Readers recommend: songs about hearing, choosing and playing records

http://www.theguardian.com/music/musicblog/2015/apr/16/readers-recommend-songs-about-playing-records-djs-music-vinyl

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Oh, the smell of it. The special newness with the smooth, clear wrapping. The mind-absorbing artwork, with raised contours. That quality cardboard aroma, easy slide-out, and the sharp, black, flawless sheen. So much has been said about the joy of vinyl, and its ongoing revival. For several weeks I stalked the first LP that I was about to buy with my own money. Every Saturday I’d go into Woolworths in Stretford Arndale shopping centre in Manchester and study sleeves, weighing up various purchases. After several paper rounds the funds were finally there, tightly gripped in my young fist. I carefully counted out the £3.99 and ding! Kerching! Unknown Pleasures was all mine. It filled my entire present and all imagined future.

I ran all the way home without stopping, first through the subway under Chester Road, past some old graffiti about Marc Bolan, through something about Kate Bush, the Buzzcocks, Stiff Little Fingers, some A-for-anarchy symbols, and coming out, just avoided some lads who looked dangerously like skinheads. Finally - back into our house. In the living room the coast was clear. A loving wipe. The careful needle. A small crackle. And … Disorder started up with its strange sounding, distant beats and thrumming bass. “What’s that rubbish?” said my sister. “It’ll be in the charity shop bargain bin by Christmas.” “You’ve lost control – again,” I replied. She didn’t get it.

But while Joy Division’s debut was my first LP I bought with my own money, it was far from being first record I played. As well as those continuously borrowed from or swapped with schoolfriends, our household was full of albums and singles of all sorts – and there were many fights over the record player, or gramophone as my dad still called it, as different tastes battled for attention. Glam rock up against Grieg, Mud thrown against the Sweet, Bowie against Beethoven, Zappa versus Abba, New Seekers against Steeleye Span, Sex Pistols vying with Schubert – now that last one was particularly fierce. But northern soul sometimes helped unify these wars within walls with its unbridled joy, energy and emotion. We even had one of those players that let you stack records, so they would slap down like pancakes in some crude release mechanism. Ouch.

I remember one day nipping in to get to the needle first, and randomly playing Aladdin Sane (my brother’s I think, and he certainly was so obsessed with spinning records as to be unhinged) – it blew my mind and remains one of my all-time favourite albums. Then I discovered Led Zeppelin II, opened and played like a sacred text, a litany beginning with that amazing pre-echo effect on Whole Lotta Love. “Isn’t that the Top of the Pops theme?” interrupted my mum. “Sshh!”

“Vinyl is the real deal,” said Jack White. And it does seem to be heading for some kind of economically viable comeback, with a new generation, brought up in a culture entirely dominated by the internet seeking some identity and authenticity in analogue. Such a trend is illustrated in the recent comedy film, While We’re Young, in which a fortysomething couple initially find renewed joy in the enthusiastic discovery and creativity of some people 20 years younger than them. But this week’s theme isn’t only about vinyl, but the general act of hearing, buying, borrowing or playing songs in any format. While vinyl is indeed a beautiful product, magic flumps of plastic pressed a metal master of unique grooves, the joyful record library that is RR isn’t precious about formats, because of course digital is our sharepoint. But it’s still a very good idea to buy vinyl and support Record Store Day, and this coming Saturday I’ll be popping over to London’s Berwick Street to also catch some live action from John Cooper Clarke, Young Knives, Gang of Four and more.

But as for this week’s topic, in nominations, lyrics may refer to playing a song for someone, spinning a record, turning over a record, dropping a needle, buying, collecting, giving, or changing a record or any reference to what a song does in one’s life. This passion may start with friends, family, or perhaps, as shown in the film Good Vibrations, the unending joy of Terri Hooley’s record shop in 70s Belfast at the height of the Troubles. Equally entertaining is the adaptation of Nick Hornby’s book, High Fidelity, showing the the zealous, at times unhinged enthusiasm of store staff and customers.

I’ve collected music in every format, and still have a massive cupboard full of cassette mix tapes, some as wooing tools, many as clunky radio-taped oddments, not to mention MiniDiscs in the 90s, as well as CDs, as well as digital formats. So other keywords in your song choices may include reference to these, taping, or for vinyl speeds such as 33 1/3, 45, 78, sizes such as 7in or 12in, or oddities such as special transparent editions or picture-discs.

This topic of course also refers to DJing. What is a DJ for? Above all, to surprise and delight an audience by choosing the right records at the right time. So your song suggestions may also refer to what DJs should do, or shouldn’t, but this isn’t so much about songs created by DJs but the subject of what they do. So nominations might include reference in song to the art of DJing, placing songs in a certain order, manipulating moods, or making playlists, or songs that call out for other songs to be played.

The settings and contexts span the entire history of 20th-century music. They could come from from early heavy, brittle, shellac jazz 78s of the His Master’s Voice era, to the dancehalls of 50s rock’n’roll, to northern soul singles, 70s disco and the cheesy culture of wheels of steel-type DJs. They could pick up on south Bronx’s Afrika Bambaataa to the 1980s Chicago scence and Frankie Knuckles, the role of DJs in hip-hop, such as Public Enemy’s Terminator X (Norman Rogers) or the added rhythm instrument of scratching. They could refer to the raves of the late 1980s and early 90s, to full on live-mixing, beat-matching or merging apparently incompatible songs into something entirely new such as those of Cut Up Boys to Tiefschwarz or deadmau5. But in the end it’s all about the passion of choosing what record to play.

So then, stack up a series of your own records about this topic in the RR dukebox of nominations in comments below by the deadline of last orders (11pm BST) Monday 20 April. This week’s DJ of distinction and veteran of RR’s own virtual vinyl is DarceysDad, who, with a most welcome return to the booth, will entertain us with his own selection from your suggestions next Thursday 23 April. Time then to get into your grooves ...

To increase the likelihood of your nomination being considered, please:

• Tell us why it’s a worthy contender.• Quote lyrics if helpful, but for copyright reasons no more than a third of a song’s words.• Provide a link to the song. We prefer Muzu or YouTube, but Spotify, SoundCloud or Grooveshark are fine.• Listen to others people’s suggestions and add yours to a collaborative Spotify playlist.• If you have a good theme for Readers recommend, or if you’d like to volunteer to compile a playlist, please email peter.kimpton@theguardian.com• There’s a wealth of data on RR, including the songs that are “zedded”, at the Marconium. It also tells you the meaning of “zedded”, “donds” and other strange words used by RR regulars.• Many RR regulars also congregate at the ‘Spill blog.