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.
In 1991 or 1992, we (Second Time Around) got a call from our friends up the street at Cellophane (they were on the Ave at this point), warning that Nirvana's Chris Novoselic was on the prowl, looking for record stores selling bootlegs of his band's music, which we were. It was known that he'd done the same at Orpheum on Broadway, confiscating what he found there. We quickly moved them behind the counter just before he came in the door. *whew*
Good story! I didn't realize that 2nd Time carried boots again in the '90s - there were certainly plenty around on CD. Cellophane Sq. never got back into it, except for the occasional used CD boot that would show up and go into the 'free with purchase' bin, or occasionally the regular racks.
Oh yeah, he certainly did that! I'd forgotten about that until reading your comment. If Cellophane was on The Ave, it would've been 1994 and after Kurt died. He was really clamping down on the bootlegs after Kurt's death, going from store to store.
Less about the live bootleg and more about the bootleg labels, which proliferated in the 80s. As a 17-year-old kid in 1986, I was obsessed with uncovering and discovering obscure psychedelic gems from the 60s. I scoured magazines like DISCoveries and Goldmine; I eventually went to record conventions (as I posted in your previous article), and I ultimately discovered labels like Eva out of France and Psycho out of England that were reissuing lesser-known psych records, often via needle drop (using a clean LP as their master source). These were the days before streaming, and these labels allowed one to hear an impossibly difficult to find album by The 13th Floor Elevators and The Chocolate Watchband or some other obscurity.
Eventually, I learned about NYC's Midnight Records and got a hold of their catalog. I went through the catalog, saved money to buy the records, and then waited for WEEKS for them to arrive (notoriously slow mail service from Midnight; I am sure when online purchasing became more popular, they lost out due to how slow they were). When the records finally did arrive, it was like Christmas day! Many of their 60s psych titles were also bootleg labels, and the small bands were on labels even lesser known than Bomp!
My first time in NYC, 1989, I went to Midnight's brick-and-mortar in Chelsea; it was like walking into a rock and roll church. Everything in their catalog was there, but I could now look at the cover art and decide what I wanted to buy. Despite having hair down to my elbows, when I took the LPs to the counter, the hipper-than-hip punk rock and leather-clad rocker staff knew I wasn't from NYC, and I felt a sense of snobbery, but fuck it; life is too short. Just let me pay and take my weird records home to enjoy. Midnight didn't last too much longer. The 90s eventually swallowed them up.
I have wonderful memories of discovering rare gems via needle drop bootlegs and meeting many other psych collectors worldwide while trading tapes (and eventually CD-Rs).
most bootlegs provided the fix between the next album release or new tour. But one label really went beyond, and that was the TMOQ folks.
Some of the first colored vinyl in can remember seeing, real rare stuff, and those William Stout covers at times better than the art you'd regularly see from the major labels. Plus a healthy sense of humor that was lacking at the time.
Anyone interested in a story of bootlegs, especially the TMOQ label might consider checking out "A Pig's Tale", not a definitive telling, nor completely accurate but; like that shady world of boots it's the closet you'll get to a truth. Plus a decent job collecting those Wm. Stout covers.
Word is floating around the William Stout himself is releasing a book of his bootleg art...Now back to my Golden Eggs...
I only bought a few bootlegs back in the day (Stealin' by Bob Dylan, ChangesThreeBowie, and Live At The Capitol Theater by The Clash all got lots of play). But MP3 bootlegs are a low-key obsession of mine, and I now have about 80GB of bootlegs on my iPhone, ranging from The Who in 1964 to Billie Eilish in 2022. I find them an endless source of fascination and energy, giving me an alternate view of some of my favorite artists. Sadly, my #1 source (the Big O) shut down a couple of years ago.
In 1991 or 1992, we (Second Time Around) got a call from our friends up the street at Cellophane (they were on the Ave at this point), warning that Nirvana's Chris Novoselic was on the prowl, looking for record stores selling bootlegs of his band's music, which we were. It was known that he'd done the same at Orpheum on Broadway, confiscating what he found there. We quickly moved them behind the counter just before he came in the door. *whew*
Good story! I didn't realize that 2nd Time carried boots again in the '90s - there were certainly plenty around on CD. Cellophane Sq. never got back into it, except for the occasional used CD boot that would show up and go into the 'free with purchase' bin, or occasionally the regular racks.
Oh yeah, he certainly did that! I'd forgotten about that until reading your comment. If Cellophane was on The Ave, it would've been 1994 and after Kurt died. He was really clamping down on the bootlegs after Kurt's death, going from store to store.
Less about the live bootleg and more about the bootleg labels, which proliferated in the 80s. As a 17-year-old kid in 1986, I was obsessed with uncovering and discovering obscure psychedelic gems from the 60s. I scoured magazines like DISCoveries and Goldmine; I eventually went to record conventions (as I posted in your previous article), and I ultimately discovered labels like Eva out of France and Psycho out of England that were reissuing lesser-known psych records, often via needle drop (using a clean LP as their master source). These were the days before streaming, and these labels allowed one to hear an impossibly difficult to find album by The 13th Floor Elevators and The Chocolate Watchband or some other obscurity.
Eventually, I learned about NYC's Midnight Records and got a hold of their catalog. I went through the catalog, saved money to buy the records, and then waited for WEEKS for them to arrive (notoriously slow mail service from Midnight; I am sure when online purchasing became more popular, they lost out due to how slow they were). When the records finally did arrive, it was like Christmas day! Many of their 60s psych titles were also bootleg labels, and the small bands were on labels even lesser known than Bomp!
My first time in NYC, 1989, I went to Midnight's brick-and-mortar in Chelsea; it was like walking into a rock and roll church. Everything in their catalog was there, but I could now look at the cover art and decide what I wanted to buy. Despite having hair down to my elbows, when I took the LPs to the counter, the hipper-than-hip punk rock and leather-clad rocker staff knew I wasn't from NYC, and I felt a sense of snobbery, but fuck it; life is too short. Just let me pay and take my weird records home to enjoy. Midnight didn't last too much longer. The 90s eventually swallowed them up.
I have wonderful memories of discovering rare gems via needle drop bootlegs and meeting many other psych collectors worldwide while trading tapes (and eventually CD-Rs).
most bootlegs provided the fix between the next album release or new tour. But one label really went beyond, and that was the TMOQ folks.
Some of the first colored vinyl in can remember seeing, real rare stuff, and those William Stout covers at times better than the art you'd regularly see from the major labels. Plus a healthy sense of humor that was lacking at the time.
Anyone interested in a story of bootlegs, especially the TMOQ label might consider checking out "A Pig's Tale", not a definitive telling, nor completely accurate but; like that shady world of boots it's the closet you'll get to a truth. Plus a decent job collecting those Wm. Stout covers.
Word is floating around the William Stout himself is releasing a book of his bootleg art...Now back to my Golden Eggs...
I only bought a few bootlegs back in the day (Stealin' by Bob Dylan, ChangesThreeBowie, and Live At The Capitol Theater by The Clash all got lots of play). But MP3 bootlegs are a low-key obsession of mine, and I now have about 80GB of bootlegs on my iPhone, ranging from The Who in 1964 to Billie Eilish in 2022. I find them an endless source of fascination and energy, giving me an alternate view of some of my favorite artists. Sadly, my #1 source (the Big O) shut down a couple of years ago.
"I find them an endless source of fascination and energy, giving me an alternate view of some of my favorite artists."
Well said, I feel the same way - and the format doesn't matter, just want to hear the music.
It’s been so long ago but I had some bootleg Who stuff in the late 70’s.