As we noted upon the launch of our first of 9 weeks of vinyl giveaways, it’s easy to forget that going on 8 years now when TVD was in its year one (as was Record Store Day) the vinyl medium wasn’t “back,” sales weren’t stellar, and indeed record stores were a fading lot. No, worse actually. Shops we’re closing at such a clip, their disappearance literally informed the launch of the site you’re reading at present.
And as we’ll repeat for 9 weeks—vinyl and record stores go hand in hand. Their shared intrinsic value is the cultural commodity and the bedrock of any local music scene. Don’t believe us though…hit up your locals and the marriage becomes crystal clear.
But we too have been overwhelmed with the resounding popular and prevalent headlines as to vinyl’s big resurgence, yet they also arrive in tandem with far less rosy headlines such as “Starbucks to Open in Former Bleecker Street Records Space”—and worse, some very bad ideas when one advocates for record shops have, of late, become internet fodder. (Seriously, vinyl subscription clubs are the Carson Daly of record collecting.)
As such, picking up with an old TVD favorite, we’ve lined up 9 (count ’em, 9) weeks of vinyl giveaways as we count down to Record Store Day 2015 to redouble our efforts to underscore the viability and the inherent need for your local brick and mortar record shops to remain the vibrant community touchstone that they intrinsically are. And while we kinda hate hanging out by the mailbox waiting for a record to show up (unless you’ve ordered it from a mom and pop or directly from a label!) we’re shipping out records for 9 weeks straight as sweet reminders that record stores are literally where it’s at.
“The Eagles had long since earned their status as rock gods by the time The Long Run hit record store shelves, resulting in the album entering the Billboard Top 200 at #2, and it only took one more week for it to take down the previous chart-topper, Led Zeppelin’s In Through the Out Door, and climb that one last rung to reach the pinnacle. This was no doubt a great relief to the band, given that A) the album took two years to complete, B) they had a heck of a lot to live up to after the ridiculously huge success of their previous album, Hotel California, and C) they were moving forward without founding member Randy Meisner in their ranks, with Timothy B. Schmit taking his spot in the lineup.
That’s not to say that there weren’t critics who complained that it wasn’t as good as its predecessor, but the voices of the naysayers were decidedly overshadowed by the tremendous success of the album’s trio of hit singles: “Heartache Tonight,” “I Can’t Tell You Why,” and the title track. (The fact that it’s gone on to sell over seven million copies hasn’t hurt its reputation any, either.)”
Enter to win The Eagles’ The Long Run by citing in the comments below your favorite follow-up LP after its predecessor’s overwhelming success.
We’ll choose one enthusiastic brick and mortar supporter with a North American mailing address for the LP a week from today, March 23. Our winner will be notified directly via email.
