For Certain Reasons

While I was aware of it much earlier, I first became really acquainted with the internet my freshman year of college in the fall of 1995. For point of reference, Amazon.com had only launched two months prior to my moving into the dorms. For those of us who spent our late teens and early twenties "growing up" with the internet, we were among the first to experience the new and exciting yet morally challenging world of internet-facilitated music piracy.

At the time high-speed internet became more widely available, around 2000 or so, I started working for Grand Valley State University's AV Equipment Services. I was one of the nerds who pushed projectors around to classrooms. (Hey, at least they were digital.) (On second thought, that doesn't make it any better.) To this day it is probably my favorite job of all time: 15 minutes each hour setting up equipment before class, and 45 minutes of internet loveliness. This was at the height of Napster...then SongSpy...then AudioGalaxy...then Bearshare/Limewire et al... Until that point in my life, I had viewed the world of music through a keyhole, and anonymous internet file sharing, combined with a new group of relatively music-savvy coworkers, turned this view into a full 3-D IMAX extravaganza. If you ever wonder how I became such an unbearable music snob, you need look no further than my time at AVES.



I don't remember ever thinking that what we were doing was inherently wrong. Nevertheless, it was wrong. Sure, some industry fat cats were getting the lion's share of each dollar spent on CD's. However, music has always been and will always be one of the great joys of my life. I don't believe that there is a capital-P "Purpose" to human life, but if there was one, I'm pretty sure music would play an integral part. Without artists to make it, there would obviously be no music, so we were all, in the wild-west days of file-sharing, acting against our own best interest by taking money out of their hands.

Today I find myself more morally centered and focused than I have ever before been. I have a son for whom I want to set a good example. Also, the recording industries have gotten MUCH more adept at catching file sharers: How many of your friends have gotten an ominously specific letter from Mediacom or other providers after downloading an episode of Flight of the Conchords from BitTorrent? It certainly seems that now would be the right time to at least try to make amends for the thievery of the 00's.

It is from this nascent moral certitude that I launched my own attempt at retribution: The Great Vinyl Reckoning. It's like "My Name Is Earl" meets overwrought music snobbery. My intent is to purchase as many of the albums I've ever downloaded less-than-legally as I can on what I think is the truest available medium: Vinyl. I'm not going to try to find every song or album I ever downloaded, as some I enjoyed only as briefly as if I had heard them on the radio. My focus will be the albums that form the bedrock of my musical tastes, yet their artists did not receive their much-deserved compensation. Along the way, I'll also pick up new favorites on vinyl, as well as albums I had already rightfully purchased.

If necessary, I will change the format of this topic, but for now I will continuously update this original post as my collection grows. I'll try to provide a little back story to each album purchase.

The Great Vinyl Reckoning has begun...

1. Clem Snide - Hungry Bird Purchased March 23, 2009, at the Tiger Room (Calhoun Street Soups, Salads, and Spirits, Fort Wayne) from my Close Personal Friend© Eef Barzelay.
   
2. Green Day - Dookie Received January 25, 2010 as a birthday present from my wife.
   
3. The Shins - Chutes Too Narrow Received January 25, 2010 as a birthday present from my wife. (Note - In addition to the two albums, my wife also gave me 3 record album frames to display my collection. I later bought 5 more on my own.)
   
4. Band of Horses - Everything All The Time Purchased January 28, 2010 from Barnes and Noble, using gift cards I received from my brother Eric for my birthday and from returning the case I received as a Christmas present with a B&N Nook.
   
5. Sufjan Stevens - Illinoise Purchased January 28, 2010 from Barnes and Noble, using gift cards I received from my brother Eric for my birthday and from returning the case I received as a Christmas present with a B&N Nook.
   
6. Wilco - Sky Blue Sky Purchased January 28, 2010 from Barnes and Noble, using gift cards I received from my brother Eric for my birthday and from returning the case I received as a Christmas present with a B&N Nook.
   
7. Radiohead - OK Computer Purchased January 28, 2010 from Barnes and Noble, using gift cards I received from my brother Eric for my birthday and from returning the case I received as a Christmas present with a B&N Nook.
   
8. Blind Pilot - Three Rounds and a Sound Purchased January 28, 2010 from the band's website via Kung Fu Nation using a Paypal gift certificate I received from my sister Sara for my birthday. (Note - Though I technically purchased OK Computer before Three Rounds and a Sound, OKC was backordered and didn't arrive until February 10, 2010, while TRaaS arrived February 4, 2010.)
   
9. Huey Lewis and the News - Sports Purchased February 13, 2010 from a great vinyl booth at the Speedway Flea Market (aka the Den of Awesomeness - go there TODAY). I didn't have any cash, so my friend Tom loaned me $9 for the total purchase.
   
10. Foreigner - Records Purchased February 13, 2010 from a great vinyl booth at the Speedway Flea Market (aka the Den of Awesomeness - go there TODAY). I didn't have any cash, so my friend Tom loaned me $9 for the total purchase. (Note - I paid a total of $4 for the two albums. With the other $5, I purchased two narrow-milk-crate-style cases - one brown, one red.)
    
11. My Morning Jacket - It Still Moves Purchased February 20, 2010 from Luna Music in Broadripple. I wasn't actually there - friends Tom and Jason went, and Tom purchased it for me.
    
12. The Decemberists - Crane Wife Purchased February 20, 2010 from Luna Music in Broadripple. I wasn't actually there - friends Tom and Jason went, and Tom purchased it for me.
13. Jesus Christ Superstar - Original Soundtrack  Purchased June 5, 2010 from Mark at the Speedway Flea Market.  
14. Fraggle Rock - Soundtrack.  Purchased June 5, 2010 from Mark at the Speedway Flea Market.  (The combined price of Jesus Christ Superstar and Fraggle Rock was $4.80.)