DALLAS — There is nothing like live music. Wait, scratch that. There is nothing like music on vinyl.
Record fans say it’s an authentic way to listen to music, and, there’s something about holding it and putting it on the turntable. Maybe it’s the crispness that comes from a plastic platter.
Vinyl records are back.
Just ask someone who calls it "new retro." A college student standing outside the record store told WFAA, “It’s my dream to own a record player.” Well, don’t skip over that. She doesn’t even own a record player.
But, records somehow capture her imagination anyway.
If you’re buying music that you touch and feel, vinyl has climbed to number one on the charts. That hasn’t happened since Loverboy looked like they did in 1981.
And for some reason, eight years ago, David Grover thought it would be a good idea to open a store that sells ... records. Funny he says ... since he’s had ear problems since he was a little kid.
This is Grover's church, where the mystery of music can touch the soul.
“It’s a place where people come together and converge on music,” Grover said.
“When you see people come in, they get so excited, how they relate to the vinyl," Grover said "You have a Republican anti-vaxxer, going crazy, and a tree-hugger, 13-year-old with spacers, and both come together for Pink Floyd. It’s a beautiful thing.”
The flip side? They want more records than the world can make.
There are only a few plants that can literally make music these days. Hand Drawn Records is one of them. Jon Snodgrass told WFAA they bought the first machine in the world of its kind. They took the first one.
When records disappeared, so did the places and machines that press them. They’re working around the clock at Hand Drawn Records.
“Their machines are dropping an album every 25 seconds, but it’s not enough,” Snodgrass said.
In about the time it takes to listen to the B-side of an album, you can drive from the plant to the Spinster Record store.
Music is a reflection of us all. It’s what our feelings sound like. And vinyl – it turns out – is a magical way to listen to it.
Maybe we needed this vinyl comeback more than ever.
Like that relationship we have with the perfect book. Where inside that sleeve you hear the artist speak to you. Where we can step inside a record store and flip through an art gallery of bands and leave with a record of that experience in your mind and in your hands and your heart … even if you can’t play them … yet.
“I’m a broke college student,” she said, holding a Heart album from 1979.
For now, she’ll nail them to her walls.