I’ve written about my days working in & managing record stores several times previously in Poisonous Paragraphs but I don’t think I really went in depth about I why I felt so at home working there during that time. I never fully explored the emotional aspect of my experience working in both a big box store/chain ran by a corporation vs. independent neighborhood record stores. Now’s as good a time as any.

I recently saw a documentary called “I Need That Record” created by Brendan Toller, a fellow New England resident that decided to make a film detailing why so many independent record stores across the country were closing down once it became apparent that many of the record stores he used to frequent in his area began going out of business. It had a limited release (available in remaining indie record stores on April 17th (Record Store Day)) but will go into national release on July 27th.

“I Need That Record” breaks down the timeline following the signing of the Telecommunications Act Of 1996, the major label merge that left only 4 majors (the worst case scenario was Unigram), the era of CD burners & CD-R’s, the arrogance of high priced big box stores to the proliferation of P2P sites like Napster, Kazaa & LimeWire beginning in 1999.

The documentary details the consolidation of radio stations leading to bland content on the airwaves, MTV playing more original & reality programming & dumping all their genre video shows, the rise of the mp3 & mp3.com, the industries reluctance to adapt to the Internet Age down to the rise of Apple’s iPod & iTunes. The by products of all these occurrences ultimately hurt the independent neighborhood record store as big chain stores tried to squeeze them out in several areas only to fail themselves.

I’ve written about the business side and corporate aspects of these events in relation to the death of record stores for the past four plus years online ad nauseum (I even broke down how Netflix & Redbox brought Blockbuster to it’s knees). Since I was at Ground Zero for the beginning of the end of box store & I was there for the beginnings of Napster (Northeastern students bought a gang of blank CD-R’s from us) I felt the need to write about it.

What I haven’t done enough is something this documentary specializes in, delving into the human & psychological aspects of the disappearance of the independent, mom & pop local record store. Something I know about because I not only worked in a few but I also frequented several more before I noticed them disappearing around 2000.

Living in the South End of Boston on Mass. Ave between Columbus & Tremont meant I was in walking distance of several record stores of the independent and chain variety. I could chose from Tower Records, Newbury Comics, Biscuithead Records, CD Spins, Mystery Train, Nuggets, Looney Tunes, Satellite Records, Strawberries or HMV. Of those 10 options now only Newbury Comics, Nuggets and Looney Tunes still remain. Satellite Records (or Mass Musik) moved & I’ve never been to it’s new location on 49 Mass Ave. (if it even still exists).

The independent record store was a place where music was king. I met so many people during my record store years that put me on to things I wasn’t even aware of that it’s partially responsible for turning me into the beast full of musical knowledge I am today. What else do you think happens when you stick a film expert, record junkie, music history buff & a Hip Hop head in close quarters with Rock experts & Junglists all damn day around nothing but music & movies?

Of all those people I encountered during those years we’d NEVER have met in Boston if it wasn’t for these record stores & I would never have become Dart Adams the blogger without my experiences managing on the video & music floors @ Tower Records, working in Newbury Comics or my time spent as a worker in multiple locations & the infamous South Boston warehouse @ CD Spins. I learned so much about what part music played in so many different people’s lives.

Once record stores began disappearing, many of these people that were so passionate about music lost their jobs and had to instead work in offices or corporate settings. These people had to find other avenues to express their passion for music and film that the mainstream media (print & television) rarely shed light on. In other words, I think a by product of the disappearance of record stores also added to the explosion of bloggers. A combination of folks that used to both work in & frequent various record stores like I did.

Record stores such as these were where people got put on to new music they never would’ve heard before by employees that lived & breathed it. It was where music fans of different genres would congregate and interact with each other. It’s where people would call in to ask music questions to experts that would know the answer. When you copped a rare record or CD where was the first place you went to share your latest come up? Same spot all the other record heads were!

Before music blogs this was where you came to & got put up on new shit. The record store housed the blog commenters before there were even blogs. At one point in time record store employees WERE Google. At least until the chain stores stopped employing us experts & we all ended up at smaller indie stores. They only hired pretty people that looked everything up in the store database and quit after 3 months. Employee turnover at big box stores was ridiculous seeing as back when the economy was booming you could just get another job easy as hell.

I can’t tell you how many folks in the music industry from artists to producers to DJ’s DM or e-mail me constantly asking me where the record spots are in & around Boston. That list just keeps getting shorter and shorter as time passes. I can’t help but feel that an important part of life for not only past but future generations is slowly but surely slipping away.

People have learned to tune out corporate controlled radio & music television stations due to their bland content and overly repetitious nature so they need physical alternatives as well as digital ones. If you ask me nothing beats vinyl. NOTHING. ON. EARTH.

*Pictures of the Princeton Record Exchange (NJ), Looney Tunes, Nuggets & CD Spins (RIP) (BOS) were used in this post*

NEXT: Record Diggin’ With Dart In South End, Boston

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