What is a vinyl?

Is it just an “analogue sound recording medium consisting of a flat disc with an inscribed modulated spiral groove starting near the periphery and ending near the center of the disc”? Sure, this would be a precise physical description, one that ought to give you an idea of what a slab of vinyl looks like under close inspection. But what is it about the sound of this "analogue....medium" that makes it distinct from other sound media? Perhaps the difference lies not in the sound....but rather...

What we do know about vinyls?

Before you raise your hand and start hollering about Thomas Edison's gramophone, listen to this: Charles Cros, a Frenchman, hatched the original plan for capturing sound on a vinyl medium came in 1877. However, he never actually manufactured any disc records, and yes, then, Thomas Edison, a year later, built the first working phonograph. Edison's phonograph recorded voices through the tinfoil cylinder machine. It was used in the office to store files for the business. Emile Berliner invented lateral cut disc records to use for toys and then the phonograph. There was a patent until 1918 for lateral cut disc after it expired the market exploded. Disc records were in demand and dominated the market until 1980s.

Vinyl records are made from a polyvinyl chloride (PVC) hence the name vinyls. They have been made of many materials over the years one of the very first had beetle extracts (shellac) mixed with manila paper, wax and a powered slate. Those were popular until about the 1950’s. People made many other disc using pasteboard and celluloid and materials similar to vinyl. They all had very high noise frequencies and also were scratched very easily. In 1930 RCA Victor launched the first vinyl long lasting but it was not a success mostly because it was not affordable during the depression. Many disc jockeys began receiving vinyl’s in mail because they were durable. During WW2 shellac supplies were low so people used 78 rpm vinyl records and even distributed them to the troops. In 1949, RCA Victor released the first 45 RPM single that was 7" in diameter. The early 45 RPM records were made from either vinyl or polystyrene.

When the Communist Party was in control of Russia they banned lots of popular music. Vinyl was very expensive and not easy to come by. The punk music was very suppressed by the government but they still found ways. The Soviet punk bands decided to use discarded medical x-rays to make vinyls. The bands secretly distributed them that help to promote their cause against the government.

Why are vinyls important?

In my house we always had vinyls but I did not really think about it much until I was older. When I went through my mom’s old vinyl’s I learned a lot more about her than just her music taste. I mean I always knew that we both like Van Halen, Pink Floyd, GIANTS, and Led Zeppelin but there was more. I came across a band I had never heard of TOUCH! I asked her who this band was maybe it was an underground band I had never heard of. She said that was the band my husband was in. “WHAT! you were MARRIED 3 TIMES! I thought it was only twice.” The lead singer of the band was her husband. We had a long conversation about the marriage and her life during the early 80’s. I learned things about my mom I had never discovered in 19 years. Would I of found out that information later? Maybe but I felt after that day we had grown closer after years of drifting apart. She had trusted me with a personal secret of hers from the past. I will always be thankful for that talk and the vinyl that sparked our conversation.

Why vinyls over other mediums?

Yes many people see a vinyl simply as an audio storage device that allows you to listen to music. For others it is more significant than that. For the underground punk bands it is a political statement against the government because it supplies an outlet for there cause. Those punk bands are part of a small community along with many other people. Whether you are writing, producing, manufacturing, distributing or buying them you are part of that circle. You belong to that group of people who do not need to have the most high tech piece of sound equipment out there. New does not mean better! It is nice to have different things it makes the world more interesting. Vinyls are a large part of our history they have been around for a century in one form or another. Many people have specific memories tided to them. Those vinyls are keepsakes and signify a piece of history in their personal life. I may not know all the reasons for owning vinyls. For me though, a vinyl will always be a symbol of a forgotten marriage, a piece of family history. Farrah

The Beginnings

1st vinyl idea

vinyl part 2

Farrah: I think in the fourth paragraph from the bottom, you really get to the essence. "For people like the soviet punk bands ... For others ... small community ... why still buy them? ... special memory." Vinyl records mean different things to different people: 1) political statements; 2) audio storage devices; 3) cultural relics; 4) keepsakes. I think these examples pretty distinctly set vinyls apart from CDs, MP3s, cassette tapes, 8-track cartridges. -- EmerySkolfield