Andrew Leahey, The TVD First Date

“I can still picture my parents’ old stereo. It was this massive, silver-colored piece of machinery with a weighted radio dial. They probably purchased it as the ’70s gave way to the ’80s, so it was already a bit dated by the time I began pushing its buttons. Even so, the thing fascinated me. You’d flip the switch to “on” and everything would light up.”

“We were mostly a cassette tape family. Our favorite albums would rotate between my dad’s car stereo, my brother’s Walkman and my bedroom boombox. Somewhere around middle school, though, I simultaneously made the jump to CDs and inherited a turntable that had been collecting dust in a corner of my foster brother’s room.

The record player confused me at first, but I remember appreciating the challenge it presented. I’d never dealt with speaker wire before. I’d never had to buy a new record player needle. It turned the listening experience into a physical one, and I think it made me care about the whole thing a bit more. I had to earn the right to play music on that thing.

Used records were cheaper than used CDs back then, especially on the pitiful salary I earned from cutting neighbors’ lawns and making deli sandwiches at this god-forsaken chain called McAlister’s. I developed a system wherein I’d buy new albums on CD, then get most of my used stuff on vinyl. The racks of cheaply-priced, basement-smelling vinyl at Plan 9 Music in Richmond, VA, were a good place to go, especially for classic rock albums, and I ate that shit up as a 17 year-old.

These days, I collect CDs and vinyl. There’s no better antidote for a long, mind-numbing drive than a good CD, and I don’t think anything will ever sound better in your car. That said, vinyl remains the godfather of the listening experience. It’s a tradition. It’s musical art and physical art.

You’re never going to hang a CD booklet on your wall, you know?”
—Andrew Leahey