and still enjoy the rest.

[Tosh · Rating 4 out of 5]

Obsessions really tells what a person is, and there is nothing more beautiful than a person who collects books or in this case vinyl. Not CD's mind you, but the beautifully designed object that is known as a vinyl record. The anticipation of going to a record store or even a yard sale that has a stack of 12" LP''s or for that matter a pile of 45rpm singles is a series of blissful moments. Brett Milano's "Vinyl Junkies" covers the actual feeling while profiling the collector and their special needs to locate a certain record, or just to be surrounded by the vinyl scent.

The great thing about this book is not about the objective need to find the perfect recording or issue of an album, but the subjective view point of the collector and what they are looking for. Money is not an issue here, although one character in the book got burned for $2,000, which sounds like he couldn't afford the price in the first place. But what got him burned is not really the lost of the funds, but the fact he didn't get the record that he desired. All the collectors interviewed in this book has a specific aesthetic for a certain type of music. It could be exotica or bubblegum or sound affects records - but all, pretty much reflects on their personality. A record collection pretty much defines who and what you are to the world. And to yourself as well. Milano is very funny and a witty writer. But the subject matter is extremely serious, and that's the beauty of collecting vinyl. The mixture of the high and the low and everything in between. One can read countless books on the subject, because human nature never gets old, just gets more interesting.

[Bill · Rating 4 out of 5]

very interesting book about the collecting mania in general, and collecting vinyl records in particular. with some interesting interviews with musicians who are record collectors...peter woolf, peter buck of r.e.m. etc. and one guy who has a separate building to house his 100,000 records!

personally, i think you are either born a collector or not. i've been collecting things since i was a little kid...started off with bottle caps and matchbooks, both of which cost nothing, but was still a lot of fun. then it was on to comics, baseball and hockey cards, beatles cards etc. if i'd kept all this stuff, i could have made a fortune. unfortunately, the stuff i collect now is not free...i have somewhere between 3 and 4,000 books, over 3000 movie dvds, and about 1200 cds. plus, i just bought a turntable and 2 vinyl records...i'll never learn, obviously.

[Emmett Davenport · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm not sure I'm going to be able to finish this book, as I feel insulted by the author's regard to the female vinyl collector. We do indeed exist.

[Maggie · Rating 1 out of 5]

There were some interesting moments in this book, but I couldn't get past the blatant sexism. At the time it was written, record collectors were predominantly men, so less of a focus on female collectors would be forgivable. My issue is that Milano's writing about women is so blatantly different from his writing about men. Early in the book, there's the female clerk at the record store that every teen guy fantasizes about (thus fueling their obsession with records), while later there's a record convention where the few women there are described as exotic creatures who are obviously out of place.

I almost quit reading early on, but I figured there was no way the whole book would be that bad. Unfortunately, it was. Most if not all of the women in the book are described physically, while nearly none of the men are. Male collectors get whole chapters or reappear throughout the book, while female ones are mentioned very briefly. Near the end of the book there's a chapter devoted to two female collectors, but they both collect pop records, as if women can't love "serious" music.

Can't we all just be here for the music? If stereotypes likes these continue, apparently not.

[Jason · Rating 5 out of 5]

Actually a really good book inside the mind of a vinyl hoarder, oops, I mean collector. Great amusing stories of like minded folks with the passion for all things vinyl. I didn't want it to end. It was very well written and amusing.

This book is terrific. The author looks at record collecting from every possible angle -- from the Freudian aspects of the drive to the possible reasons why collectors have trouble finding girls. It's full of wonderful interviews with the famous -- Peter Wolff, Peter Buck, and Robert Crumb -- and not so-famous -- a guy with 150,000 records, a woman who collects all Olivia Newton John albums and memorabilia. A collector himself, Milano thoroughly understands the search and satisfaction of finding a record very few other people have. I recommend this book to anyone with an interest in music, collecting, or simply good storytelling.

[Boston Pug · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book is truly like my record collection...all over the place. I loved the chapters were musicians talk about their collections and obsession.

[Garrett Cash · Rating 4 out of 5]

As someone who has worked at a record store for the past couple of years, I've gotten to go from someone who casually collected records as a part of my obsession with all things 60's music to a bona fide collector who is rigorously checking which pressings I have of a obscure artist and what grade it's in. This book does a good job capturing some of the types of personalities you'll see in the diehard collector world, but other reviewers are right in pointing out that the portion of this book dedicated to talking about females doesn't quite give them enough credit. There may be more female collectors in the modern era than nearly twenty years ago when this book was written, and there certainly aren't many of the extreme collectors that are female that I've seen (most are fairly casual), but it still feels like the book dismisses even the notion of female collectors as an entity.

Otherwise, this book is a fast and fun read that takes a look at a subculture I've gotten to be familiar with for a couple of years that still mainly rings true.

[Matt Mulder · Rating 4 out of 5]

A bar patron gave this to me to read. Solid book to read between pours at work

[Phil Wilkins · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is about, record collectors, the act of record collecting and the general love for music both mainstream, obscure and just down right freaky. For the music fan this is Mills & Boon reading. For those related or taken on the challenge of a partner who is a record collector an insight into the mind of your loved one.

The books tries to explain the passion of collecting from many different perspectives, through the eyes of collectors (some famous - like Peter Buck (of REM fame), Robert Crumb (cartoonist) and Thurston Moore (Sonic Youth), others not so famous but equally obsessed. From a psychologist point of view - clinical (relationship to low sertraline) to psychotherapy. As a result we get discussions about the sensuality of vinyl and wonderful quotes like "CDs are like sex with a condom".

We explore the kinds of collecting that go on - from types of records - old pre-war 78s, 1st issues of records, special prints like shaped coloured vinyl, those quickly taken out of circulation through to records that just seem to be rare and then the plain odd like albums commissioned by Listerine (the mouthwash) advocating the product's wonders to people thinking they're going to make it big putting out just tuneless oddities, to the child like contributions like Sammy Squirrel Teaches the Multiplication Tables (Which apparently has a publisher's address on the cover of The Metaphysical Motivational institute, Drawer 400, Ruidoso, NM) and psychotic wonders such as "Sit on My Face, Stevie Nicks" by the Rotters and Naughty Rock 'n' Roll by the P-Verts or maybe various artists on the Sugar Tits Label.

As the book progresses we get a chance to be taken on an exploration of the validity of the portrayal of collector/obsessive music fan portrayed in Nick Hornby's book High Fidelity by the character Rob Gordon (portrayed by John Cusack in Stephen Frears' cinematic adaptation); music collectors are geeky single men that can't sustain a relationship etc.

The book is however 10 years old - and sadly doesn't reflect how the rise in Mp3s has impacted. As everything get ripped and becomes for ever available (legally or illegally) on the web, what is happening to the passion of the hunt for the mysterious, weird and rare? Who knows, but its fun hearing the stories.

[Vanessa · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book reminded me a bit of The Orchid Thief: A True Story of Beauty and Obsession in that it's a tale of collecting fever made accessible, understandable and readable. Brett Milano, a Boston music journalist, is unlike Susan Orlean because he gets the urge all too well.

Milano captures so many things here: the thrill of the hunt, the passion for any kind of music outside the mainstream (generally the more esoteric the better although one collector is hopelessly devoted to obsessed with Olivia Newton-John), and the love of not just the sound of vinyl but the artwork, liner notes and the smell (it's easily been 30 years since I've pondered how good Casablanca 45's smelled but reading this immediately brought back the memory of standing over my mother's record collection and sniffing a KISS single. Which was less weird than it actually sounds hopefully.) Most of the collectors he talks to are musicians or others intimately involved in the music business like Peter Buck, Thurston Moore, Peter Holsapple and Roger Manning, formerly of the great band Jellyfish. Many have specialties they focus on: Robert Crumb, the cartoonist who designed Janis Joplin's Cheap Thrills album cover, only collects pre-war 78's made on shellac. Shellac! Apparently, collecting is some kind of tic to compensate for a serotonin imbalance. But no matter. The joy here is infectious. Many times reading this I felt my mouth watering as I pondered getting a turntable again.

Lots of fun to read, really educational and I came away with a renewed affection for Peter Buck and Thurston Moore who have never been more charming. I defy you to read this and not ponder the fate of your old vinyl, even if it was the stuff these uber-collectors might sneer at (what became of you, Bark at the Moon?)

[Charles McEnerney · Rating 4 out of 5]

I reread this as I was editing my interview with Eli "Paperboy" Reed for Well-Rounded Radio as he is a bit of a vinyl junkie as well. As someone who buys A LOT of music, but doesn't necessarily care that much about the format it's on (unless it's a really crappy mp3), it's interesting to read this book and try and find that line between having to have the music vs. having to have a collectible item. I will admit I've done the same for certain artists, but this is something of a psychological study of collecting without being clinical. Many of these folks even recognize their obsessions and seem to get that it's beyond being about just hearing and experiencing music, though I do think there is something to wanting to be as close to the original recording as possible, which most digital technologies seem to push the listener further away. Overall, a fun book for anyone into music or into collecting anything else.

[Koozebane · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 stars, read for the #paperbacksummer challenge.

While the book does get into the obsessive and competitive aspects of record collecting, I appreciate that the main focus is love of the music. The tendency to call record collecting a male pastime is annoying, though Milano does interview several female collectors (even if they're somehow portrayed as less hardcore). It's fun to see cool musicians pop up every few pages, and I have to give the guy credit for discussing songs and albums that even I can't find online! 4.5 stars.

[Gator · Rating 5 out of 5]

I will start off by saying that I am no where near the level of collector that these people within this book are, I own about 1 thousand 33's and about 500 45's.
Although i do think of records both day and night I'm Afraid I haven't reached this level of seriousness yet, but I may if I continue on my current trajectory. I loved this book, it was a true pleasure to read because I see a lot of myself with in its pages. For any one in love with records, this book is for you. Very well written and kept me interested from the first page to the last, a real gem.

[patrick Lorelli · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book I really enjoyed, then again I have every three dog night record including one made in Japan. I of course think this is cool just like finding a mono instead of stero. Now I am on to the first pressings of the records I like. Don't come close to the # these people have but I do have 50's org 45's cann't beat those do whop groups or Fat's. Blues are hard to find, like it said in the book. For me a good read for anyone into vinyl.

[Jeanette · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book. I found it quite interesting to read about different people and their collections and the different ways that everyone handles their vinyl obsession :) It definitely made me feel better about my own fixation on collecting to read about people who have taken it way farther than I have. Very interesting and entertaining. Every record collector should read this!

[Stephanie · Rating 4 out of 5]

i like this a helluva lot (though it is making me feel like the one female in the world who collects records, which i know isn't true). anyone who's ever collected anything is likely to love this, actually.

[Piyush Patel · Rating 4 out of 5]

A product of its time (2003) but a pretty decent read overall. I wish the author would have covered more female record collectors. Also if the book would have been published now, It would have been interesting to interview collectors from different parts of the world collecting more niche records.

[Madi Little · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was kind of interesting to read some of the interviews the author did with the musicians but overall a pretty bleak book. More so just anecdotes than useful information. I’m also not a big fan of the way “female collectors” are depicted

[Tyler V · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book if you're into collecting and hunting down vinyl records!

[John Frazier · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very good friend of mine gave me this book, I think because in recent years I've brought my middle-age collection of vinyl out of the mothballs, bought a new turntable and started to add some older jazz and blues classics to an assortment that may now number 500. Most of these get played while my wife and I are sipping martinis in a detached studio that we call The Toy Bar. (The Toy Bar also houses a modest number of toys and board games, many from the halcyon days of toy manufacture in the '50s and '60s.)

I never thought of myself as a record collector and I still don't; vinyl was how you listened to music during my adolescence and early adulthood, beginning in the late '60s. (Some would argue that the adolescence hasn't yet ended.) Yes, 8-tracks and cassettes were around and I had a few of the latter, but only to play in my car.

I could never live long enough to qualify as a vinyl junkie and, after reading the stories of several in this book, that's probably for the better.

Author Brett Milano is no tenderfoot himself, which was undoubtedly his impetus for literally driving around the country in search of his vinyl brethren and their stories. (Not only could he search for those rarities on his wish list, he could write the whole thing off.)

What becomes evident quickly is that there is no benchmark definition for "junkie." These are all just people who have a serious jones for vinyl; their various, strange and singular criteria for purchase are ultimately what makes this a fun read. One person has to have everything that esoteric band ever produced while another has to have every version of the same album ever produced while still another has to have everything on which the side musicians from a certain band played. It's just that individual.

Given that this was published in 2003, pretty much at the nascence of the current vinyl rebirth, it would be interesting to know what more drives today's zealots.

That virtually everyone featured has a personal collection of 78s, 45s and LPs that couldn't be played in its entirety in anyone's lifetime illustrates that it's clearly about more than the music. That many have paid more for a scratched up 78 than most of us have paid for a good used car demonstrates that it's also about something other than common sense.

This is a quick read about folks who share a passion and are willing to go to extremes 99.9 percent of us wouldn't even contemplate in order to breath, digest, live, sacrifice for and, occasionally, regret it. They could just as easily be license plate or shot glass junkies, but the fact that theirs is a habit in which we've all dabbled to some extent is, ultimately, what makes this a story worth sharing.

Pour yourself a drink, put on a record and enjoy.

[Victoria & David Williams · Rating 3 out of 5]

Discogs Discography Database contains more than 16 million releases, 8 million artists, 2 million record labels and is not mentioned in this book. Published in 2003 (Discogs started in 2000) it does however contain interviews with a cross section of people who are to a lesser or greater extent obsessed with obtaining every record that they can within the somewhat vague confines of taste, interest, budget, and/or availability. Speaking for myself, I find that in addition to the aforementioned, primary constraints also include cabinetry and carrying capacity.
The Library of Congress contains about 38.4 million cataloged books. Many non obsessive types also collect way too many books. Achieving a balance between the two (subject to the above constraints) is possible: records take more maintainance (although they do foster more exercise). When I discovered that my Bags Unlimited bills were higher than my Brodarts bills I resolved to steer clear of record stores (as much as possible). Besides there are so many used bookstores that I have yet to explore (and so many more that are no longer around).
The book, by the way is a fun read but Nick Hornby does it way better.

[marzenie · Rating 3 out of 5]

A book of its time. While I enjoy vinyl collector perspectives (and that curiosity is the only reason for that third star), as a woman who has collected for 30+ years, it's the book equivalent of walking into That Store and having to slink along the sides to be left alone to look, without running into any of the Well Actually contingent. I really enjoyed the Olivia collector, I will say. But,"women don't collect records, REALLY" is often expressed, as though there aren't women geeky enough to care about details (Me and my expansive communist Poland era collection would disagree...).

As I read this book, I was just grateful that the scene now is so much friendlier, lighter-hearted, and more diverse. Stores were declining at this time (mid aughts), now there is a renaissance. As such, this book is a relic.

[Adrian · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fun read diving into the crazy world of record collecting. It’s a fast read and a decently accurate look at the subculture as it was at publication. I don’t think the author nor those reading at the time could have predicted that just a few years after this books publication that the vinyl hobby would absolutely explode again and become THE #1 physical media again. It’s almost quaint to read about record collectors before it was no longer a niche activity for hipsters. I have a special affinity in my heart for the woman they interviewed who only collects Olivia Newton John records and ephemera, Godspeed.

[Ryan · Rating 1 out of 5]

Overt sexism aside, this “book” has aged horribly. These scattershot essays are full of people you don’t know, collecting music you’ve never heard of. I mean, Thurston Moore and Peter Buck are awesome, but I’ve learned more about their collecting habits in their respective band memoirs.

The core group of people in this (author especially) seem to be fueled by their lack of sex and proclaimed geekiness. I don’t give a fuck about what these incels do with their time, but this wasn’t even about the music they like.

These dudes are losers.

[Samuel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Devoured this in the course of a couple days - very entertaining and witty ride through the weird world of record collecting, from famous accumulators like Robert Crumb and Thurston Moore to collectors of discs that are simply terrible (e.g. a 7-inch single of a rabbit screaming, made for hunters to identify animal distress calls). Got lots of discoveries (Palmer Rockey, anyone?) but also an insight into why people collect.

[Trace Reddell · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very entertaining read that made me laugh out loud a few times and look in the mirror more than a few times to question my own collecting obsessions. Fun to recall some of my international record shopping adventures, as well. Was glad to see Milano eventually included some women collectors as early parts of the book had a few too many cliches about male collectors never "getting any." Overall, a really enjoyable book.

[C.E. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Amusing read about the lengths certain people will go to land that obscure circle of vinyl/shellac. Each chapter is based around a different collector and comes with plenty of near-comical stories. Overall, a fun read although some of the chapters go on longer than needed --and the book as a whole perhaps does the same.

[Bob · Rating 4 out of 5]

A solid 4-star book which earns an extra star, in my brain, for being about record collecting. Easy-breezy writing, fun stories, and a balanced view at collecting (anything). Not too much over the top geekery...just enough. A good 'vacation read' for anyone interested in the world of record collecting.