“Vinyl is the real deal. I’ve always felt like, until you buy the vinyl
record, you don’t really own the album. And it’s not just me or a little
pet thing or some kind of retro romantic thing from the past. It is
still alive.”
- Jack White
A BRIEF HISTORY OF RECORDS
1878: Music was recorded as large zinc and glass
cylindrical records.
1887: Emilee Berliner turned records into flat discs of
zinc and glass.
1910: Records started being made by shellac, a natural
plastic made from the female lac bug, with a speed of 78 revolutions per
minute (rpm).
1948: Columbia Records released the first vinyl record
with a speed of 33 1/3rpm. This meant, rather than only being able to
fit 5min of music on one record (1 song each side), people could listen
to full albums on a 12in record (21min per side).
1949: RCA Victor created 7in records with speeds of
45rpm (5min per side) that became popular for their portability and
inspired the portable music players.
1988: Vinyls begin to lose popularity with the creation
of cassettes, portable music players, and eventually streaming services.
2008: Records began to make a comeback and sales
increased almost 90%. Since, records sales have continued to increase
and more new, mainstream artists are turning to vinyl records as a
format for their albums. Yay!
Listening to records is a vibe, an experience. Every verse, every chorus,
every guitar solo is in the small grooves. If you want to repeat a song,
you have to find the exact spot, no skip button, no "Alexa, repeat song".
For me it’s a moment when life can slow down, I have to be present and I
am acitvely particating in something that I love.
