Record Store Day: A Huge Success

By Chad Ghiron

The cool spring rain washed over the line of punk, metal and indie kids wrapped around the corner of Thompson and Bleecker as they hid under trees and overhangs waiting for their chance to get inside Generation Records and purchase some of the rarest records to hit stores in the last three years of Record Store Day (RSD).

Some of the rarities include: Beastie Boys’ white label EP, The Flaming Lips’ limited edition colored vinyl of their latest album (a remake of Pink Floyd’s “The Dark Side of The Moon”), Bullet For My Valentine’ seven-inch picture disc vinyl, Soundgarden’s seven-inch of first single “Hunted Down” and Pavement’s seven-inch single “Cut Your Hair/Grounded.”

Really if I sat here and listed every limited edition release, which came out on RSD this year you’d still be reading this when the next RSD came around.

But I digress.

While the line of expectant parents of fresh new vinyl waited with vocal impatience, a show was happening inside. Andrew WK had a DJ set and Cymbals Eat Guitars, Black Wine, and The Budos Band played to a family-sized packed house.

After complaining, the people, once inside, shook off the dew, laughed a bit and headed downstairs to where the warm light and ear splitting music came from. It was a welcomed sight: new vinyl, loud bands, and the smell of beer in the air. I was home.

“It had to be the most successful Record Store Day we’ve had yet,” Matt Pullman of Generation Records said. “People came in and out all day without problems giving the whole day a sort of party feel.”

As each band wrapped up their set they hung around to share beers with the fans and enjoy the rest of the event.

“The bands all said they had a great time.” Pullman said. “They said if every show could be this fun touring wouldn’t be have as painful.”

Outside of the event being a huge success, the sales for the day helped the shop by a long shot.

“People had been saying RSD was going to turn out to be bigger than Christmas for us and it really did.” Pullman said.

As I left the event to brave the weather once again, I shot Eric Levin of Criminal Records and co-founder of RSD a quick email to see what his feelings of the day had been.

“Oh my goodness, [RSD] was beyond even our wildest guesstimates, on a global level and a local level. Stories are flooding in, as stores recover and clean up. I haven’t heard from one store that didn’t have their best day ever, on a spiritual level and financial. We’re all going to pay off a lot of bills and buy more stuff for our customers.” Levin said.

With Coachella wrapped up for the year and RSD taking another turn in the history books, it’s time to look toward the future and see what the years to come will have to offer.

When asked about in hindsight of this year’s event what are goals for the coming years Eric said, “More, more, more and more. Now that Record Store Day was a punch line on SNL’s Weekend Update, I won’t be satisfied until they do a sketch in a record store and the band says, ‘We love you Record Stores, Eric come on out and help us with this chorus’.”