Whether it’s through headphones, on the radio or streaming through sites such as Spotify, music is all around us, every minute of every day. Though what about the more old-school ways of appreciating a beautiful melody or a fuzzy guitar riff? I’m not talking your portable CD player from the early 2000s, I’m talking vinyl records. Sales of LPs peaked in 2014, with the most sold in 20 years thanks to the likes of Arctic Monkeys and Royal Blood. It’s the revival of vinyl. To sit and do nothing but listen to my record collection is my favourite thing to do – there’s something about its authenticity which really captivates me. Since I bought my first record a few years ago (‘The Golden Hour of The Kinks’), I’ve been building my collection and, I must say, that it’s one of my favourite possessions. But why is vinyl so important to music?
I’m not the kind of person who has the patience to go to an art gallery and draw conclusions about what the artist may have been thinking about when they painted the picture – that’s not my jam. That’s why music is my favourite form of art, and music on vinyl makes it a multi-dimensional art form. The record sleeve, the colour of the vinyl, the age of the record – the possibilities are endless! Peace’s ‘In Love’ is a perfect example of vinyl as art – it’s transparent red and it’s so pretty I almost never want to take it out of its sleeve. It’s something I could keep forever, unlike all those mp3 versions of the shameful songs I used to download and enjoy when I was 13 (we were all there)!
You’re probably associating me with music snobbery right about now, but don’t get me wrong, I appreciate sites like Spotify just as much as the next person – the pre-night out playlist just wouldn’t be the same without it! Maybe it’s just me being an absolute geek, but the physical copy of a piece of music just seems so much more significant than something I downloaded from iTunes for my gym playlist or for some pre-SU vibes. The crackle of a spinning vinyl is one of my favourite things because it gives the music so much authenticity and originality. An album on vinyl will always be there and someone will always be after it (ferocious bidding wars on eBay and people’s tactics at car boot sales taught me this). Vinyl records bring music lovers together, even if it is to fight over who will get to buy the LP, and this is what music should be about.
The recent vinyl revival is important to music as it’s helping to keep physical copies of music alive, and this is needed to supplement all the streaming we do. I must say, however, that I’m grateful of the download codes that come with the modern LPs – you won’t catch me in a bar with a portable record player any time soon!
~ Words by Ceri-Ann Hughes
~ Photography by Joel Leo Silver