“Take Those Old Records off the Shelf”: Youth and Music Consumption in the Postmodern Age

Abstract

This paper analyzes the (re)emergence of vinyl as an alternative format for music consumption in the digital age. Based on interviews conducted during recent field research on the affectivity of popular music, I argue that youth consumers adopt the seemingly regressive technology of LPs and turntables to resist industry‐regulated contemporary modes of music consumption. Furthermore, their participation in vinyl culture enables them to counteract two of postmodernism's core tenets: a preoccupation with nostalgia and a perceived loss of personal agency.

Notes

1. One of the few examples of CD programming that comes to mind is that of George Michael's music video for “Freedom”, in which a number of supermodels program the musician's CD and listen to it while engaging in a number of sexually charged activities. While the music appears to produce an affective response for Cindy Crawford, Naomi Campbell, and others appearing in the video, the process of cueing the CD is presented as a detached, unemotional experience. An interesting contrast is provided by Oasis's video for “Wonderwall”, which opens with a 45‐rpm dropping from a turntable spindle to its revolving mat; although no human presence is discernible in this scene, the act is undeniably framed in romanticism and nostalgia.

2. Most major cities are able to support at least one vinyl‐centric music store. In Canada, Edmonton's Blackbyrd Myoozik, Montreal's Primitive Records, Toronto's Rotate This, and Vancouver's Zulu Records come to mind.

3. From personal experience, I argue that the price a record collector feels is appropriate rises proportionately to the time that he or she has spent searching. What seemed outlandish five years ago might presently be regarded as acceptable if a particular record has proven impossible to locate. On that note, anyone reading this paper with a copy of Johnny Thunders' So Alone for sale should contact me post‐haste.