Being allergic to small talk, this certainly resonated on a deep level with me. But there is value to blocking out dedicated time on your own. Especially for records.
Thank you, Emm! I hate small talk too. 100% agree there’s a lot of value to blocking out time to be with yourself and your records. It’s what keeps us (more or less) sane 😁 Thank you for being here!
Amen. Last night, a friend offered to drop by on his way home to visit. I said if you come by, I'm listening to music and will not talk over the music. He didn't show. I used to have small listening parties and people would be upset when I complained about everyone talking while the music is on. It's a LISTENING party. I get it. Most people love to be social, but there's a time and place. It's disrespectful to sideline the music. Like talking in a library. Like taking a call at a Classical concert.
This is music to my ears. I love how honest you were with your friend — I would have done the same.
The constant need of some people to talk — incontinently, incessantly, relentlessly — gets on my nerves big time 🤣 I’m really glad this resonated with you!
Yeah. Music is too sacred for me to talk over. I'm not rude about it. I don't mind talking during the side flip. Why listen to it when you're not going to absorb it or let it in emotionally?
As an extreme introvert I can relate. While not a vinyl person anymore, my best memories from when I was, are of listening to records alone after school. Walkmans were also amazing for this back in the day. I speak to nobody, if possible, while on vacation 😂 As a songwriter, I will tell you something I have observed...when trying to share your work with anyone other than other songwriters or musicians, about 70% of people start reacting after the first verse and chorus and start babbling over the rest of the song, thereby missing it completely. It's like getting a knife to the gut. I have just stopped doing this because it makes me insane. Keep in mind, these are almost always friends. 🤯 You are correct about how much we listen to music in our cars over here. It's one of my favorite things. I always test drive my songs in the car before I release them. It's the true test of a good mix. I think if you are in the company of other like minded vinyl lovers, who follow proper etiquette of sharing music, that might be different.
Listening to records alone after school, in whatever format, will forever rule. Ahh, the freedom!
I can totally imagine you being very reserved whilst on holiday and only engaging in meaningful/relevant conversations. You’d fit right in among Brits! Londoners, especially. Northerners are a lot more talkative.
It is INSANE that friends of yours would TALK through your music when you’re showing it to them 😱The couple of times I’ve shared my singing, people took the time to listen in silence, so I obviously take it for granted.
I love what you say about the car being the true test of a good mix. I wish I could drive but then again I probably wouldn’t be alive if I drove so I’m quite happy to be driven, walk or take the tube. Now, I imagine the freedom you must feel when driving alone is something few things can compare to. Thanks for being here!
Oh, I can totally relate Andy! I prefer to be alone more than being with other people. I wouldn't want it all the time but I need my recharge time. A good friend of mine once said, "people are draining." We need to find ourselves after that! I listen to most of my music alone and have my own experiences and associations with what I hear. When I was teaching I'd have to drive all over the Chicago area. Listening to my playlists is what got me through those long commutes. I LOVE being alone in my car with my tunes! I can play them as loud as I want. I can sing. I can let let my mind wander (which it usually does.)
Not long ago my neighbor Paul set up a stereo in his living room for the purpose of listening to records. When we go there, he always pulls out a disc or two that he keeps on in the background as we talk about whatever else. Sometimes a great song comes on and he turns it up or we sing. It's fun! Next time I go over there I'll be bringing some of my vinyl over so that we can "play records." I do like that shared experience. However I do LOVE my time alone even more!
Thank you, Dan! I love this phrase: “People are draining” 🤣 Soooo true!
I can totally see why and how some quality time with a good friend with some music can totally have its place and time. I have also done it on occasion with close friends and good music. But yes, like you, I also love my spinning/listening sessions alone.
Fucking people! Ami rite? 😃 I think that we can only listen at home on our turntables makes it more so. Although we can invite people over to listen to music or if the turntable is near the dining room it could be used for background music for a dinner party or a dance party (as long as the one record will suffice, unless you are the DJ, and then it could be a big party! Why I keep coming up with exceptions I have no idea. Then again writing is also usually a solitary activity as well. Which makes them go hand in hand! As long as the two hands are your own!
Fooking rite mate! Yes, turntables being fixed in one place surely plays a role. I have played records during dinner parties and everyone treated it as background music, no one said anything about the richness of the sound so I got quite annoyed and streamed from my phone to my hi-fi instead. I mean, if no one is going to bother to notice the difference why do I put my records at risk? I hate people. Except you. Most days you’re good company 🤗 Thanks for being here!
“My cock & balls, that’s what I’m training today!” 😂 Oh Andy, you really didn’t exaggerate. This was another fantastic episode. I now need to find the French equivalent to use at the gym, because Walloons are definitely just as chatty 😁. Although I have to admit, putting on headphones usually kills any attempt at conversation immediately. Not the reason I wear them, I genuinely need music while running or training, but it’s definitely a nice bonus.
And regarding the actual subject, I completely agree with you. Listening to vinyl, or music in any form really, is ultimately a solitary experience, especially when you want to immerse yourself in it fully.
Avec plaisir ! Je crois que c'est « ma bite et mes couilles » 🤣🤣🤣 (I know it was a rhetorical question — I’m starting to practise for my Parisian “full immersion” adventure soon!).
Earphones on at the gym is the way to go. It gives us fuel for our workouts plus it sends a very clear signal 😁😁😁
I genuinely believe music is appreciated more or better when one is alone. Even when clubbing — you can be dancing with other people, but it’s the music that takes precedence, not the talking.
Thank you so much for being here and your kind words! I knew this would resonate with you 😁
Totally agree with you. I find going out for records with others really unpleasant, there’s always someone to push you.
Last time I went to a record fair, I was with someone and I got frustrated I couldn’t spend my whole afternoon digging though the crates. I went to another one this morning and I was alone, it was fantastic !
Thank you! I agree. I always go crate-digging by myself. The only exception is ONE friend who doesn’t live in the same city and we very occasionally go check records together because we dig in a similar way. The worst is when you and the other person are not in sync — if one wants to talk more than dig or vice versa… recipe for disaster! I’m really glad you got your digging time in peace today 😊
Hi Ari! Great to see you here in The Vinyl Room! Mind if I join you?😁I'm with you on the "hovering" aspect of record-shopping with a crowd (many times, for me, one can be a crowd)! I'm glad to hear you had a more pleasant visit this morning!
Fall by again, OK? Andy runs a comfortable lounge, here!☕
I’d love to hear about it, Ari! Please DO, feel free to write about it….and, you can even mention the “way” you went about finding it! So, you’ve got MY curiosity aroused about whose album you found!
Regarding vacations: I'm with you; I find that manufactured poolside banter excruciating. I don't want to hear how shitty their flight was or how "all airlines suck," and I *really* have no interest in hearing anyone's surface-level thoughts on the state of the world.
Great topic, Andy, and so well-presented....love the ending (I was rooting for you to hold that ending....like, "stay off my lawn!" and cut! But, you're too sweet to, even in jest, leave it like that! You know most of us are here to catch a glimpse of that billion-dollar😁)!
You've heard me refer to my teenaged bedroom, filled, as it was, with all my vinyl vuddies! If Clint got too "hetero-normative" agro with me, forever wanting to taunt or tease me (I kept wanting to tell him, "Dood, get a hobby!!"), all I had to do was slide my bedroom door open (IKR? Yeah...sliding, lest it become a swinging impediment to a passerby parent, etc---Mum'n'Dad's room and Clint's were at opposite ends of the long hallway, while my....er, vinyl room, was smack dab in the middle of the hallway)!
So, escape to my many rock mags, wall posters, and cardboard-enshrouded vinyl slabs I did....often and joyously! As for shopping, you also know I did little of that. When I decided, late-'70s, to peruse a nearby flea market on occasion, I'd do so alone (like I had a choice!), especially when I noticed a few tables dedicated to used records! I'd inevitably run into the occasional Cactus Records customer I'd see during the week at my job, and that was kinda fun!
Upon moving to L.A. in '80 (I was 25), I discovered the once-a-month Capitol Records Swap Meet, with dozens of used-record vendors sprawled along the parking-lot acreage across the street from the stack-o-45s tower of the legendary label! I'd occasionally strike up a convo with some folks, especially to get advice or an opinion on a record, etc. Usually being alone, anyway, it gave me time and peace to really focus on the what and who on each record, something I really enjoyed doing, and can certainly understand how "expected conversation" with a friend, etc, while shopping, could get annoying!
Thank you, Brad! Your kind words always go straight to my heart. Lol yes I wanted to add some spice at the end, but I thought I’d better end on a positive note lest people get offended! We’re treading very sensitive waters on the internet this day and age with hurty words and whatnot! 🤣
I can totally imagine you thriving in those scenes you describe so well — and I always love when you bring them here.
Pisces (oohh I’m getting metaphysical… hold my beer!) is a sign I understand so well (many of my boyfriends, my husband included — they are all Pisces). They have such a strong inner world, and are great listeners (the best), so very good with people, but equally so, they are such free spirits and will never hesitate to go check out places and things they’re interested in alone. I’ve learned a lot from this Pisces energy and I’ve even incorporated some of their traits over the years.
The scenes you described gave me such strong (and nice) Pisces energy that I had to comment on that!
I generally see music appreciation as a solitary activity. There’s plenty of times when I wanna stick my headphones on (or turn on the hifi) and enjoy an album in complete isolation. There are other times when I’m happy to have music on in the background at meal times. There is a place for shared musical appreciation but it really needs to happen with true music lovers.
A few decades ago I used to do listening parties with a select small group of friends where each participant would share about and play a handful of tracks. We’d talk about our chosen track and why we loved it and then we’d play it. Everyone would actively listen and then we’d discuss the track, whether people liked it, etc. and then the next person would pay their song. And we’d do that for a few rounds. It was a great way to discover what music we all loved but it wasn’t true music appreciation.
And that group listening could never be better than the solo listening sessions that I enjoy so much. When I want to listen to and fully enjoy and appreciate an album I love, I don’t want to talk. I don’t want to be interrupted or interact with anyone or anything but the music.
I agree there's definitely a time and place for shared musical appreciation, especially when you already know the music well, or when the main focus is somewhere else (I'm thinking parties, romantic dinners, etc.).
Very interesting listening sessions you used to do with that group. The closest thing I've done was/is with my father (we used to do it in person; we now do it via email).
I think you make an important and nicely nuanced distinction when you say that sharing music attentively with other music lovers had value but wasn't true music appreciation. i agree 100%.
To use an analogy, book clubs come to mind. There's definitely value in sharing views and lit analysis with other book lovers, but it doesn't replace the actual act of reading.
I also don't like to talk when listening to music. If my husband needs to tell me something when I'm spinnig a record, he'll usually text me (even if he's just downstairs). If he knocks on the door, it's something important that cannot wait. I trained him well 🤣
I’m with you 100%. For me, music through vinyl is a dish best served solo. That is where the deepest connection with the soul really happens.
The same is true of crate digging, partly because I always worry I’m boring whoever is with me to death.
I do enjoy sharing music with others, and that can be a wonderful experience, but it rarely reaches the same emotional level. It becomes something different: a more casual shared analysis, almost like a Substack-style conversation around the music rather than a private encounter with it.
Thank you, Howard! I’m really glad this resonated with you. “The deepest connection with the soul” — preach, brother! I wholeheartedly agree.
Like you, I also worry I may bore others with my crate-digging, and that worry ends up being an unnecessary distraction or I end up rushing myself.
I agree with you on sharing music with others, and I like this nuance. I may show you a track or an album, give you my story on it, but then it’s up to you to listen to it in your own time and share your views. Like writing letters, music lovers in this case are “corresponding” through music and feeling, with each participant having the time and space for quiet listening, introspective discovery, and then a shared, or call-and-response, analysis.
Thank you so much for being here and for your insights! 🙌🏻
A trip to the record store is usually a solo activity for me, unless it’s Record Store Day.
I have a huge appreciation for driving around in my car by myself, listening to music loudly.
I also enjoy listening to music by myself in the kitchen - where my turntable is.
Like Taz above- I would be in my room listening to music all the time after school. I also had pretty much every version of Walkman- which came in handy while I was taking the bus in college! Because I was always listening to music and it discouraged others from talking to me! LOL
Thank you, Kristin! It makes sense that you make an exception to your "solo-digging" routine for RSD. I love the fact you listen to music loudly when driving lol. It must be so liberating!
Headphones on are a great way to keep your music close and unwanted "talkers" far 🤣
Agree. The debate around whether vinyl sounds better than digital I think intersects with this. Objectively, measurably, it doesn’t . But subjectively, very different. I think because vinyl listening is an active pursuit, to some degree, of that solitude music lovers seek. A record playing is a personal thing, like a book, to be savoured and internalised.
The distinction you make between objective data and subjective experience is one I’d seen before. I understand why some people think that way and I respect it. I’m not sure the objective data is that conclusive one way or the other though. What I find very interesting and certainly hadn’t seen before is the connection with the solitude aspect I mention here. Thank you so much for your insights.
Being allergic to small talk, this certainly resonated on a deep level with me. But there is value to blocking out dedicated time on your own. Especially for records.
Thank you, Emm! I hate small talk too. 100% agree there’s a lot of value to blocking out time to be with yourself and your records. It’s what keeps us (more or less) sane 😁 Thank you for being here!
Amen. Last night, a friend offered to drop by on his way home to visit. I said if you come by, I'm listening to music and will not talk over the music. He didn't show. I used to have small listening parties and people would be upset when I complained about everyone talking while the music is on. It's a LISTENING party. I get it. Most people love to be social, but there's a time and place. It's disrespectful to sideline the music. Like talking in a library. Like taking a call at a Classical concert.
This is music to my ears. I love how honest you were with your friend — I would have done the same.
The constant need of some people to talk — incontinently, incessantly, relentlessly — gets on my nerves big time 🤣 I’m really glad this resonated with you!
Yeah. Music is too sacred for me to talk over. I'm not rude about it. I don't mind talking during the side flip. Why listen to it when you're not going to absorb it or let it in emotionally?
100000000000%
As an extreme introvert I can relate. While not a vinyl person anymore, my best memories from when I was, are of listening to records alone after school. Walkmans were also amazing for this back in the day. I speak to nobody, if possible, while on vacation 😂 As a songwriter, I will tell you something I have observed...when trying to share your work with anyone other than other songwriters or musicians, about 70% of people start reacting after the first verse and chorus and start babbling over the rest of the song, thereby missing it completely. It's like getting a knife to the gut. I have just stopped doing this because it makes me insane. Keep in mind, these are almost always friends. 🤯 You are correct about how much we listen to music in our cars over here. It's one of my favorite things. I always test drive my songs in the car before I release them. It's the true test of a good mix. I think if you are in the company of other like minded vinyl lovers, who follow proper etiquette of sharing music, that might be different.
Listening to records alone after school, in whatever format, will forever rule. Ahh, the freedom!
I can totally imagine you being very reserved whilst on holiday and only engaging in meaningful/relevant conversations. You’d fit right in among Brits! Londoners, especially. Northerners are a lot more talkative.
It is INSANE that friends of yours would TALK through your music when you’re showing it to them 😱The couple of times I’ve shared my singing, people took the time to listen in silence, so I obviously take it for granted.
I love what you say about the car being the true test of a good mix. I wish I could drive but then again I probably wouldn’t be alive if I drove so I’m quite happy to be driven, walk or take the tube. Now, I imagine the freedom you must feel when driving alone is something few things can compare to. Thanks for being here!
Oh, I can totally relate Andy! I prefer to be alone more than being with other people. I wouldn't want it all the time but I need my recharge time. A good friend of mine once said, "people are draining." We need to find ourselves after that! I listen to most of my music alone and have my own experiences and associations with what I hear. When I was teaching I'd have to drive all over the Chicago area. Listening to my playlists is what got me through those long commutes. I LOVE being alone in my car with my tunes! I can play them as loud as I want. I can sing. I can let let my mind wander (which it usually does.)
Not long ago my neighbor Paul set up a stereo in his living room for the purpose of listening to records. When we go there, he always pulls out a disc or two that he keeps on in the background as we talk about whatever else. Sometimes a great song comes on and he turns it up or we sing. It's fun! Next time I go over there I'll be bringing some of my vinyl over so that we can "play records." I do like that shared experience. However I do LOVE my time alone even more!
Thank you, Dan! I love this phrase: “People are draining” 🤣 Soooo true!
I can totally see why and how some quality time with a good friend with some music can totally have its place and time. I have also done it on occasion with close friends and good music. But yes, like you, I also love my spinning/listening sessions alone.
Thank you so much for being here!
Fucking people! Ami rite? 😃 I think that we can only listen at home on our turntables makes it more so. Although we can invite people over to listen to music or if the turntable is near the dining room it could be used for background music for a dinner party or a dance party (as long as the one record will suffice, unless you are the DJ, and then it could be a big party! Why I keep coming up with exceptions I have no idea. Then again writing is also usually a solitary activity as well. Which makes them go hand in hand! As long as the two hands are your own!
Fooking rite mate! Yes, turntables being fixed in one place surely plays a role. I have played records during dinner parties and everyone treated it as background music, no one said anything about the richness of the sound so I got quite annoyed and streamed from my phone to my hi-fi instead. I mean, if no one is going to bother to notice the difference why do I put my records at risk? I hate people. Except you. Most days you’re good company 🤗 Thanks for being here!
“My cock & balls, that’s what I’m training today!” 😂 Oh Andy, you really didn’t exaggerate. This was another fantastic episode. I now need to find the French equivalent to use at the gym, because Walloons are definitely just as chatty 😁. Although I have to admit, putting on headphones usually kills any attempt at conversation immediately. Not the reason I wear them, I genuinely need music while running or training, but it’s definitely a nice bonus.
And regarding the actual subject, I completely agree with you. Listening to vinyl, or music in any form really, is ultimately a solitary experience, especially when you want to immerse yourself in it fully.
Avec plaisir ! Je crois que c'est « ma bite et mes couilles » 🤣🤣🤣 (I know it was a rhetorical question — I’m starting to practise for my Parisian “full immersion” adventure soon!).
Earphones on at the gym is the way to go. It gives us fuel for our workouts plus it sends a very clear signal 😁😁😁
I genuinely believe music is appreciated more or better when one is alone. Even when clubbing — you can be dancing with other people, but it’s the music that takes precedence, not the talking.
Thank you so much for being here and your kind words! I knew this would resonate with you 😁
Absolument! 😁 curious about your Parisian adventure.
Totally agree with you. I find going out for records with others really unpleasant, there’s always someone to push you.
Last time I went to a record fair, I was with someone and I got frustrated I couldn’t spend my whole afternoon digging though the crates. I went to another one this morning and I was alone, it was fantastic !
Thank you! I agree. I always go crate-digging by myself. The only exception is ONE friend who doesn’t live in the same city and we very occasionally go check records together because we dig in a similar way. The worst is when you and the other person are not in sync — if one wants to talk more than dig or vice versa… recipe for disaster! I’m really glad you got your digging time in peace today 😊
Hi Ari! Great to see you here in The Vinyl Room! Mind if I join you?😁I'm with you on the "hovering" aspect of record-shopping with a crowd (many times, for me, one can be a crowd)! I'm glad to hear you had a more pleasant visit this morning!
Fall by again, OK? Andy runs a comfortable lounge, here!☕
It was fantastic, I was alone for three hours straight, digging through😉
I came across one artist that amazed me so much, a record I didn’t even know, I might be talking about it at some time!
I’d love to hear about it, Ari! Please DO, feel free to write about it….and, you can even mention the “way” you went about finding it! So, you’ve got MY curiosity aroused about whose album you found!
Regarding vacations: I'm with you; I find that manufactured poolside banter excruciating. I don't want to hear how shitty their flight was or how "all airlines suck," and I *really* have no interest in hearing anyone's surface-level thoughts on the state of the world.
Preach! I knew this would resonate with you. “Surface-level thoughts on the state of the world” is such a good way of putting it 😂
Great topic, Andy, and so well-presented....love the ending (I was rooting for you to hold that ending....like, "stay off my lawn!" and cut! But, you're too sweet to, even in jest, leave it like that! You know most of us are here to catch a glimpse of that billion-dollar😁)!
You've heard me refer to my teenaged bedroom, filled, as it was, with all my vinyl vuddies! If Clint got too "hetero-normative" agro with me, forever wanting to taunt or tease me (I kept wanting to tell him, "Dood, get a hobby!!"), all I had to do was slide my bedroom door open (IKR? Yeah...sliding, lest it become a swinging impediment to a passerby parent, etc---Mum'n'Dad's room and Clint's were at opposite ends of the long hallway, while my....er, vinyl room, was smack dab in the middle of the hallway)!
So, escape to my many rock mags, wall posters, and cardboard-enshrouded vinyl slabs I did....often and joyously! As for shopping, you also know I did little of that. When I decided, late-'70s, to peruse a nearby flea market on occasion, I'd do so alone (like I had a choice!), especially when I noticed a few tables dedicated to used records! I'd inevitably run into the occasional Cactus Records customer I'd see during the week at my job, and that was kinda fun!
Upon moving to L.A. in '80 (I was 25), I discovered the once-a-month Capitol Records Swap Meet, with dozens of used-record vendors sprawled along the parking-lot acreage across the street from the stack-o-45s tower of the legendary label! I'd occasionally strike up a convo with some folks, especially to get advice or an opinion on a record, etc. Usually being alone, anyway, it gave me time and peace to really focus on the what and who on each record, something I really enjoyed doing, and can certainly understand how "expected conversation" with a friend, etc, while shopping, could get annoying!
Thank you, Brad! Your kind words always go straight to my heart. Lol yes I wanted to add some spice at the end, but I thought I’d better end on a positive note lest people get offended! We’re treading very sensitive waters on the internet this day and age with hurty words and whatnot! 🤣
I can totally imagine you thriving in those scenes you describe so well — and I always love when you bring them here.
Pisces (oohh I’m getting metaphysical… hold my beer!) is a sign I understand so well (many of my boyfriends, my husband included — they are all Pisces). They have such a strong inner world, and are great listeners (the best), so very good with people, but equally so, they are such free spirits and will never hesitate to go check out places and things they’re interested in alone. I’ve learned a lot from this Pisces energy and I’ve even incorporated some of their traits over the years.
The scenes you described gave me such strong (and nice) Pisces energy that I had to comment on that!
Thanks so much for being here 🤗
I generally see music appreciation as a solitary activity. There’s plenty of times when I wanna stick my headphones on (or turn on the hifi) and enjoy an album in complete isolation. There are other times when I’m happy to have music on in the background at meal times. There is a place for shared musical appreciation but it really needs to happen with true music lovers.
A few decades ago I used to do listening parties with a select small group of friends where each participant would share about and play a handful of tracks. We’d talk about our chosen track and why we loved it and then we’d play it. Everyone would actively listen and then we’d discuss the track, whether people liked it, etc. and then the next person would pay their song. And we’d do that for a few rounds. It was a great way to discover what music we all loved but it wasn’t true music appreciation.
And that group listening could never be better than the solo listening sessions that I enjoy so much. When I want to listen to and fully enjoy and appreciate an album I love, I don’t want to talk. I don’t want to be interrupted or interact with anyone or anything but the music.
I agree there's definitely a time and place for shared musical appreciation, especially when you already know the music well, or when the main focus is somewhere else (I'm thinking parties, romantic dinners, etc.).
Very interesting listening sessions you used to do with that group. The closest thing I've done was/is with my father (we used to do it in person; we now do it via email).
I think you make an important and nicely nuanced distinction when you say that sharing music attentively with other music lovers had value but wasn't true music appreciation. i agree 100%.
To use an analogy, book clubs come to mind. There's definitely value in sharing views and lit analysis with other book lovers, but it doesn't replace the actual act of reading.
I also don't like to talk when listening to music. If my husband needs to tell me something when I'm spinnig a record, he'll usually text me (even if he's just downstairs). If he knocks on the door, it's something important that cannot wait. I trained him well 🤣
Thanks so much for being here!
I’m with you 100%. For me, music through vinyl is a dish best served solo. That is where the deepest connection with the soul really happens.
The same is true of crate digging, partly because I always worry I’m boring whoever is with me to death.
I do enjoy sharing music with others, and that can be a wonderful experience, but it rarely reaches the same emotional level. It becomes something different: a more casual shared analysis, almost like a Substack-style conversation around the music rather than a private encounter with it.
Thank you, Howard! I’m really glad this resonated with you. “The deepest connection with the soul” — preach, brother! I wholeheartedly agree.
Like you, I also worry I may bore others with my crate-digging, and that worry ends up being an unnecessary distraction or I end up rushing myself.
I agree with you on sharing music with others, and I like this nuance. I may show you a track or an album, give you my story on it, but then it’s up to you to listen to it in your own time and share your views. Like writing letters, music lovers in this case are “corresponding” through music and feeling, with each participant having the time and space for quiet listening, introspective discovery, and then a shared, or call-and-response, analysis.
Thank you so much for being here and for your insights! 🙌🏻
A trip to the record store is usually a solo activity for me, unless it’s Record Store Day.
I have a huge appreciation for driving around in my car by myself, listening to music loudly.
I also enjoy listening to music by myself in the kitchen - where my turntable is.
Like Taz above- I would be in my room listening to music all the time after school. I also had pretty much every version of Walkman- which came in handy while I was taking the bus in college! Because I was always listening to music and it discouraged others from talking to me! LOL
Thank you, Kristin! It makes sense that you make an exception to your "solo-digging" routine for RSD. I love the fact you listen to music loudly when driving lol. It must be so liberating!
Headphones on are a great way to keep your music close and unwanted "talkers" far 🤣
Agree. The debate around whether vinyl sounds better than digital I think intersects with this. Objectively, measurably, it doesn’t . But subjectively, very different. I think because vinyl listening is an active pursuit, to some degree, of that solitude music lovers seek. A record playing is a personal thing, like a book, to be savoured and internalised.
The distinction you make between objective data and subjective experience is one I’d seen before. I understand why some people think that way and I respect it. I’m not sure the objective data is that conclusive one way or the other though. What I find very interesting and certainly hadn’t seen before is the connection with the solitude aspect I mention here. Thank you so much for your insights.