Remember when you could go into a record store and get abused by some green-haired geek? It used to be about the music, man.
So let me go ahead and say out loud what everybody has known for at least a couple of years now.…
"A sinister cabal of superior writers."
Article comments
26 - tink
Great piece Glen!! And what a thrill to hear one of our own in an ABC news clip...WOOHOO!!!!!
27 - Ray Ellis
Reduced bins-- I call them cut-outs- bookstores call them remainders, but that's where the treasures are, once you sift through all the garbage. You can't blame the kid, though--every generation is locked into their own interests.
28 - zingzing
ahh, the cut out bin. my mantra, when i'm trying to explain why i have to look through every damn one of them, is this:
"there is always ONE great album in these things."
and there almost always is. it's a lovely little piece of existance.
29 - Glen Boyd
Thanks for all of the great comments everybody. Manny, to paraphrase both Ray and Zing, you should probably cut the guy who misled you at the first store a little bit of slack. Not because he seemed disinterested in helping you -- thats inexcusable.
But the truth is he probably figured the record you were looking for was out of print, because it probably was.
When records go out of print, the overruns (if there are any) usually wind up in what are called "cut-out" bins. These are the places you'll find leftover discontinued titles at a reduced cost after they've been bought up at a cut rate by a discount distributor. Thats also why you probably found a ton of that title you were looking for. Somebody bought up all the cut-outs.
Because if it was a "cut-out" title, it was one that found it's way to a "cut-out" bin. For the discriminating (and not so much so) hard-core record junkie, "cut-out" bins can often represent a goldmine.
They are also yet another great forgottten thing about shopping at an actual record store.
Thanks for all of the kind words everybody (Tink, Zing, Ray, Manny, Jason and anybody else I have missed here).
And Connie, great news about the MySpace link.
So I guess I've pretty much used up any of my past crying that my stuff hadn't been getting noticed here lately eh?
Thanks everyone.
-Glen
30 - Gordon Hauptfleisch
One of my favorite things about working in record stores was getting to the cut-out shipments before they went out on the floor. A goldmine, indeed.
31 - Joan Hunt
One of my greatest joys of the last few years has been discovering artists like Joe Bonamassa. Here's a guy who has boundless talent and has mastered true musicianship, and he doesn't get much airplay. Walk into a record store (or what passes as one these days) and ask for one of his CDs and the clerks look at you like you're insane. Hell, when his latest CD came out, they filed it, not under blues or rock, but under latin or international or something as "Joe Bossa Nova".
Mumble mumble mumble...
I miss the good old days for sure.
32 - Brian aka Guppusmaximus
Very true Zing...
When Coconuts in Framingham closed, The "Cut-Out" bin in every record/tape/CD store was where I lived! BUT, I couldn't preview the album anymore and in the late 80's-early 90's judging a band by it's cover no longer worked, so I would end up with alot of crap. The famous mags like Hit Parader and so many others that I can't remember were focused on either cheesy glam rock or the rise of grunge. The trendy kids behind the counter were so into the scene that they thought metal was dead... Anyways, my point is,
THANK GOD for the internet and the new wave of indie labels that not only have some f*cking incredible metal bands but are also re-releasing out of print CDs. THANK GOD for the internet because I can preview an album and find out about bands form f*cking Norway without having to stereotypically find the "Metal" kid in the CD shop.
*BTW* Did any of media care this much when Newbury Comics turned from being THE best comics shop into a money grubbing whore?
33 - zingzing
i went into a newbury comics (i think... is there one in northampton... or amherst... can't remember) and i didn't see a single comic book! a lot of overpriced new cds... a shitty dvd selection (not that i care) and a bunch of those silly counter items... but not one comic book.
34 - Nancy
Zing-! Are YOU in Amherst/Northampton vicinity?! Oh, my old alma mater stomping grounds!!!!! Geez, what a small world.
35 - zingzing
no, i'm not. my girlfriend goes to hampshire. she also attends classes at smith. where did you go?
36 - Brian aka Guppusmaximus
Exactly Zing... They could've sold CDs to keep the business running but then they decided to can the comics altogether. Oh well, so much for "Brick & Mortar"...
37 - zingzing
hmm. well, i grew out of comics... somewhat (although i did get a couple a few weeks ago just to see what they were like these days), but i'll never grow out of music (fingers crossed, knocking on wood), so i'm okay with that.
it's hard, you know. the internet is changing a lot of things. nothing to be done about it. i really love going into a music store. but, even at this point, it's a 20 minute busride to the best one in town... and i'm lazy after work.
38 - Nancy
UMass, w/ancillary classes at Smith, Amherst, & Mt. Holyoke thru that 7 colleges program wherein if you're registered at one, you can take classes at any of them. My best bud went to Smith, which is how I know Northhampton so well. Or used to, it's probably 'way different now from when I was there back in Emily D.'s day, lol.
39 - Glen Boyd
Comment #31: Me too Joan, Me too (miss the good old days that is).
Comment #30: Love the cut-out bin Gordon. A goldmine to be sure for old rawk dawgs like us.
Guppus, Zing, Nancy: Talk amongst yerselves' I guess...LOL...
Thanx for the comments all.
-Glen
40 - -E
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