There's no two ways about it – physical media, vinyl especially, is back in vogue.
It feels like every week we write about the revived record, whether it's a story on vinyl’s record-breaking sales or a cool new special edition record we “need”, or a feature on why we love the format so much.
Based on my last round of interviews with record store owners (and going by the fanfare shown on TikTok), it is also clear that young people are showing an increased interest in vinyl, which is no bad thing.
But last weekend, I had a fantastic experience that demonstrates the phenomenon at a local level. Specifically, at a pop-up shop appearing at my local pub in north east London, The Forest Tavern.
Historically, the pub has been a pretty straightforward place when it comes to events. The weekly pub quiz, live music on a Saturday night, an annual disco for Halloween – pretty much the standard stuff you’ll find at most decent boozers in Britain.
But last Saturday it was taken over by Dig a Little, a local group that does the rounds in the UK selling second-hand records.
Sitting in my usual seat next to my wife, I witnessed the group, which includes two locals from the area, turn up and slowly build a shop area for people to browse their record collection.
And once they finished and packed up, something truly magical happened – it brought the community together.
Like most pubs in Forest Gate, the Tavern has a diverse clientele. Go in on any day and you'll spot West Ham football fans looking for a change of pace from the Boleyn Tavern (the classic Hammers watering hole, complete with a statue of Bobby Moore, Geoff Hurst, Ray Wilson and Martin Peters from the 1966 England team outside it), as well as students, young families, yuppies, pensioners and, well, couples like us.
Normally when I visit, while we’re all perfectly pleasant to one another, we all do the British thing, keeping to ourselves and avoiding any cross-fraternisations between groups.
And why not? I am happy to admit that my knowledge of football, let alone West Ham FC, is lacking and I have very little interest in changing that.
I also can’t imagine many of the other frequent visitors wanting to join in on a debate over which Power Rangers Zord is best – as we did over a game of Monopoly Deal during our last visit.
But on this hallowed day, vinyl worked its magic and these barriers briefly came down in my little corner of north east London.
It’s all about community
Within moments of the Dig a Little pop-up opening, people chatted away as they flicked through records.
Sure, there was some snobbery at the start. One of the older chaps next to me pulled a face when a young lad asked one of the organisers if they had any Taylor Swift. But his subsequent response was all about inclusivity.
I particularly enjoyed the grade-A lesson (rant) he gave the lad as he preached the virtues of Aretha Franklin and Sister Sledge, arguing that he should care more about those ”original” stars/divas than the newer “rip-offs”.
Each to their own, I guess.
The fact the organisers then showed him, and a growing horde of other seemingly curious vinyl newbies, how to check for scratches, what record-playing equipment to use*, and offered general advice about what to look for when scouring records made it all the sweeter.
*Don’t buy a one-box turntable/speaker system; go for a separate turntable and speaker setup if you can afford it.
I was also pleased to see that the wisdom being imparted didn’t fall on deaf ears. I heard at least two of the younger attendees ask their parents if they could get a turntable to play their new purchases at the event.
This was especially nostalgic for me as it took me back [redacted] years to when I made the same request after visiting a record fair with my dad as a kid.
Even the cool young adults were getting involved. The gaggle of mid-20s folks in baggy jeans and “vintage” nu-metal t-shirts – who I believe are the new version of hipsters – were rummaging through the crates next to me and the other grey hairs with zero judgement.
Anyone my age knows this sort of acceptance from Gen Z is rare. At least one of them has pointed and laughed at my Styx t-shirt in the past…
In fact, the only minor near-miss disaster occurred when I was chatting to one of the organisers and let slip the classic “Peter Gabriel is better than Phil Collins” bomb, despite seeing him place a record from the latter as a prestige piece on one of the tables.
In my defence, I’m 100 per cent right.
It's this part of vinyl that I love and feel doesn’t get sold enough. It is the community that makes vinyl, and music holistically, so special. And as the event went on, it left me with one clear thought: this is how we get young people into hi-fi.
That the younger attendees were getting involved and asking about the best hardware to play it on as the event went on shows this, and is a real positive in my mind.
Here’s hoping we see more events like it appear in the future, as it’s always nice to see people coming together over something as special as their shared love of music, especially in today’s world.
Either way, I had a blast sharing my passion with my fellow E7 pubgoers that afternoon.
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