Contributor: Josh Christensen

Weird Al Yankovic & Styx: How I Became a Vinyl Enthusiast

From day one I loved music. The earliest memory I have in life is of hearing The Beatles’ “Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite” from the back of my Grandmother’s car. That, and many other of the more experimental offerings of many popular musical artists shaped my tastes and who I am today.

From a young age, I was raised listening to The Beatles and 60s folk music (Peter, Paul & Mary, Burl Ives, etc.). From about age five onwards, however, my parents decided that we should listen to nothing but Christian music (Newsboys, DC Talk, etc.) and Weird Al Yankovic. Weird Al was allowed due to the fact that his lyrics are clean. Hearing his music, though, exposed me to all the great classic rock hits, even though I didn’t know it at the time. When I did finally become old enough to make music listening-related decisions for myself, I already had a decent knowledge of classic rock through the guiding hand of Weird Al.

When I got to college, my musical selections had absolutely exploded in every direction possible, and at an extensive volume. Having gone to college in Virginia, there were tons of pawn shops around. One of which is where I first noticed vinyl records. Up until this point, I had never even thought of vinyl records as a listening option. I saw that they had a copy of Styx – The Grand Illusion and noticed the fact that a 12” album cover has an aesthetic value when held in your hands that is missing from digital music and even to an extent, from a tiny CD album cover.

I took it back to my dorm and proudly displayed the one vinyl LP that I now owned. I then set out to find a working turntable, which took a few tries with all the shady pawn shops in the area. Once I did acquire one, I went a little nuts rapidly expanding my collection, which is still growing 8 years later.

To me, vinyl records have a quality that is direly missing from digital music, and I can absolutely understand why this current young generation is displaying interest. Vinyl records can be held in your hands, appreciated visually, and physically shared amongst your friends amongst many other things. They allow you to hear music the way it was originally intended by the artist and can be appreciated in a whole new light.