Generation Z and the Vinyl Resurgence
By Justice Petersen – Photo by Karsten Winegeart on Unsplash
Vinyl record sales haven’t gone down for the past six years – thanks to Gen Z.
Dante Mercado
Dante “Dammit” Mercado is my go-to vinyl-hunting partner, and it’s been too long since our last trip to Reckless Records.
Inside their spacious Wicker Park location, the walls are lined with posters of Lou Reed and Prince and rare box sets costing hundreds of dollars locked inside glass cabinets. There are always dirt-cheap vintage Alice Cooper records for less than $10 (Dante says it’s because it’s dad rock) and if you’re in desperate need of a Texas Chainsaw Massacre t-shirt then the rack at the back of the store has got you covered.
My eyes always go to the shelves near the entrance. That’s where you can find free posters, flyers, and copies of Illinois Entertainer, a monthly music magazine featuring artist interviews, music reviews, and previews of upcoming concerts. Dante and I scored free Creem Magazine shirts once.
I met Dante after interviewing them for a school assignment during our spring 2022 semester. We immediately bonded over shared music interests and our love for Bela Lugosi films. Always dressed like a cross between Lux Interior and Trent Reznor, Dante is a prevalent figure in my life, much like Bela Lugosi. In my eyes, Dante isn’t the main character – they’re the eccentric lead singer (and a great supporter of our shared vinyl infatuation). Throughout our shopping trip, we’ll drift apart and find each other again to see what the other has found, much like the tide rising and falling upon the ocean shore.
I sprint toward the 45’s; specifically, the section labeled “PUNK SSS.” I’m on the hunt for anything Sex Pistols. I bought the Sid Vicious record, “I’m A Mess,” from Wicker Park’s Shuga Records before this. At Shuga, I told Dante I’m looking for a copy of “Nevermind the Bollocks” and they told me that Reckless definitely has one. That’s how we ended up here.
Dante and I are never the only college-aged kids gracing the aisles of record stores. Whether it’s customers or employees, the majority of people in record stores seem to be anywhere from 18 to 35 years old. At Reckless, college-aged kids are looking through jazz records and Taylor Swift vinyl. Tattooed hands trail over CD titles and loners in black denim jackets stare longingly at blue-ray horror movies.
Even the employees are often under 30, standing behind the cash registers and talking with coworkers about recent releases and upcoming concerts. Much like the baristas at my favorite coffee shops, I envy and admire record store employees like they’re part of the ultimate sorority – the only one I’d ever consider joining. They’re somehow intimidating. Part of me idolizes them and the other part of me wants to scream at them in rage just like Mark did in “Empire Records” (1995).
If it seems like young adults are vinyl’s biggest buyers, this isn’t a completely false assumption. Vinyl sales have gone up over the past decade. The pandemic really kickstarted the vinyl renaissance that we see today. This year, vinyl sales are up 13%, CD sales are down 11% and, interestingly enough, cassette tape sales are up 28%, according to music industry reports. Why is it that of all the age groups, it’s Gen Z that’s leading this growth in vinyl sales?
I’ve ventured over a few aisles to the “SOUNDGARDEN” section. As I stare at the empty space where I want “Badmotorfinger” to be, Dante hands me my coveted Sex Pistols record. It’s the limited-edition neon green vinyl, which I think is gross and unattractive, but I also think that’s what John Lydon was going for and it’s only $28 (that’s cheap for a record), so I snag the copy while I still can.
Dante looks through Lady Gaga, doing the math on their phone to see if they can buy her entire discography. I purposely avoid looking at their phone because I know the grand total will hurt my bank account and I’m not even making the purchase. Regardless, I tell them that they should splurge. The world could blow up tomorrow. Lady Gaga would want this for them. Meanwhile, I’m wondering if John Lydon gives a shit about capitalist so-called “limited edition” colored vinyl.
Dante settles on Gaga’s “Artpop” as well as “Phantasmagoria” from The Damned.
“Hello Nick Cave’s wife,” they say as we stare at the forlorn woman on the gothic cover.
I leave with finds from the Sex Pistols and Public Image Ltd. I chose the cheapest copy of the latter’s “12-inch Single”. It has coffee(?) stains on the sleeve, which is gross and unattractive, but I think that’s what John Lydon was going for.
Jeremy Davis
“You interact with it more than you would Spotify or playing it off your iPhone,” 20-year-old Jeremy Davis says. “A big part of collecting vinyl, of owning vinyl, is, of course, the vinyl, the part that plays music, but also the packaging. For people that don’t own record players, I feel like that’s the big drawing factor because it is an extension of an album. It’s a physical thing that you can look at, turn around, and just have in your hands.”
Jeremy says listening to a record also takes him back in time. “I’ll catch myself thinking, if I’ve got an older album, maybe not an original pressing but a newer pressing of, let’s say, an album from the 60s or 70s or 80s. It’s interesting to think about [how] someone else has done this exact same thing when the album came out,” Jeremy says.
Jeremy began buying records back in 2015 after finding a collection of movie scores on vinyl at Goodwill. He was attracted to how it was such a “physical medium”. “I didn’t have a record player yet,” he says. “I liked having a thing that could hypothetically play music.” Half of the vinyl buyers don’t even own a record player, according to research company Statista.
Destiny Graham
Destiny Graham, 20, has no intention of buying one any time soon, despite her need to collect vinyl. “I feel like they’re an important part of music culture. If I don’t have one, I feel fake,” Destiny says. “Having them physically makes me feel like I care more about the music or makes me feel like I am more active in how artists are getting their money or how these small business record shops are getting their money.” Destiny also hopes to build up her collection so that one day she can pass down her collection to her kids.
The people I spoke to for this story told me they started buying vinyl, or at least got their music taste, because of their family, usually their parents, and almost always their dad. I’m no exception. If I never found a box of my dad’s old CDs and cassettes he had during his twenties, I wouldn’t have the love for music I possess now. Just like him, I find myself listening to Soundgarden, Megadeth, and Metallica (our shared favorite).
Nick Duarte
Nick Duarte, who is 19 years old, got his music taste (and affinity for vinyl) from his grandmother, who loved record collecting. She passed down her collection to nieces and nephews. Nick hopes to do the same thing. “I want to be able to donate my music to somebody, whether it’s my sibling or my kid or something,” he says. “I want to be able to donate to them so that they get my music collection so I can influence them.”
Lexi Tsengouras
Lexi Tsengouras, was always fascinated by vinyl, but inheriting her aunt’s and her grandmother’s collections is what made her want to start buying her own. She’s now been collecting for seven years.
The 20-year-old enjoys buying vinyl mostly for the physicality. To listen to a record while staring at the cover and looking at what the artists have included in the sleeves is very interactive and, in a way, intimate.
“There’s a lot of thought that goes into the layout of the vinyl,” Lexi tells me. “Having that physical copy of what that artist manifested and wanted it to look like brings a relationship with artist and fans, in a sense.”
Lexi buys vinyl to support her favorite artists as well as her favorite local shops back home in Florida. She also loves collecting the colored variants of her favorite albums. “I will have the same album on four different vinyls,” Lexi says. “When playing that on a record player, it’s fun and it’s a different vibe, whereas CD players, you don’t get to see the CD spinning.”
Mariah Trenado
Mariah Trenado, Nick’s girlfriend, says that music is almost becoming a lost art form.
“The way they made vinyl in the past with art that they displayed, the music was so much prettier than how they do it now just over the phone releasing music. A lot of people are just pumping stuff out,” the 19-year-old says. “I like the older music because bands were making raw music with instruments, and I feel like now it’s all so electronic.”
Dante, 21, collects vinyl for the same reasons they collect movies. Owning a physical copy of something comes with immense gratification. Dante also has strict rules for vinyl. First, handle them with care. Second, don’t buy them just to frame them.
“That’s become such an ‘Urban Outfitters baby’ thing to do…the same people who shop at Urban Outfitters are the same people that hang their fucking records,” Dante says. “You get a record to listen to it, you don’t get it to display it.”
When I told Dante about this article and how Generation Z is the reason vinyl remains relevant, they responded with “Good”. Why? “Vintage is the new aesthetic,” they tell me. “The last thing I want to see is a kind of art form die out, like the laser disc or something like that. I hate it when I see forms of media just drown out.”
A few weeks ago, I watched that Public Image Ltd. interview on the Tom Snyder Show in 1980. As John Lydon sat in a sterile-looking television studio winding up Snyder, Lydon said that rock music was “vile”, “a plague” and had gone on for too long. Above all, he said rock was dead. I think he was saying it died with the Sex Pistols, and that rock and roll is something they play in airports now.
Rock Is Dead
I don’t know if rock is dead, but I agree that the art and authenticity that music once had is a lot more processed than it is now. Maybe rock and roll is no longer that ugly and snarling beast baring its glitter-covered, leather-clad teeth. But I think there’s hope. Gen Z will make sure of it, so long as we keep dusting off our (or our grandmother’s) licorice pizzas every once in a while. Nobody wants a dusty record. That’s gross and unattractive. Even to John Lydon.
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