Is It Nostalgia Or Something Else?

I just read an article that explained the sole reason for the new found love and resurgence of vinyl is nostalgia. You know what?

The article kind of pissed me off.

Nostalgia is defined as:

"A sentimental longing or wistful affection for the past, typically for a period or place with happy personal associations."

Why is it that we have to make generalized statements about a group of people and then classify them in mostly disparaging ways? Saying someone is nostalgic, in the context of the article I read, is a passive aggressive way saying these people are living in the past, afraid of the future. It's like high school all over again. The Jocks, the Nerds, Band Geeks, etc.

If somebody loves vinyl, that should be enough. If it's not, then the fact that that love music should be enough.

I, like so many others have many different reasons for my love of vinyl. I get it a lot from acquaintances, "Ah you grew up in the 70s", meaning I am old, "so you long for old stuff again."

That simply isn't true.

Being as I grew up in the 70s I should, by that logic, enjoy John Carpenter's Halloween more than Rob Zombie's Halloween. That would be a false assumption. I actually enjoy the gritty new style and storytelling in today's horror overall. It doesn't mean I dislike the original either. I have a a deep appreciation of both, for different reasons.

While I love vinyl, I also enjoy the portability of digital music. I can't take my entire record collection with me to play on a road trip, but I can slip a 32GB SD card into my car's console and have enough music to run my gas tank dry 30 times over before hearing a repeated song.

But if I could listen to vinyl in the car, I would.

Being that I was born during the Summer of Love, that would be the Summer of '69, yes just like the Bryan Adams' song of the same name, I came of age in the 70s and 80s. But, my childhood wasn't remotely like That 70's Show, Dazed and Confused, The Wonder Years or even Almost Famous portrayed. I was raised by a strict single mother until I was six, when she then married an abusive, womanizing, alcoholic, blue-collar, mill worker, things went downhill from there.

I was a particularly precocious child with a natural curiosity for how things work and a wild imagination. That combination kept me in a lot of trouble throughout my childhood. As a result I spent a lot of time being punished by various means; of which, one punishment was being grounded, alone, to my room, for weeks at a time.

So to prevent this from being a recap of my crappy childhood, because that is not my intent, it's just easier for me to say, the "good ole days" aren't all that worthy of remembering them in fondness; no nostalgia is in my heart for that time in my life.

I have many friends who definitely collect things in the name of nostalgia; an attempt to hold on to their fond memories of the past. They do this openly, admitting that it's nostalgia. While I can understand why these friends do this, I don't really relate to it, but at the same time I also don't judge them as I can find a connection with them: We love some of the same things. Reason's aren't important.

If I am going to be honest here, I have to disclose that I didn't knowingly hear a Led Zeppelin song until I was nineteen years old. My first known memory of a Queen song, wasn't even Queen, but rather Weird Al's parody of Queen with "Another One Rides the Bus."

My own exposure to music was fairly narrow and it didn't broaden until I was into my late teens, early twenties. And this helps answer the question: So why vinyl?

When I started broadening my musical world, CDs were the "new" thing on the market. CD Players were expensive as was the CDs themselves. As a result, between 1987 and 1993, I could buy two, sometimes three, vinyl albums for the price of one CD. I could check out vinyl albums from the public library. I was able to explore so much more music for my limited (military) income.

But for me there are a few things about vinyl I learned to love from an early age and developed into my late teens and early twenties.

I love the tangibility of vinyl. I love the fact that I can touch it, hold it, smell it, see it, in its entirety, in detail; the liner notes, the cover art, the gate fold art, the inner sleeve art, the lyrics; it is a complete experience. There isn't a screen sitting between me and the experience of music; filtering it. Even CDs and Cassettes cannot replicate that experience like vinyl can.

I love the ritual of vinyl. Walking my fingers through a bin of vinyl to find that one gem I can add to my collection. Sliding the album out of its sleeve, gently laying it on the platter and dropping the needle (yes, I still call it a needle and always will).

I love the raw and stable nature of vinyl. With the proper care and handling, vinyl sounds the same today as it did when it was pressed. And the care and handling aren't all that complicated.

I love the discovery of new-to-me music that vinyl makes affordable. Because vinyl is still pretty inexpensive, I can discover new music at a rate that is unprecedented even in CDs.

I love the game I play as I flip through a bin of records; The game of "have it | need it | leave it".

I love that when I buy vinyl, I truly own it and I'm not just licensing it. I can play it, record it, play it back when and where I want. I can loan it out to friend. I can trade it, sell it, gift it. It is personal.

I love the mystery of vinyl hunting. Going to a garage sale or even my local record store and see what they got in their "Recently Arrived Used Section". Each dig through a new bin is new experience with new treasures to be found; new music to fall in love with.

I love that vinyl allows me to determine my favorite songs from an album. Vinyl allows me to discover what I like instead of being told via industry driven algorithms designed to push specific artists and songs to top of a searches or streaming playlists telling me what I should like.

My love of vinyl is not based in some "everything old is new again" movement.

My love of vinyl is not a nostalgia based desire to hold on to some part of the past.

My love of vinyl is not based on a monetary based profit motive.

My love of vinyl is my own, based on who I am.

Even though others may share some of my reasons for a love of vinyl, my love of vinyl is likely different than his love of vinyl and different than her love of vinyl. But the fact remains, we all love music.

Isn't that enough?

Do the formats, the motivations, the classifications of said motivations really matter? Is it really that important to break down, classify and divide something we find commonality in? Why can't we just find that one area of commonality and connect on the fact that we connect there. Embrace each other on the common love.

My love is music. My choice of medium is vinyl. The reason's don't really need to be classified. Can't we drop the labels and drop a needle instead.

Listen.

Connect.

Embrace.

Thrive.

Music.