Quotes & Videos
“Record collecting is an infinite journey backwards.”
Zach Cowie
“You always get the buzz, to begin with, every time you walk into a good store. It’s really like a drug fix. You always walk into the store with that feeling of I’m going to hit the jackpot. If that doesn’t happen you’re depressed until you hit the next shop. And I’m telling you the whole truth. When I walk into a record store, I personally get so excited that I have to run to the bathroom. And it isn’t number one, mate. I’m talking number two.”
Jim Lablatt
“Now that I’ve owned up to being a collector, I’Il say that what really gets me off is knowing I have this personal library of everything that appeals to me, and that I can pull any of it out whenever I want to. That’s the wonderful thing, customizing the soundtrack of your life.”
Peter Prescott
“I think the moment I first bought vinyl, I felt it: the quality of the sleeve, the texture, the smell, I just felt everything.“
John Peel
“Why do record collectors scare their dates away? Even the most intimate moments have to have the perfect soundtrack, and there’s no greater passion-killer than watching your beloved crouching over a multi-CD changer.”
Tanya Headon
“Who collects records? Mostly people that don’t have a dating life. I’ve found myself trapped in many obsessive collecting situations that just don’t leave room for anything else. I learned to back off.“
Roger Joseph Manning, Jr.
“No excuses: If you love a record, you need the original pressing. And I don’t go to record shows, I figure that the dealers have had heir pick before you even get there.”
John Peel
“I know all about those scary record guys, the ones that have 155,000 LPs in their garage. I’m probably in denial because I’m one of them. But I hate to even use the word ‘collector.’ It implies a guy with taped glasses who can’t order food in restaurants.”
Bill Inglot
“Selling all your records is like saying your final goodbyes to your youth.”
Doug Ausbury
“I’ve fantasized about owning a record shop. Only trouble is that it would be the kind of shop where people would come in and you’d say, ‘Sorry, but nothing is for sale.’”
John Peel
“I’d be interested in finding some female collectors, but I’ve never met a serious woman collector of anything. And I never met a woman record collector at all. To some extent, male record collectors wear their geekiness as a badge of honor. There’s a certain pride that goes along with the self deprecation. Hell, no woman could possibly be as obsessed as we are. Take away any cheap sexism, and you’re left with a more idealized attitude. The idea isn’t that women are inferior, but that they’ve got better things to do.”
Robert Crumb
“Take a guy that really loves some kind of music, and he’s got the potential to look at the back cover and say, ‘I wonder what every other record by this guy would sound like? Maybe I can find more records by everybody who played on this one. And maybe I’m gonna start collecting records with guys on the cover who wear red hats, because I like that too.’ That’s the beginning of obsession.”
Alan Zweig
