Happy Record Store Day! One of my favorite days of the year. And it just keeps getting bigger. What started in 2008 as a rather low-key affair, Record Store Day (RSD) has become a community event to celebrate the locally owned record store. RSD brings together fans, artists, and thousands of independent record stores across the world. Hundreds of records are now pressed specifically in honor of the day.
Metallica kicked off the first RSD in style by performing at Rasputin Music in Mountain View, CA. There were 10 special releases that day in 2008. Over the years, many artists have performed or held meet and greets at local record stores for RSD, including Alice in Chains, Duran Duran, Bob Dylan, Exene Cervenka, Foo Fighters, Raveonettes, TV on the Radio, and Wilco. RSD Ambassadors have included Ozzy, Jack White, Dave Grohl, Pearl Jam, and Taylor Swift. Paramore and Kate Bush are the 2024 Ambassadors.
Artists with special album releases this year, just to name a few, are The Beatles, Bowie, Blur, The Cure, ELP, Elton John, Fleetwood Mac (Rumours), OMD, Pearl Jam, Queen, Ramones, Rolling Stones, Todd Rundgren, and Siouxsie and the Banshees. I picked up the special edition of Blur’s Parklife on zoetrope vinyl. I’ve always heard that it’s their best album and now I can listen to it while watching the circular animation go round and round on the vinyl. I also picked up the RSD edition of the new Pearl Jam (Dark Matter) to keep my complete collection of their music going.
Something was missing this year at RSD. Taylor Swift did not issue a special album (but she still crashed the party with her surprise release of The Tortured Poets Department.) She has been a regular on the RSD circuit with her re-recorded versions of earlier albums. In 2022, she released the lakes and became the first-ever global ambassador for RSD. 2023 saw Swifties lined up down the block for folklore: the long pond sessions. She deserves so much credit for introducing thousands of younger people to vinyl albums and record stores.
If you missed it this time, you have another chance in 2024 to check out RSD. In 2010, a second RSD was held on Black Friday in November and that has been the case every year since then. Not quite as many releases as the April day and not as well known (I didn’t realize it was a thing for years), possibly because it’s the second one of the year. You can see the list of releases beforehand (and still review the April releases) at: