MRR #295 cool records in the used bin
Felix MRR Column 295

If you are like me, you've spent a big part of your life digging through bins in used record stores and going to swap meets and yard sales looking for punk records. When I was young I remember perfecting a rapid flip to comb through bin after bin of Kansas and Captain and Tenille records looking for anything that looked cool. Back then without the knowledge base of the internet all my info came from older punk friends, MRR and Flipside. As a rule, in those days punk records were so hard to find you would buy most anything that looked cool/punk. This lead to some embarassing mis steps with what people now call power pop or new wave, but also some rewarding used bin discoveries. Years later when things like Killed By Death comps and the internet got rolling, a lot of that joy of discovery was quashed as the curtain was pulled back on many obscure bands and records. As a teenager I was almost entirely interested in hardcore thrash ONLY. I remember pushing past the “slow” punk records just to try to find some bands with studded jackets and big hair playing fast. I probably passed on dozens of what are now “KBD bonzers” that sell for three figures because they only had two or three songs on a 7” instead of the six I deemed requisite for an unknown band to be playing fast enough. Until Vinyl Ink opened in the late 80's in DC there were not shops that really specialized in punk, just warehouse used record stores and shops with a “punk” or “new wave” section. I turned every record store in the DC/MD/VA area inside out between 83 and 88 searching for the lost core. And when I moved to Minneapolis I lived in a geographically opportune area between three used record stores that I would hit in rotation on an almost daily basis.

Like most young people I had little money, but lots of time, and just dug and dug into bin after bin as well as hitting the bimonthly record swaps with their coterie of creepy old collectors and crates of moldy worthless yard sale records. Now there are lots of stores that specialize in punk, and I hit up every one I can when I'm on tour with a band. I comb through bins after bin of mostly punk records, but find little that I'd actually want to buy. Times have changed, and there's a lot of records out there, but the ones that will make your hair stand on end and change your life have all been snatched up. Most store bins these days are devoid of buried treasure or lost gems waiting for discovery. Only the most diligent can still prise a sword from the stone in the crates of picked over records that have been scoured by the hungry hordes of savvy resellers and Ebay sharks. People are hunting further afield, hitting yard sales, estate sales, rehab clinics, ex band members, and the like.

All those year spent digging through the chaff to find the kernals of rage led me to start paying some attention to the NON punk and hardcore records that were lurking in the wild. I was lucky as a kid to have original rager hippie parents. I grew up sitting on a rug with some of those huge 70's headphones on my little head. In front of me were four peach crates of Hendrix, Stones, Who, Dylan Pink Floyd record as well as some old blues, folk and blue grass vinyl. I listened to every record in parents collection and later my mom gave me her records. As I got into my 20s and started to get a little more open minded about music I started to get curious about the roots of punk and listen to music outside of the hardcore/punk/metal orbit. Years of just hanging around used record stores and older collectors made me start to listen to advice like “you NEED that record”. I must also say the MRR “Pioneers of Punk” articles that ran in the 90's were well written and made me want to track down a lot of bands I mostly knew by reputation.

Nowadays most of the best/most raging punk and hardcore records are priced out of reach, especially for a young and broke collector. However, I'd like to spend some time talking about record collecting on a budget that is to say the many records you can still find in used bins and at swap meets for 10$ or less. There are a lot of great jams out there beyond the world of punk. While I don't suggest not making punk collecting your main focus, I would like to point out some sick records that you will inevitably flip past on your quest that are worth picking up at the right price. Below are some of my favorites that should turn up from time to time and are worth picking up. Having a well rounded collection and broad taste and knowledge of music is probably less of a distraction from hardcore than you might think. I don't think there's ever anything wrong with having too many records or liking too many different kinds of music as long as it's all sick and or raging.

First lets start with some obvious pioneers of punk. If you are going to be serious about music you need to nail down some staples of the proto punk scene. Most importantly the three Stooges studio LPs, the MC5's Kick out the Jams and Back in the USA, the Modern Lovers s/t Lp or demos album, or one of the many “greatest hits” type records. Theres the two New York Dolls LPs, sometimes seen as a double album with both, You can probably score the first two Dictators Lps for under 5$, although I don't think they are that great. Most people swear by the Velvet Underground, although I think them boring and arty, but if you flip past the one with the Banana or whatever and it's priced under 10$ you might as well pick it up.

The good news about most of these records is that they are either still in print, or have dozens of different pressings over the years. If you want an original, first edition with the sticker or whatever you can pay top dollar, but if you just want to crank up “Roadrunner” or “pablo picasso” at your next party you can probably find a later pressing for 5-10$ of any of the above. Keep in mind that even a first pressing of a sought after record drops radically in price if it's beat up. I have a lot of great 60's garage punk records that look like they survived 300 parties during the 1965 school year at Animal House, that I bought for 10$ or less. Sure they are beat up, but the music sounds kinda cool scratchy and fucked up. Like a radio transmission from a blow out kegger in 1966. I take condition seriously with hardcore punk records and my areas of collecting. But when it comes to this kind of stuff, I'm pretty happy to just have the songs on vinyl, and you can always upgrade later if you find a nicer copy.

Lets go back to issue number 10 of MRR. The cover story was on the the “60's PUNK Underground” when I first read that article I had no idea there was punk in the 60s. Now I'm jamming this stuff all the time. A good place to start are the Pebbles, Back from the Grave and Nuggets comps. Don't pay too much for these, as there are millions of them out there and they seem to be had easily in the 5-10$ range. Some of these comps are hit or miss, but they are a good introduction to 60's bands. If you keep your eyes peeled you should be able to pick up trashed or later pressings of classics like the Seeds, Shadows of Knight, Question Mark and Mysterians, Blues Magoos, Troggs, Count Five, Sonics, Standells and the like for 10$ or less. With the decline of the “oldies” as a radio format in America it's getting harder and harder to hear party time 60's classics like “Hanky Panky” or “Woolly Bully” except by rescuing some of these rippers from the dollar bin.

Turning the clock back a little bit further lets pick up some vinyl by the real ORIGINAL RAGERS of rock n roll. The real wild cats of the 50's like Jerry Lee Lewis, Little Richard, Gene Vincent, and Chuck Berry. This kind of stuff has been pressed in thousands of variations so there's sure to be a 70's greatest hits comp of most every major 50's artist at a thrift store or yard sale near you for less than 5$. However you slice it though these guys were wild and ahead of their time and a lot of this stuff has held up in a timeless fashion.

If you really want to dig deep you might want to pick up some old blues records. I don't know much about the blues, but two records have made a big impact on me, and rock music in general. Robert Johnson was probalby THE original of all original ragers and his haunting country blues records have influenced everyone from minimalist composers to heavy metal guitar heroes. There are two LPs on columbia/CBS both confusingly subtitled “Kind of the Delta Blues” that were pressed numerous times in the 60's and 70's you should be able to swing for 10$ or so. If you don't take my advice on any records in this column, you should at least check this shit out. If I had to explain 20th century American music to a visitor from another planet I would probably hand them a copy of one of these Robert Johnson Lps. Another total old school rager I am fond of is Woody Guthrie. His “dustbowl ballads” and other folk songs of the depression capture the essence of that era and predate much of the social commentary in punk. You could spend fortune on original 78s by these cats, but rest assured there are dozens of comps and hits records from the 60's and 70's that can fill in the gaps for under 10$.

I don't think I need to say too much about 60's rock, since it's still so heavily promoted by the mainstream media. That said, given my background, I don't think I would go far in life without my Hendrix, Cream, early Stones, old Who and Syd Barret era Pink Floyd records.

Most people my age got into hardcore/punk from the world of metal and hard rock. Before I got into punk my favorite bands were AC DC, Judas Priest, Black Sabbath and Van Halen. It's in the heavy bands of the 70's that I first started to identify as a junior high school rebel. Quite essential in my mind is Alice Coopers “Love it to Death” to my mind one of the top Lps of the 70's. All the early Alice Cooper is cool, but this one is a masterpiece to my ears. I probably don't need to bother, but just in case, I couldn't imagine a record collection that lacks all the Ozzy era Black Sabbath, and Bon Scott era AC DC vinyl. Since these records are ubiquitous you could probably get them all for less than 20$ hitting a few yard sales in blue collar neighborhoods. Some people think the Doors were overrated, I think they are OK, but you can probably survive with the Greatest Hits double LP and walk away without spending more than 5$. The first four Van Halen LPs are in every record store for 2$ or so, and I won't back them as hard as a lot of stuff in this column, but they are probably worth keeping around for when you need some inspiration to put a new muffler on your car or rebuild an engine or something like that.

T Rex is a personal favorite and I would cite “The Slider” and “Electric Warrior” as essentials. However, there are something like 9 full studio LPs plus dozens of out takes, singles comps and the like. Worth it, is the three Lp “BBC sessions” the first two discs are like transmissions from elder gods on a distant planet. Blue Oyster Cult were a big deal in the 70's, though I don't think many people care about them today. If you are only buying one LP, get “Some Enchanted Evening” which is a high energy live album. I personally like “Tyranny and Mutation” and “On your Feet or on your knees” quite a bit as well. While I don't care much for the political sentiments, you can't help but love the high energy rock of the first few Ted Nugent Lps and while we are getting ignorant, there's a solid three or four early 70's ZZ top LPs in a dollar bin somewhere awaiting a spin at your next barbecue. I swear by Slade, this lads rock is a real antecdent of bands like Cocksparrer and Sham 69, “Sladest” is a good place to start. Sweet are a little too pop-glam for me, but you might as well pick up the next copy of “Desolation boulevard” you see priced under 5$ just to have the original of “Ballroom Blitz”. While we are talking glam, I'm not too heavily into David Bowie but you might at least want to pick up the two “hits” Lps from the late 70's Changesone and Changestwo as these are everywhere for 2-3$. If you like what you hear, this dude has like 40 Lps under his belt.

I know a lot of record collectors who take Jazz really seriously. I personally, don't care much for “record collector” jazz, that is to say free jazz and be bop stuff from the 60s. My pedestrian tastes are for the 20's New Orleans and Kansas City styles and the Big Bands of the 30s. This was my grandparents music, and I can't help but imagine a bunch of hopped up teenagers doing the Lindy Hop trying escape the depression and world war two while Duke Ellington or Benny Goodman are at the bandstand. These kind of records are in every thrift store for next to nothing, but you have to do a little research because a lot of the big bands were playing schmaltzy ballads and tin pan alley pop songs as opposed to high energy swing for dancing. I'm quite fond of the Smithsonian Collection of Big Band jazz box set and the made for TV offer “Time Life Giants of Jazz” box sets if you can find them for 5$ or so (some people try to jack up the prices on these, don't pay too much) as a good introduction to classic jazz. I don't know much about this scene, so it's a shot in the dark, but having a box set with liner notes and such helps to navigate these waters.

I'm not too qualified to talk about Reggae or Funk. I will however stand by my collection of Parliament and Funkadelic records. Especially Funkadelic “Maggotbrain” and “one Nation Under a Groove” and Parliament “Mothership Connection” and “Motorbooty Affair” Numerous pressings of these exist, and you should be able to collect them all on vinyl for 10$ or less each.

To my mind the most important and influential metal record is Judas Priest's “Sad Wings of Destiny”. All metal as we know it flows from this record. You can't lose with any 70's Judas Priest LP, and these are pretty common in the 4-5$ range. My favorites are “Stained Class” and “Sin After Sin” although most people seem to prefer their 80's output. Still the kings of all metal. Digging through used bins you will eventually come across a number of early Deep Purple Lps and they are probably all worth picking up if you like heavy rock and proto metal.

You will find out quickly that underground psychedelic rock, like it's 60's garage cousin, is as rare and expensive a field to collect in as hardcore if not more so. However, there are a lot of big name psych and hard rock bands from the 60's and 70's lurking in used bins that are worth checking out. The “acid rock” volumes of Nuggets are a good place to start. The first two or three Love albums are hard to beat. There's always a Steppenwolf or Iron Butterfly record at every yard sale or used record store. I think I still have Steppenwolf on 8 Track too. I mentioned Cream, Hendrix and early Pink Floyd above, but you might also check out Hawkwind, Uriah Heep, and some early King Krimson when you see it around. Hawkwind is pretty collectible but there are a lot of cheaper re issues with flimsy covers around. Harder to find would be anything related to Mick Farren the Deviants or Twink, but there are some cheaper re issues around and this stuff is still pretty cult, especially if you like things like DRUGS and STONEHENGE. I've been interested in 70's psych and hard rock lately and been pretty disappointed by a lot of bands. Many of them had one good album and then a lot of shoddy output. Some bands only had one good SONG and the rest is pretty weak. But if you dig deep into this stuff there's some heavy rippers like Sir Lord Baltimore “Kingdom Come” Lp, Lucifers Friend s/t Lp, and May Blitz “the second of may”. One band I've recently gotten really into (after reading abou them in MRR many years ago) is the Pretty Things. Their “SF Sorrow” and “Parachute” are masterpieces of British psychedelic rock. Like anything, the originals are very expensive rarities, but there are some re issues from the 80's that can be found for 10$ or so with some work. Why this band never got as big as other bands of the British Invasion is still a mystery to me. And speaking of the British Invasion. You can't lose with any early Kinks record real ancestors of everything from Mod to Pop Punk to Power Pop, but to my mind, better than most of the genres they influenced. Somewhere between blues rock and pop-psych would be the Yardbirds whose greatest hits LP will be in any used record store and is worth playing a few times a year for sure.

I don't know too much about surf or rockabilly, but it probably doesn't hurt your record collection to pick up some standouts in each of those genres as well.

Above are some suggestions of bands and records I picked up on the periphery while searching for hardcore records. Some of those records I listen too quite a bit now, some I only spin once every few years. While I don't recommend suspending your hardcore collecting to start amassing 60's and 70's rock records, there are some pretty cool tunes out there that you can pick up when you see them at a good price and eventually you'll have a pretty well rounded collection of cult and influential records as well as serious party time bangers without spending more than a few hundred bucks over a period of several years. See you at the next swap meet!

Publication Date:
January 1, 1984

Previous | All articles in this category | Next