Libraries, Mine
Recently I have been obsessed with getting rid of records. As this impulse is closely tied into anxieties of consumption and collection and hoarding it is hardly a departure from the previous need to hoard/acquire records. Not that I have stopped finding and acquiring new records, but there is hope to reach a point of stasis. Keep the number of records constant (or constant at a lower level). Get rid of as many crap records as good records I keep, therefore increasing the per record quality of my collection. Part is driven by logisitical problems. I have overwhelmed the shelving space available for records. Instead of buying new shelves (though I would like to get rid of my IKEA shelving and get some proper record storing shelves), I'd rather get rid of some records. Though the real motivation is that I've NEVER GOTTEN RID OF ANY RECORDS. As a certain amount of gamble is made on every record purchase, it is reasonable that I have some clunkers. And by now the number of clunkers has grown as my taste matures. I have appealed to the library justification for my collection in the past (that is a collection that encompasses good and bad with symbolizing more or less my "knowledge" of music (or maybe more shallowly the visual justification of my "taste")) that's just not reasonable. Why should I keep records I don't like? Why should I keep records I'm unlikely to listen to? Although if I take that logic to an extreme (on keeping records I'll listen to with any frequency) I'd have cut my record collection in half (or more). Especially because these days I don't have any outlet for this accumulated "knowledge" of music; no radio show, no dj night, not really any mixtapes to make.
Interestingly, a coworker who is a fellow hoarder (of comic books) suggested that it would be more appropriate to get rid of some of my books (along the lines of the likelihood of practical usage) but that just seemed wrong to me. Maybe at this time, my need for propping up my self-image of being "well-read" is more deep/shallow than my need to prove anything re: my knowledge of esoteric punk/post-punk/whatever. Maybe my anxieties have just moved in focus?
Oh well. Of course the first thing out of most people's mouth when I tell them my record purge plan is "Let me see the records yr getting rid of..." Don't they know I'm only getting rid of crap? Does it surprise anyone that it's a reasonable estimate that 10% of my collection is crap?
Interestingly, a coworker who is a fellow hoarder (of comic books) suggested that it would be more appropriate to get rid of some of my books (along the lines of the likelihood of practical usage) but that just seemed wrong to me. Maybe at this time, my need for propping up my self-image of being "well-read" is more deep/shallow than my need to prove anything re: my knowledge of esoteric punk/post-punk/whatever. Maybe my anxieties have just moved in focus?
Oh well. Of course the first thing out of most people's mouth when I tell them my record purge plan is "Let me see the records yr getting rid of..." Don't they know I'm only getting rid of crap? Does it surprise anyone that it's a reasonable estimate that 10% of my collection is crap?
posted by furtanic at 2:04 PM
2 Comments:
Hm. My reasoning (for keeping almost all the records I've bought) is that my purchasing has often been ahead of my tastes. If I sold off stuff regularly, there would be many records in my collection which I would have sold before coming to appreciate them. Though there is much crap in my collection: the problem isn't being able to part with them, but being able to find someone who wants them. You want some Uriah Heep 7"s?
I think it's pretty easy to distinguish between crap (stuff that I "understand" and still don't like) and wierd shit (stuff that I thought I might like & haven't yet, but don't "understand").
Well, maybe it's not Easy, but on the edges it is doable. ie all those thrashy punk rock records I bought in '02/'03. Some of'em are good, I'll keep'em; some of'em are bad - I won't listen to them - and I'll get rid of them.
But are all these distinctions arbitrary/not real - truth content full? and a reflection of something else?
The more solid logic is to keep what I like, and ditch what I don't like - and appreciate that there will be some stuff I like in the future that I don't like now.
(the first time I ever sold cd's back to the Man was a when I sold Unwound's Future of What - which I later repurchased.)
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