A memoir of 25 years (1975-2000) spent working in the world of records & music in Seattle, with occasional side trips into writings on Led Zeppelin and other adventures from my musical life.
The active secondary market for records in the '60s seemed to run parallel to the secondary market for comic books and baseball cards in that same decade! No one could really visualize a thing called "used record stores" or monthly "record marts" in the Capitol parking lot in the decades to come (at least at the time....of course, that all came eventually). Nor did anyone foresee plastic wrappers and cardboard backings for comics then, either...not to mention 9-slot plastic pages and binders, and hard plastic holders for sports cards!
I was 10 in '65 (as a frame of reference), and like every other kid, then, we clothes-pinned our treasured baseball cards onto our bike spokes to imitate a motor, and we tossed our comic books around carelessly between readings. I'm not at all resentful about all this...I'm glad we weren't "commercialized" to that extent at the time...we were just all about the enjoyment of it all, in the moment, and quite organic!
Obviously, when secondary markets opened for cards, comics, and records, and folks realized the things in their closets was actually WORTH something besides sheer enjoyment (that coulda been enough, and maybe shoulda been...maybe for just a little longer!), that's when the greedy emerged, and sadly, made simple collectors (doing it for the fun of it) just a little more dollar-conscious, also!
Not that all that made the joy of collecting disappear, it just helped us fans become more savvy, overall, but also created a new market for us to acquire desired items for better prices, and learn how to trade, and even help fund our future purchases!
Thanks, Hugh, for encouraging me to think on a Saturday!
You’re right Brad, none of us thought that any of this stuff would have significant value when we were growing up and procuring it in the ‘60s. I wonder how many Mickey Mantle rookie cards ended up shredded by bicycle spokes back in the day?
I had a shopping bag full of Marvel & DC comics in 1965-66 that I just gave away to a friend at some point, don’t even remember the details. And I also committed the sin of actually cutting up my Beatles 7-inch picture sleeves and pasting the cool color photos into scrapbooks when I was like, 8. . . as will be described in an upcoming chapter. Fortunately I replaced all of them in the late ‘70s before the prices went too high!
We all did stuff like that, and I think the creative ways we found to adore our heroes is to be applauded! We all became far too jaded and calculating in due time! We were the last generation that revered our heroes minus a marketing plan!
Late '60s/early '70s, I sold my collection of baseball cards (granted, rubber-banded in teams, and stored in a cute, little green plastic "locker") to a sports card store (or, at least a pawn shop kind of place)....among some others, bye-bye Nolan Ryan rookie! Believe me, our generation is the one being envied by the ones that followed, when all is said and done!
If you're inclined to get another copy, you'll find plenty in the cheapo bins of used record stores these days! I still think it's a pretty strong LP despite a few clunkers. "She's Still A Mystery" and "Six O'clock" should have been much bigger hits imo.
Used record stores were how I came up with money for dinner and a movie back in the day. I miss that. Helped rotate the collection, too. Out with the Supremes, in with the Miracles.
Some fabulous records there and The Who Sellout is one of my all time favorites. I had a lot of cutouts! Had to sell record and book collections over the years as I moved around a lot and had to survive difficult times...
My 60s copy of Face To Face has that same cutout hole punch. I wouldn’t get hip to the joys of the cutout bin til the 80s, but once I did it was a fantastic way to discover music in the cheap!
The active secondary market for records in the '60s seemed to run parallel to the secondary market for comic books and baseball cards in that same decade! No one could really visualize a thing called "used record stores" or monthly "record marts" in the Capitol parking lot in the decades to come (at least at the time....of course, that all came eventually). Nor did anyone foresee plastic wrappers and cardboard backings for comics then, either...not to mention 9-slot plastic pages and binders, and hard plastic holders for sports cards!
I was 10 in '65 (as a frame of reference), and like every other kid, then, we clothes-pinned our treasured baseball cards onto our bike spokes to imitate a motor, and we tossed our comic books around carelessly between readings. I'm not at all resentful about all this...I'm glad we weren't "commercialized" to that extent at the time...we were just all about the enjoyment of it all, in the moment, and quite organic!
Obviously, when secondary markets opened for cards, comics, and records, and folks realized the things in their closets was actually WORTH something besides sheer enjoyment (that coulda been enough, and maybe shoulda been...maybe for just a little longer!), that's when the greedy emerged, and sadly, made simple collectors (doing it for the fun of it) just a little more dollar-conscious, also!
Not that all that made the joy of collecting disappear, it just helped us fans become more savvy, overall, but also created a new market for us to acquire desired items for better prices, and learn how to trade, and even help fund our future purchases!
Thanks, Hugh, for encouraging me to think on a Saturday!
You’re right Brad, none of us thought that any of this stuff would have significant value when we were growing up and procuring it in the ‘60s. I wonder how many Mickey Mantle rookie cards ended up shredded by bicycle spokes back in the day?
I had a shopping bag full of Marvel & DC comics in 1965-66 that I just gave away to a friend at some point, don’t even remember the details. And I also committed the sin of actually cutting up my Beatles 7-inch picture sleeves and pasting the cool color photos into scrapbooks when I was like, 8. . . as will be described in an upcoming chapter. Fortunately I replaced all of them in the late ‘70s before the prices went too high!
We all did stuff like that, and I think the creative ways we found to adore our heroes is to be applauded! We all became far too jaded and calculating in due time! We were the last generation that revered our heroes minus a marketing plan!
Late '60s/early '70s, I sold my collection of baseball cards (granted, rubber-banded in teams, and stored in a cute, little green plastic "locker") to a sports card store (or, at least a pawn shop kind of place)....among some others, bye-bye Nolan Ryan rookie! Believe me, our generation is the one being envied by the ones that followed, when all is said and done!
I think I had that Lovin’ Spoonful album. Oh, well.
If you're inclined to get another copy, you'll find plenty in the cheapo bins of used record stores these days! I still think it's a pretty strong LP despite a few clunkers. "She's Still A Mystery" and "Six O'clock" should have been much bigger hits imo.
Used record stores were how I came up with money for dinner and a movie back in the day. I miss that. Helped rotate the collection, too. Out with the Supremes, in with the Miracles.
Some fabulous records there and The Who Sellout is one of my all time favorites. I had a lot of cutouts! Had to sell record and book collections over the years as I moved around a lot and had to survive difficult times...
My 60s copy of Face To Face has that same cutout hole punch. I wouldn’t get hip to the joys of the cutout bin til the 80s, but once I did it was a fantastic way to discover music in the cheap!
ON the cheap, that is.