He's still out there in his normal form but thanks to the internet (and most notably Ebay) This type of digger has mutated into Timmy Thinksheknowsalot. Something about an album selling for $50 that makes these New Jacks feel like its a great album, despite not hearing it and not even knowing the group name (only LP picture covers get these guys hype).
I've dealt with one too many of these dudes over the last couple of years. They come off so smug in their (lack of) knowledge, sometimes I talk to them and you might be lucky enough to see them pull out a recently aquaired record that I don't recognize. My lack of playing the know-it-all usually has these guys acting like I've missed out on the secret of life cause I don't know this onetime auction bidding war trinket.
But on the flip I'll show them an Arthur Conley LP and the first thing out their mouths will be "How much is it worth"
I hear what you're saying, but I think everybody sleeps on stuff. Dudes with mad knowledge can still be caught off-guard by something everyone else takes for granted.
It seems like Raj and the people running with this thread are talking about different people.
Raj seems to be reserving his anger for those that approach records as sources and have no respect for the record for anything other than its proximity to a loved primary recording. I don't think Raj is hating on the digger that's interested in records, but doesn't know shit about most of them. Hell, that's the majority here. I'd certainly fall into that category. Sure, I've heard about a grip of records, but the only ones I really know about (and not even always) are the 1,200 or so that have passed through my hands. And, in all reality, that's a tiny fraction of what's out there. However, I respect what I have.
And, perhaps, that's the difference between a digger and a collector. Diggers are looking for records for something; collectors are looking for records and, in many cases, at least partially want to maintain their legacy. And, that's something that certainly gets me about some diggers. I treat my record room like a temple. I pay respect to my records. When I scuff a record my heart sinks and, 9 times out of 10 time, I'll have a fucked up day because of it. A digger scratches these records on purpose. I'm not saying that some of these dudes scratching records on purpose don't respect them, but there's certainly a percentage of them that don't. This is the element I think Raj is talking about. Certainly the one to which I'm referring. Definitely gets me when a dude pulls out a record I've been searching for the longest and he cops it strictly because it has someone with an afro pictured on the cover or he thinks someone sampled it. It gets me because I visualize that record on his floor, neglected and forgotten about once he's used it to re-make some hot beat of the moment. Or, maybe worse, filed away and never played. I know it's every person's right, but it still gets me.
Then again, I've got infinite amounts of love for the creators of hip hop who revitalized much of this music and pushed it back into the popular lexicon from obscurity. They are responsible for much of the newfound love these records are experiencing, as well as the Tommydigalots. And, in some cases, they did, essentially, what Tommydigalot is doing: copped a record for a specific part they heard elsewhere, used it for their purpose and trashed it.
I guess in the end, I just can't call it. Where does one end and the other begin?
Shit, I can remember when kids would come in and floss records they didn't even own. They would hear Mastermind droppin' the newest shit first and would come in the store and act like kings. Be all on the "Do you got So & So" and I would be all like "Thats not out yet" and they would be so hyped they knew of something before us at the shop. Tell other customers in the shop they got it already.
I always loved tho when I would pull what they were asking for from behind the counter and be like "Here ya go" and they would just look at it and be like "Uhhh" and wouldn't even buy the fucking thing. Every week... Same dudes...
Whatever floats ur boat on how you roll. Just try not to waste somebody's time. The Internet can either be your best friend or your worse enemy. Information and education is almost always money in the bank! Just try to be the one thats got it.
Don't all of you have somebody in your past that when you first started digging took you under his wing and taught you the ropes??
I was lucky to meet a guy in the early 80's who had been digging for 20 years. He was a hard core Rockabilly collector with some blues and doo-wop knowledge and he taught me more in 2-3 years than I could have learned on my own in a lifetime.
Took me along to a buy outside Memphis at a guy's house that used to work at Sun Studios......2 sets of every Sun 45 and 78 and just the prospect of hearing them all was worth my time and effort of a 3 day trip.
I try to help out the younger diggers....and I find most of them to be good guys.
Sharing records and knowledge is mandatory if you wanna keep the Karma right.
absolutely. there are guys that have let me in on buys for no reason whatsoever. I still wonder why they did/do it. I have nothing but respect for that. I try not to be secretive at all and if there's something I've got on ice, not for sale at all, I have no problem breaking it out for show-and-tell sessions
I feel differently about it online, but in person it's share and share alike.
Besides, most of these kids that people are complaining about will wash out in a couple years...Hell, I couldn't imagine starting collecting now. Prices are so much higher than 7 years ago when I first started dabbling in records that someone starting out today is going to either need a faster education, more dedication, more money, or all of the above to get ahead. And, those people are the ones that will be digging forever...
The folks looking for something to sample will wash out. Hell, I went through that phase when I worked in a record store, because I could walk home with a stack of dollar bins gratis. Then, I woke up with a hangover of 6 Hubert Laws CTI records, and vowed never to do that again. Then, I took a couple years off, not knowing where to go. When I realized that there were about a million GOOD records that I didn't know about, the world was my oyster. Like I said, Timmy D. will either quite, or come to that same realization.
But, I wouldn't want to start now. I was djing a party about a month ago, and this guy in his mid-20s came up to me and said he'd just started collecting records, and did I have any advice. All I could say is your going to make mistakes and buy some crap...try to keep all that to a minimum. And start 20 years ago, when you wouldn't blow your mortgage online.
Look at the upside, in another 20 years there won't be a physical product, so to be "into the music" (mannnn) you literally will have to be into it for the music.
sealed $8.99 Scorpio boots of Fela records, thinking they were raers.
Am I the only one who doesn't mind these?
They honestly don't sound half bad! Mind you, every third one you buy is warped as all hell, but that's another story.
EDIT: And can we get some CTI love in here?! Granted only about 10% of the catalog is fire, but you can't tell me Randy Weston, Milt Jackson's 'Sunflower', a handful of Freddie Hubbard joints, and all of the Esther Phillips albums on CTI are crappy!
Yeah, there's a LOT of Don Sebesky orchestra and strings shit on there, and I'll be damned if I'll ever buy a Bob James LP, but there are some heaters on that label.
Comments
He's still out there in his normal form but thanks to the internet (and most notably Ebay) This type of digger has mutated into Timmy Thinksheknowsalot. Something about an album selling for $50 that makes these New Jacks feel like its a great album, despite not hearing it and not even knowing the group name (only LP picture covers get these guys hype).
I've dealt with one too many of these dudes over the last couple of years. They come off so smug in their (lack of) knowledge, sometimes I talk to them and you might be lucky enough to see them pull out a recently aquaired record that I don't recognize. My lack of playing the know-it-all usually has these guys acting like I've missed out on the secret of life cause I don't know this onetime auction bidding war trinket.
But on the flip I'll show them an Arthur Conley LP and the first thing out their mouths will be "How much is it worth"
GETOUTOFHEREWITHTHATBULLSHIT
True......but in context, I'd have expected the fellow to have known the tune years before he got to it.
sleeps on stuff. Dudes with mad knowledge can still be
caught off-guard by something everyone else takes for granted.
KEEP
Raj seems to be reserving his anger for those that approach records as sources and have no respect for the record for anything other than its proximity to a loved primary recording. I don't think Raj is hating on the digger that's interested in records, but doesn't know shit about most of them. Hell, that's the majority here. I'd certainly fall into that category. Sure, I've heard about a grip of records, but the only ones I really know about (and not even always) are the 1,200 or so that have passed through my hands. And, in all reality, that's a tiny fraction of what's out there. However, I respect what I have.
And, perhaps, that's the difference between a digger and a collector. Diggers are looking for records for something; collectors are looking for records and, in many cases, at least partially want to maintain their legacy. And, that's something that certainly gets me about some diggers. I treat my record room like a temple. I pay respect to my records. When I scuff a record my heart sinks and, 9 times out of 10 time, I'll have a fucked up day because of it. A digger scratches these records on purpose. I'm not saying that some of these dudes scratching records on purpose don't respect them, but there's certainly a percentage of them that don't. This is the element I think Raj is talking about. Certainly the one to which I'm referring. Definitely gets me when a dude pulls out a record I've been searching for the longest and he cops it strictly because it has someone with an afro pictured on the cover or he thinks someone sampled it. It gets me because I visualize that record on his floor, neglected and forgotten about once he's used it to re-make some hot beat of the moment. Or, maybe worse, filed away and never played. I know it's every person's right, but it still gets me.
Then again, I've got infinite amounts of love for the creators of hip hop who revitalized much of this music and pushed it back into the popular lexicon from obscurity. They are responsible for much of the newfound love these records are experiencing, as well as the Tommydigalots. And, in some cases, they did, essentially, what Tommydigalot is doing: copped a record for a specific part they heard elsewhere, used it for their purpose and trashed it.
I guess in the end, I just can't call it. Where does one end and the other begin?
Shit, I can remember when kids would come in and floss records they didn't even own. They would hear Mastermind droppin' the newest shit first and would come in the store and act like kings. Be all on the "Do you got So & So" and I would be all like "Thats not out yet" and they would be so hyped they knew of something before us at the shop. Tell other customers in the shop they got it already.
I always loved tho when I would pull what they were asking for from behind the counter and be like "Here ya go" and they would just look at it and be like "Uhhh" and wouldn't even buy the fucking thing. Every week... Same dudes...
Whatever floats ur boat on how you roll. Just try not to waste somebody's time. The Internet can either be your best friend or your worse enemy. Information and education is almost always money in the bank! Just try to be the one thats got it.
I was lucky to meet a guy in the early 80's who had been digging for 20 years. He was a hard core Rockabilly collector with some blues and doo-wop knowledge and he taught me more in 2-3 years than I could have learned on my own in a lifetime.
Took me along to a buy outside Memphis at a guy's house that used to work at Sun Studios......2 sets of every Sun 45 and 78 and just the prospect of hearing them all was worth my time and effort of a 3 day trip.
I try to help out the younger diggers....and I find most of them to be good guys.
Sharing records and knowledge is mandatory if you wanna keep the Karma right.
I feel differently about it online, but in person it's share and share alike.
The folks looking for something to sample will wash out. Hell, I went through that phase when I worked in a record store, because I could walk home with a stack of dollar bins gratis. Then, I woke up with a hangover of 6 Hubert Laws CTI records, and vowed never to do that again. Then, I took a couple years off, not knowing where to go. When I realized that there were about a million GOOD records that I didn't know about, the world was my oyster. Like I said, Timmy D. will either quite, or come to that same realization.
But, I wouldn't want to start now. I was djing a party about a month ago, and this guy in his mid-20s came up to me and said he'd just started collecting records, and did I have any advice. All I could say is your going to make mistakes and buy some crap...try to keep all that to a minimum. And start 20 years ago, when you wouldn't blow your mortgage online.
Will They?
Am I the only one who doesn't mind these?
They honestly don't sound half bad! Mind you, every third one you buy is warped as all hell, but that's another story.
EDIT: And can we get some CTI love in here?! Granted only about 10% of the catalog is fire, but you can't tell me Randy Weston, Milt Jackson's 'Sunflower', a handful of Freddie Hubbard joints, and all of the Esther Phillips albums on CTI are crappy!
Yeah, there's a LOT of Don Sebesky orchestra and strings shit on there, and I'll be damned if I'll ever buy a Bob James LP, but there are some heaters on that label.