7" of Pure Pop Pleasure - Confessions of a Vinyl Junkie
Jul 29 '00
7" singles have a special magic, something you just don't get from buying a CD single or downloading the latest MP3 from Napster. You can display them, swap them with your pals, hug them, make collages for your wall or even listen to them! Nothing gives you as much satisfaction as a perfectly conceived 7".
Ever since my mom started taking my brother and me to Kmart when we were kids to make our weekly purchase of the swellest 45s, I've been hooked on this musical format. Every Thursday after school we'd trek down there and each get to pick one favorite to take home to play on our standalone Fisher Price record player. To give you a sense of how my musical taste has "evolved" (you can decide whether this is for the better or worse), one trip I particularly remember resulted in the acquisition of "Jump" by Van Halen (my brother) and "Back Where You Belong" by 38 Special (me). Once my other brother and sister came on board, we managed to amass quite a collection of the Top 40 between the years of 1983 and 1987.
Once I got to high school, vinyl seemed to be on its way out - everyone listened to cassettes, or even a strange new format called the CD now. Plus, you couldn't listen to records in the car (though I guess back in the day several companies made in-car turntables to varying degrees of success), and what was the point of buying music if you couldn't play it for your friends? My collection from the years spanning 1987 to 1991 consists almost entirely of cassettes, which have almost nothing to recommend them except their portability.
Imagine my surprise when I got to college and discovered a whole genre of music - indie rock/pop - which still produced mountains of vinyl, and which considered the 7" single a work of art. Elaborate cover art, lengthy inserts, limited editions - these were the tricks of the trade. It was a whole new world for me, and one I jumped into eagerly. Maybe that's why I became an indiepop kid - not for the music, but for the records.
What follows is a list of my top 10 favorite 7" singles (my mom gave away my original 80s collection unbeknownst to me while I was in college, so, sorry, none of those gems are here) - by necessity they're all from my personal collection because proclaiming a 7" to be my favorite requires careful consideration of a number of factors. There needs to be a great A and B side, a good purchasing story, cool inserts and/or cover art, and just overall cool points given for rarity or in jokes. Some factors can take precedence, but all need to be present in some form.
1. Rocketship - "Hey, Hey Girl" (Bus Stop Label), purchased at the Boston PopFest in 1997.
These are three beautiful songs from a band I used to absolutely adore until they stopped making spacey pop to churn out poor man's electronica. The cool points on this one come from the indie namedropping (the second song, "Naomi and Me," is a crush song for the ultra-cool Naomi Yang of Galaxie 500 and Magic Hour) and the cover art, as indie as it gets with its pale blue background and child-like ballerina fairy.
2. Magnetic Fields - "House of Tomorrow EP" (Feel Good All Over), purchased at the only record store worth noting in my hometown of Kalamazoo, Michigan, Flipside Records.
This is Stephin Merritt at his literate, world-weary best, singing four masterpieces of jaded love. But in addition to its great songs, this 7" also gets plenty of bonus cool points - I have the original release version, not the re-release from a few years back; it's a limited edition, with a handwritten "#204 / 800" on the insert, meaning I was one of the first 204 people to get my hands on this; and for the bargain lover in me, this was a steal, on clearance for $1.99!
3. Mary Lou Lord - "Some Jingle Jangle Morning" (Kill Rock Stars), purchased at the best chain record store in America, Newbury Comics in Boston.
The A side, which Mary Lou wrote about her ill-fated brief romance with Kurt Cobain, is the song that got me through a long separation from the love of my life. I spent many lonely nights playing it over and over, tears glistening in my eyes. The B side has two renditions of "Western Union Desperate," another beautiful "my love's gone" song. These are the original, somewhat lo-fi versions featuring Kathleen Hanna of Bikini Kill, not the slicked up ones that later appeared on Mary Lou's full-length debut album. There are no additional cool points, just lots of memories for me.
4. Talulah Gosh - "Beatnik Boy" (53rd and 3rd), purchased at Out on the Floor in Camden, London.
My all-time favorite band is Oxford, England pop mavens Heavenly. Talulah Gosh were their earlier legendary (some might say notorious) incarnation as part of Britain's C86 fey pop movement. I'd never even seen a Talulah Gosh record before I went to London - the original releases are virtually impossible to get in the U.S. because so few were made. But one day, sifting through the racks at one of my local record shops in Camden, there this one was! Not mounted on a wall, not locked in a case, but just out for any old fool to put their grubby mitts on it. Of course I snatched it up right away and rescued it. I couldn't have cared less what the songs actually sounded like at the time, but they're simply great, featuring one vocal turn each from Amelia Fletcher and Elizabeth Price. As if this needed any additional cool points, Amelia goes by the name Marigold on the sleeve. No bonus points for frugality - at 8 pounds sterling, this is the most expensive single in my collection.
5. Go Sailor - "Fine Day for Sailing" (Yo Yo), purchased at Brass City Records in Waterbury, CT.
Go Sailor is one of the many projects angel-voiced Rose Melberg worked on after the all-too-quick breakup of her band Tiger Trap. The music churned out by these projects started to get monotonous after awhile, but this single was the apex of that output, indiepop perfection made up of two gooey love songs and two sneering kiss-off numbers. This one gets bonus cool points for its sleeve which features a photo of the most stereotypically indiepop man you can think of on the back (skinny, glasses, t-shirt with hearts on it), and for namedropping K records founder Calvin Johnson.
6. Bis - "Secret Vampire Soundtrack" (Chemikal Underground), purchased at Select-A-Disc in London's Soho.
Bis are one of the few bands that I'm proud to say I knew about before they got big (well, relatively). I saw them in person at the Camden Crawl in 1995 at a modified Elks Lodge-type meeting room, with 200 other young Londoners who just knew that these kids (the band members were all under eighteen at the time) were the best thing since sliced bread. The songs here are disco with an attitude for the 1990s, with cutesy shouted vocals and vamped up guitar and bass. Bis records always have the coolest inserts, with wacky manifestos and twee cartoons. This one is a roll call of all things "teen-C," including Hello Kitty, Jon Spencer and Drew Barrymore. Additional cool points for me come from having this on their Scottish label, Chemikal Underground, rather than their American label, the Beastie Boys' Grand Royal.
7. Oasis - "Wibbling Rivalry" (Fierce Panda), purchased at Newbury Comics (again).
This is the most hilarious thing I own - 15 minutes of the Gallagher brothers of Oasis ripping each other to shreds. The tracks, as listed on the sleeve: "Noel Side - A lot of swearing and cussing; Liam side - Even more swearing and cussing." 'Nuff said.
8. Bomb Pops - "Girl Daredevil" (A Turntable Friend), purchased at John Smith Bookseller in Glasgow, Scotland.
The songs here are pretty standard indiepop, not bad, but not particularly inspiring. Why is it on my list, then, you may ask? Because it has the coolest purchasing story of all! This record was purchased from Stephen MacRobbie of the Pastels in his (unbeknownst to me at the time) day job at his local record shop in Glasgow. I went in to browse the selection, picked out a few items, went up to the counter, and suddenly realized I was in the presence of an indiepop legend! Being the social whirlwind that I am, our conversation consisted of "That'll be 5 pounds, 50. Out of 6. 50 p change. Thank you," but I still had a geeky glow on afterward.
9. Melody Dog - "Cassie" (Seminal Twang), purchased at the Filene's Basement of record stores, Music and Video Exchange in Notting Hill, London.
This is a side project featuring the women in the Pastels, Katrina and Aggi, and another record which would be nearly impossible to find in the U.S. There's a great cover of Primal Scream's "Movin' On Up" on the B-side. At the Music Exchange, prices go down by a pound or 50 pence for every week that the item remains in stock. I staked this one out early, waited until it got down to 2 pounds, then pounced. Very satisfying.
10. Helen Love - "Ahead of the Race" (Damaged Goods), purchased at the Music Exchange, as above.
The final spot goes to Helen Love, who make the spunkiest, punkish pop in a female British accent that you'll ever hear. The B-Side, "Diet Coke Girl" is a wicked indictment of Bridget Jones types. Bonus cool points for the anime cover art which graces every Helen Love release and to me, for sidestepping those nasty import markups by purchasing this in the country of origin.
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Member: Christine
Location: Ann Arbor, MI
Reviews written: 36
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About Me:
Serving up chronic dissatisfaction since 1973.
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