Venturing into some potentially dangerous territory here: Women and Vinyl.
This is not a topic that particularly interests me but I heard something in passing that had me scratching my head and won’t seem to leave my thoughts. It was the question of whether men buy records to impress women, and if a record collection ever got a guy laid. It was posed by a sassy young lass, clumsily but endearingly unaware of how to wield her newly discovered insouciance, addressing a bunch of middle aged men old enough to have been around the block a few times. She got two responses, one indignant, “No, probably not, but if I have lady guests over, I like to play music and if she doesn’t jive with music, it’s a red flag that it’s probably not gonna work out,” and one other cheeky response: “Why?Wanna come over and check out my record collection?”
I was flummoxed by the question cuz, although my dating days are long over, I don’t think I ever once considered that I might be able to impress a woman with a record collection, rather just the opposite, perhaps needing to explain, rationalize, justify my slight mania. Yes, I admit I might have once or twice dug into my back records for some sultry “Getz Au Go Go, featuring Astrud Gilbrito” so as to move a little closer in on the couch, but never once said “Hey why don’t we go back to place. I got a 2nd-state Beatles Butcher cover that you’ll love.”
Actually, the first place mind went was that a record collection is probably far more likely to get a woman laid than a man, cuz any die-hard record-collecting guy can tell you from having spent countless hours in record shops, that the second you lay eyes on a woman digging in the bins across from you, no matter how pretty she might or might not be, she’s infinitely hotter and more interesting for being a record collector. “What on earth might she be into? Maybe she would understand me, and I would understand her? We could swap records, go on record store dates, just sit around taking turns spinning our favorite tunes, talking about music. I think I’m falling for her…”
Right fellas? Ok, fine maybe firstly a little heteronormative, and maybe not in EVERY case, but you know what I’m saying! Maybe I’m way off here, but impressing a girl with records would be like a girl trying to impress me with handbags or shoes. Yeah, cool I guess, but my level of interest: ZILCH. As my pal Dana put it, if record collecting is impressing anybody, it’s dudes showing off to other dudes. There you go: homoerotic!
My whole point is really just to say this: record-collecting girls are cool as fuck. And such was the case for Miya, who I bumped into on the streets of Shibuya after she had just scored some wax from HMV for an upcoming DJ Set, her first ever (coooool), at Little Soul Cafe in Shimokita. She told me that she had come up to Tokyo from Kawasaki (REPR’ZENT), to score some 12” singles to add to her ~600 title collection of records, mostly Disco, Boogie, Soul, Hip-Hop, and 80’s Dance. We rapped and riffed for so long and so buoyantly about music, old school Hip-Hop, about boom boxes and cassettes, that I not only had a spring in my step afterwards, but yeah, I think I fell a little for Miya.
So yeah, it was great to meet Miya and celebrate some record-loving from the fairer sex adn my gears turning about this topic. (Thanks Miya! Hope you’re first DJ set was great and hope to invite you to DJ a Tokyo Record Style event one day!)
On one hand, there is much more to say about women collecting-records, and how hurtful stereotypes and “dude-bro-man” gatekeeping keep many otherwise interested lovelies out of the “hobby” (Thinks to seld: Is record collecting a “hobby”? Alas, a chestnut to crack for another day). And on the other hand there is nothing really more to say about it cuz loving music as hard as you can just comes from the heart and soul, and has nothing to do with whether you’re a man or a woman.
I know this hasn’t exactly answered the question “Has your record collection ever gotten you laid, “ but let me close this out with an lyric from Beastie Boy MCA, Adam Yauch (whose record collection probably also did, and didn’t, get him laid) from the opening track, “Sure Shot” off my 1994 OG VG++ US pressing of Ill Communication on Grand Royal:
I wanna say a little something that’s long overdue
The disrespect to Women has got to be through
To all the mothers and sisters and all the wives and friends
I wanna offer my love and respect to the end
Then the often overlooked immediate followup Mike D lyric:
Well you say I´m twenty-something and should be slackin’
But I´m working harder than ever and you could call it mackin’
So I´m supposed to sit upon my couch watching my T.V.
I’m still listening to wax, I’m not using the CD.
A goofy lyric from King Ad Rock:
Well, I’m that kid in the corner
All fucked up, and I wanna, so I’m gonna
Take a piece of the pie, why not, I’m not quittin’
Think I’m-a change up my style just to fit in
Back to MCA:
I keep my underwear up with a piece of elastic
I use a bullshit mic that’s made out of plastic
To send my rhymes out to all the nations
Like Ma Bell, I got the ill communication
Beasties:
‘Cause you can’t, you won’t, and you don’t stop
‘Cause you can’t, you won’t, and you don’t stop
Well, you can’t, you won’t, and you don’t stop
Keep on and rockin’ the sure shot
B-Boys… Be Girls…
More Tokyo Record Style on the way!
MC Shy-D – Got To Be Tough
Label: Luke Skyywalker Records – XR-1004
Format: Vinyl, LP, Album
Country: US
Released: 1987
Genre: Hip Hop
Style: Bass Music
https://www.discogs.com/release/99193-MC-Shy-D-Got-To-Be-Tough
Stephanie Mills – Tantalizingly Hot
Label: Casablanca – NBLP 7265
Format: Vinyl, LP, Album, 53 – Hauppauge Pressing
Country: US
Released: Jul 1982
Genre: Funk / Soul, Pop
Style: Disco, Ballad, Soul
https://www.discogs.com/release/483052-Stephanie-Mills-Tantalizingly-Hot
Dana Dane – Dana Dane With Fame
Label: Profile Records – PRO-1233
Format: Vinyl, LP, Album, Stereo
Country: US
Released: 1987
Genre: Hip Hop
https://www.discogs.com/release/306185-Dana-Dane-Dana-Dane-With-Fame
Planet Patrol – Planet Patrol
Label: Tommy Boy – TBLP 1002
Format: Vinyl, LP, Album, Limited Edition, Promo, Purple
Country: US
Released: 1983
Genre: Electronic
Style: Electro
https://www.discogs.com/release/1232929-Planet-Patrol-Planet-Patrol
J.J. Fad – Supersonic – The Album
Label: Ruthless Records – 90959-1, ATCO Records – 90959-1, Atlantic – 90959-1, Ruthless Records – 7 90959-1, ATCO Records – 7 90959-1, Atlantic – 7 90959-1
Format: Vinyl, LP, Album
Country: US
Released: 1988
Genre: Hip Hop
Style: Electro, Pop Rap
https://www.discogs.com/release/99156-JJ-Fad-Supersonic-The-Album
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