By Jessica Columbus
In a world before Spotify and Apple Music, if you wanted to listen to music on demand, you had to use what was called an LP.
Developed by Colombia Records in 1948, LPs (Long Player) or vinyl records brought mass-produced music to our homes and on demand for the first time in history.
Although collecting LPs has certainly evoked a sort of resurgence in the last decade, it is seen more as a novelty relegated to hipsters and music fiends rather than a necessity if you wish to listen to music on demand.
At the height of their popularity, your record collection was almost seen as a window into your soul. If you were a punk your collection might include The Sex Pistols and The Clash, if you liked country perhaps some Johnny Cash, or maybe if you tuned into Countdown you owned Top of the Pops.
Or maybe, like my mother, you were a little bit of everything.
Having people over and popping on the latest Journey LP was the equivalent of posting your Spotify Wrapped showing you are among Tame Impala’s top listeners. It was how you would express yourself.
My mother started her collection in the late ’60s with Frances Lai’s Un Homme et une Femme (A Man and a Woman) which she bought with money she had saved doing the local newspaper route (another tradition lost to time). She became quite the prolific vinyl collector which was especially impressive as her teens were mostly spent in rural Aotearoa, New Zealand.
From a Lynyrd Skynyrd record she picked up in Dallas in the ’80s to a Wham record she bought when she first moved to Australia, to more modern additions bought by myself such as the Call Me By Your Name soundtrack, it is apparent to anyone who sees it that my mother’s record collection is a reflection of the varied life she has led. With each record forming a crucial chapter of her life.
Although in today’s age it is immensely more practical to stream Tay Tay’s latest album on your phone, maybe we could recognise that the old way had its benefits too.
Featured image: Record collections tell us who a person is and where they’ve been. Photo: Jessica Columbus
