MRR #267-record collecting
My next two columns will be about record collecting. This month I’m going to talk a little bit about general concepts the way I see them. Next month I’m going to talk about how the internet has changed record collecting.

Record collecting has been a part of the hardcore/punk culture since the beginning. And after almost three decades of punk and two decades of hardcore a sizeable subculture of collectors has emerged. By now this subculture stands along side already extant sub groups of collectors such Psych, Metal, Ska/Two Tone/Sould, Reggae, and 60’s Garage collectors. Some hardcore and punk records now sell for 1,000$ or more on a regular basis. The popularity of collecting punk records seems to be steady, if not growing and prices continue to trend upwards. Furthermore, as the hardcore/punk styles continue to split into sub genres and sub scenes, collecting too has fragmented into numerous subgroups. While there are several completists who can boast “every” late 70’s or early 80’s punk record, I don’t think anyone, even MRR, has a “complete” hardcore punk collection up to the present day.

I’d like to start off by addressing some basic concepts. Rarity, Value, Merit, and Price.

Rarity refers to the relative scarcity of a record. The most sought after hardcore records were pressed in very small quantities and distributed poorly. Tour only releases or records that were sold in a limited geographic area later become much more rare than records that were sold by mail or to stores and distros. This is because dedicated collectors and fan will snag most anything new that turns up in a store or distro, wheras records sold only at gigs are distributed to a group of people less likely to preserve, or place value on a record. This is perhaps why Fix Vengeance ep which was limited to 200 and sold only on tour and at local gigs, is much more rare than records of a similar vintage and pressing quantity. The rarest records were on small labels or self released and had very limited press runs. At the time few people recognized the merit of these bands and their fan base was limited to people who came to their local shows. A few people might have heard their record on MRR radio or read a review in the zine and sought it out. But a record that wasn’t on a label with much distribution or carried by mail order houses of the day, will turn out to be much more difficult to track down 20 years later. I’ve always felt that once a record enters the distribution network it moves down a notch in rarity because it become accessible to foreign and remote collectors, who often have more objective tastes and sniff out good records years before they become popular. Furthermore, a record once in the distribution stream is assigned value and becomes an inventory item, wheras records sold just at gigs may be regarded at the time as having very little value. A good example is the Vile LP, which was by most accounts limited to 300 copies that were given away at a gig by the band placing them under people’s windshield wipers in the parking lot. Until an ex member dug up a box of unplayed stock copies this record was extremely rare as very few seem to ever have made it to stores much less mail order or wholesale distributors. This means there is little chance that a fan in another city or country ever had a chance to say “hey this looks cool, I’ll order one” and bring the record into the collector scene. Other records become rare simply because of demand, or influence. I would hazard that most early 80’s hardcore records had initial pressings of 2000 or less at the time. Certainly only a handful of bands Black Flag, Dead Kennedys, Seven Seconds etc. were selling more than 2,000 copies of a record in those days. However, the majority of those bands have had their fan base multiply in the tens of thousands since their release. While many classics have been re issued, the originals are still in demand. This means that a record with a fairly large pressing (say SSD Get it Away at 2000 pressed) is now considered to be a rare record.

I would break down rarity thus for a record of merit more than 10 or 15 years old thusly: Mega Rare records are records pressed in quantities of less than 100, often only a few copies are known to exist, the Absentees 7” is MEGA RARE. Very Rare-records with copies under 500, Big Boys-Frat Cars, Fix-Vengeance, Dicks-Hate the Police are Very Rare records. Rare records are sought after records in quantities of 500-1000. This area is a little more sketchy because some records with pressings of 2000 are still not too hard to find and others rarely turn up, but you get the idea. I’d say there are very few records pressed in quantities over 2000 that are really rare, hard to find or expensive perhaps, but not really that rare in that they almost never turn up anywhere at any price.

Value, Merit and Price. These are related but somewhat different concepts. A record might have all three in abundance or just one or two. Value is the inherent worth a person puts on a record, independent of its price. Many people might have records because they are cool, because they are sentimental, remind a person of a place and time, or have some other relevance to a person’s life. A record that was playing at a really great party, or when you first hooked up with your true love, or bought at a really fun show, might have great value to you even if it is not rare or expensive.

Similar but not quite the same is merit. Records that don’t sell for much money might still have much merit. Price goes up and down but merit remains. Great music is great music in any time period. While some records may be more or less value or higher or lower priced as trends change, people who are fans of music tend to keep records they feel have merit based on their own objective artistic and musical standards. Collectors who are fans foremost have a knack for picking records with merit out of any musical movement, scene or trend. While these records may have little value or low price at the time, these tend to be the records that become highly collectible later based on their merit.

For example, some of the greatest bands have gone totally unrecognized in their own time. A handful of people saw the merit in these records and maybe years later their recording become better known and soon hundreds or even thousands of people are seeking out these records that at one time no one cared about. This is the process followed by many of the classic Killed By Death punk 7”s of the late 70’s and early 80’s. Many of these bands were totally unknown or not taken seriously at the time. People placed very little value on their records. But a handful of collectors (often from overseas and unprejudiced by actually knowing/seeing the bands) saw the merit in their recordings. Years later these collectors compiled many of these records onto mix tapes and LPs and the music was rediscovered. In this process the merit inherent in the records is established and the process of their compilation also increases their perceived value. I’m not necessarily saying every record on a re issue comp has much merit, but you get my point. How many times have you heard an older punk who is astonished at the price a record is selling for say something like “I remember when no one cared about that band” or “the was a stack of those for 50 cents at the record store and we threw them out” Those records didn’t have much value to most people at the time. But a handful of collectors saw their merit and later revived them. Another corollary of the idea of value is the authenticity of a record. An original press, show only variant, test pressing or color vinyl record is given greater value to a collector than a run of the mill copy. The more unique, original, limited in quantity or availability a record is, the higher most collectors will value it, while the music of course, remains the same. This is concept of value is why most collectors aren’t satisfied with MP3’s CD-Rs or re issues. They want the original, authentic artifact.

Price is an easier concept as it is simple economics of supply and demand. It is related to price and merit but not always. Records that aren’t that good sometimes sell for outrageous prices. A good example is the five figure Hugh Beaumont Experience 7”, which is really, not that good. But it’s very rare and despite it’s lack of merit, has been assigned great value and hence commands a high price. Furthermore, a record that is not that old or rare Judge-Chung King Can Suck It sells for 1000-2000$ regularly because it is fetishized by a high dollar, high turn over segment of the collector scene. Its price is much, much higher than should be expected. Misfits records are in a category all their own, as they are the subject of a collector sub culture that is fanatical and big spending. Their price is far out of line with records from the same period of similar or greater merit pressed in the same quantities.

Until recently only a few collectors in America saw the merit in foreign hardcore. All through the late 80’s and early 90’s only a small sub cult of collectors were really fired up about old Japanese and Scandinavian hardcore records. As a result, many people my age bought what are now very high priced records for next to nothing on a regular basis. In the late 80’s and early 90’s many distributors went out of business and or dumped their hardcore overstock to move into dance music, indie, death metal or grunge. Anyone my age can tell you about the golden age of 50 cent MG 15 and Anti Cimex 7”s. At the time most people placed a really low value on foreign hardcore thrash. The big thing was Sub Pop or to quote an early MRR Scumpit article “bands that Youth of Today or Metallica wear t shirts of” But a lot of people like me saw the merit in those records and snagged them up. Over time tastes have changed and more people have come to value these records. As a result they now command very high prices. Some hardcore stuff is still undervalued, German, East European and South American hardcore is just starting to rise in price as more collectors start to mine the vinyl output of these scenes. And some records with very limited distribution, have become much more widely known only recently thanks to compilations, bootlegs and re issues.

There was a time when no one took the Jersey Shore bands on Mutha records seriously at all. These records had a very low value placed on them by collectors and reviewers at the time. However, as tastes and times have changed these records have become some of the rarest and most sought after hardcore records. Despite being advertised in MRR it seems very few of these releases made it outside a small scene in NJ. And few of these people seem to have placed a high value on the records as very few seem to have been saved.

Some records command a high price only for a short time based on trends or fads in music. Often, these records are highly valued by a group of people, but have very little merit. When this group of people outgrows hardcore/punk the music they valued tends to lose its value with them. Lacking merit, it has little to recommend itself to future music fans or collectors so never regains its price. I hate to be unkind, but I think a lot of the records being “jocked” right now will suffer this fate when their college age fan base hits 30.

Furthermore, when supply is altered, price can be dramatically affected regardless of value or merit. The best example of this is when an ex band member unearths a box of unplayed stock copies and puts them on the market. Once word gets out that there a batch has been discovered, collectors will snatch them up, but the supply driven price is sure to drop. This sort of thing is usually quite temporary and prices even out. For example, there was a guy selling unplayed stock copies of the Authorities Soundtrack For Trouble ep out of a classified ad in this zine about 13 years ago for 8$ or so each. Despite a box of mint stock copies coming onto the market at a reasonable price, this record, based on its merit, has risen in price quite a bit since this incident.

I’d like to further illustrate these ideas with a case study: UK Punk. In the early 80’s the UK had one of the biggest and most prolific punk/hardcore scenes on earth. Its out put was staggering, tons of records were produced from 77-83. Many of these releases were on very well distributed labels, exported widely and pressed in large quantities. I’m thinking in particular of Clay, Riot City, No Future, Crass and Mortarhate labels and releases. In the early 90’s these records were quite in demand and had risen in price quite a bit. However, the fact that the UK’s scene declined greatly in the late 80’s and early 90’s meant that the supply of classic punk records was quite large. Dealers began buying up old UK records for export to the US and Japan and for a while prices were going up. However, with the advent of the internet it was easier than ever for ex punks and record dealers in the UK to sell their records, supply has caught up somewhat to demand at this point. As a result, many classic UK punk records now often sell for much less than they did 10 years ago. Regardless of price, these records have merit. UK punk is relatively undervalued right now. Collectors are pushing past the Partisans and Icons of Filth 7”s to get to Japanese and Scandinavian rarities. However, the merit of these recordings is undeniable, and over time their prices will probably start to rise again as the music is rediscovered by future generations of collectors.

Another factor that Ryan Richardson has pointed out in these pages is records that originate from first time buyers and records that originate from collectors. Records that had little value when new are often lost to the world quickly. I can imagine large chunks of initial pressings of hardcore punk records that went to non collectors who didn’t place much value on vinyl winding up in garbage dumps across America. Years later when collectors come to value these records often the only reliable source of copies is tracking down ex members of bands. When word gets out to ex members, fans and friends that a record they paid 3$ or less for is selling for hundreds of dollars, most are happy to unload all their extra copies. However, once most all copies are out of the hands of first time owners and in the hands of collectors they will forever be assigned a higher value based on what the person paid for the record. As hardcore/punk grows older, the base of collectors gets younger and more and more of the classic records move from first time owners to secondary or later owners. These collectors will be more reticent to let their records go for less than they paid for them, thus driving their price and also perceived value higher. Ryan feels, and I agree, that this is a factor that underlies the rapid price inflation of the internet era. Something we will discuss further next month.

Next I’d like to talk a bit about my approach to collecting and how I think anyone can build an awesome collection.

Most people’s record collections are not made up of highly collectible records they bought for huge sums on ebay. Their collections are made up of records they bought new when released, or soon after. Many people with outstanding record collections have never bought any record priced above the normal new record price of the day. They are just avid fans of music who detect the merit in each release as it comes out and add it to their collection. Over time this collection grows larger and individual records within rise and fall in price and relative value. One way to build an awesome record collection, is to just be a dedicated fan of music and buy all the new records you like and stick with it for life. Many years later people will be stunned when they see records that sell for 200$ or 300$ in your collection with 3$ price tags on them, they have internalized the price and value judgements of their time period while you just bought the record because it was good then and it’s good now. If you follow music with a passion and are a true fan over the years your collection will grow, that’s the simple, old fashioned way to an awesome collection.

Other than just a passion for music I think the main skills for record collecting are knowledge and dedication. Knowledge is by far the most important. Read and learn as much as you can about music and records. Listen to other collectors, read zines new and old, listen to MRR and other radio shows. Listen to your parents and older siblings records. Check out records from the library and listen to your friends records. The more knowledge you are armed with the better your collecting will go. You can go far by learning a lot about what records outside the area you collect are sought after. If you are already spending a lot of time at record stores and other places records are sold having a lot of knowledge means you can spot records other collectors are looking for that you might not want for yourself but can sell or trade. Amassing a brain full of record trivia means you can instantly tell the difference between bootlegs and re issues, first and second press and know pressing and sleeve variations. In the 80’s I had a minimal knowledge of foreign hardcore. I read MRR and listened to the radio show. But a lot of the time I just bought every punk looking record I could find that was from Sweden, Finland, Italy or Brazil. At the time these records were not valued in the US and I got some great stuff at bargain prices. Even the scant knowledge I had, was more than anyone else combing the record bins in those days and this paid off when I got home and listened to the records. Knowing a lot about bands, scenes and labels is important. Knowing about roots and influences also deepens your understanding of music and enhances the listening experience. Knowledge is another factor greatly affected by the internet that I’ll talk more about next month.

Dedication is the other important factor to collecting. The key to finding the records you want is to spend a lot of time looking. And more often than not the key to finding the records you are looking for at a good price is looking where other people aren’t. Depsite the high prices being paid on Ebay for rare records these days, you still routinely hear stories about rare and valuable records found at garage sales or used record stores for next to nothing. This is where having the knowledge pays off for the person dedicated enough to spend a lot of time looking.

There is an apocryphal story of Pig Champion going to every record store, in every town, the Fix played on tour until he found a copy of the Vengeance 7”. But dedication is the key to finding good scores. Here’s a good illustration of what I’m talking about. If you really wanted a copy of Naked Raygun’s “flammable solids” 7” you could probably pay several hundred dollars for one on ebay pretty easily. But if you were dedicated you could go to every store in Chicago once or twice a week and track down ex band members, old scenesters and djs as well as go to garage sales, thrift stores, used book stores, junk shops etc. for years and probably find several copies of the same 7” for a fraction of the price. Almost no one dedicates their whole life to finding just one record in such a fashion. But if you approach collecting with this diligence and have a good base of knowledge you will find many great rare records at a bargain. Even if these are records you don’t want to keep you can always trade or sell them to other collectors to fuel your own habit. The more knowledge and dedication you have, the greater your collection will grow over time.

And important corollary of dedication is patience. I could probably buy every record on my want list on ebay over the next calendar year. However, I choose not too. I have had some records on my want list for close to 15 years. I know that I will get these records eventually, and at a price that I think is right. This means being patient and dedicated. I have paid large sums for some records, but never more than I though the records were worth and I can never really say I paid “too much” for a record. However, I know lots of people who have buyers remorse about records they bought impulsively on Ebay at prices greater than they can sell them for now. If you patient and keep looking, you will eventually find every record you are looking for and never feel that you paid more than you should have. The records are out there like the holy grail of Arthurian legend is our quest to seek them out. To find them will take great effort, but the reward is made that much greater by the ordeal.

Publication Date:
January 1, 2005

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