Mar 09, 2016
Words by Tony DeGenaro
In foggy Mountain View, California in 2008, local Bay Area unknowns James Hetfield, Lars Ulrich, Kirk Hammett, and Robert Trujilo were declared “Record Store Day Ambassadors” at Rasputin Music, offering “about 10 special releases” available at about “300 record stores,” according to Record Store Day’s official website.
The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) reported that in the first half of 2015 alone over nine million vinyl albums were sold! CNBC notes on this trend that the last time vinyl was this dominant in music sales was 1989. In 2014, vinyl-devotee and rock & roll legend Jack White’s second solo outing, Lazaretto’s “Ultra LP” release “sold over 40,000 copies in the US, the biggest first-week vinyl sales since Soundscan began tracking sales data in 1991,” according to White’s website. Other than to note the constant rise in sales, it seems reductive to call vinyl records’ resurgence a “trend.”
It has been a strange twelve years, for record collectors, vinyl pressing companies, brick & mortar record stores, and the members of Metallica. This year, the band again are being given the honorary title of “Record Store Day Ambassador” who will usher the early-to-rise-and-quick-to-wait-in-tents-outside-their-favorite-record-store-masses over 100 Record Store Day exclusive releases. Among those releases includes a live CD from Hetfield & Crew, Liberté, Egalité, Fraternité, Metallica! - Live at Le Bataclan. Paris, France - June 11th, 2003.
Other notable releases includes unheard demos from Mac DeMarco’s Another (Demo) One, several David Bowie picture disc reissues, The Flaming Lips’ 8xLP boxset called Heady Nuggs Vol.II Studio Albums 2006-2012, Best Coast’s “Late 20s” b/w “Bigger Man” 7” which includes two unreleased B-sides, a 7” compilation of Jason Molina covers of Townes Van Zandt songs, Bob Dylan’s Melancholy Mood EP which was a Japanese tour exclusive, a 7” single from Death Cab For Cutie featuring “Black Sun” and a live Guided By Voices cover, J Dilla’s long lost vocal album The Diary, and many, many more.
Head over to Record Store Day's Official Website to see the complete list, and find a local record store near you!
Image: Record Store Day