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Record Store Rants
Jan. 16th, 2004 07:35 pmI volunteered at Longwood Gardens again today, and then did some shopping in Delaware. I didn't buy myself anything (aside from lunch at Chick-Fil-A), though. I think I'm at a point where there are a lot of things (mostly CDs, but a few books and video games as well) I sort of want, but nothing I really, really want, and it's easier to justify spending money on the latter. That's not to mention that quite a few things I want are out of print and/or generally hard to find. I guess that's what I get for liking stuff that's non-mainstream and not that new. I tend to find myself envying people who buy, like, twenty CDs at once; I wish I had the money to afford to do that, and that there was that much I wanted in one place.
Speaking of CD stores, I've found that I prefer CDs to be arranged in categories as broad as possible. I don't shop for music by genre. Most of what I buy would probably be considered alternative pop/rock, or something like that, but there can be some ambiguity there. A music store near my old school had an "alternative" section, and another one called something like "pop" or "rock," and I wasn't always sure where to look for any one particular thing, and I don't know that the staff always knew where to put things, either. There were, for instance, Moxy Früvous albums in both sections (apparently only You Will Go to the Moon is considered "alternative"). I'd say that, as a general rule, "alternative" music IS pop/rock (pretty much the same thing nowadays), and putting it in its own section just complicates matters. I guess I can see putting stuff like country or rap in separate sections, but what about stuff that can be considered "alt-country," or "rock-rap," or any of the cross-genre labels that have been in vogue as of late? Oh, and I prefer everything, no matter how obscure, just being in alphabetical order, rather than having the "Miscellaneous [insert letter here]" sections, although if the store isn't any good at alphabetizing (which seems to be the case with some stores, especially places like Circuit City), it doesn't really matter that much.
Speaking of CD stores, I've found that I prefer CDs to be arranged in categories as broad as possible. I don't shop for music by genre. Most of what I buy would probably be considered alternative pop/rock, or something like that, but there can be some ambiguity there. A music store near my old school had an "alternative" section, and another one called something like "pop" or "rock," and I wasn't always sure where to look for any one particular thing, and I don't know that the staff always knew where to put things, either. There were, for instance, Moxy Früvous albums in both sections (apparently only You Will Go to the Moon is considered "alternative"). I'd say that, as a general rule, "alternative" music IS pop/rock (pretty much the same thing nowadays), and putting it in its own section just complicates matters. I guess I can see putting stuff like country or rap in separate sections, but what about stuff that can be considered "alt-country," or "rock-rap," or any of the cross-genre labels that have been in vogue as of late? Oh, and I prefer everything, no matter how obscure, just being in alphabetical order, rather than having the "Miscellaneous [insert letter here]" sections, although if the store isn't any good at alphabetizing (which seems to be the case with some stores, especially places like Circuit City), it doesn't really matter that much.
