RECORD STORE TALES #945: Spinning Vinyl ’75
If there was ever a photo that prophesized the future, I have found it. Taken in late 1975, there I am listening to a record with a big pair of headphones on. I was merely three, but look at the smile on my face. And the clothes…am I wearing shoes in the house?
Behind me, the original family stereo. Every family in the neighbourhood had one. Ours had an 8-track player and a turntable. You can tell I’m playing a record, and not a tape, because the cover is off the turntable. The big clunky headphones didn’t fit my head, but they would later. Because this system had an 8-track deck, it also came with two microphones.
Oh my God I just realized my mom put a plant on top of the stereo!
Since this is before Star Wars, I probably wasn’t listening to music. I only remember owning two records. One was a Lone Ranger story record, and the other was The Flintstones. But they came out after this picture was taken. If this photo had been taken in the Instagram era, the cover would be prominently displayed behind me. Sadly we’ll never know what I was listening to.
mikeladano.com 
What were the books to the left, encyclopedias?? Everyone had those back in the day as well as a stereo.
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Hahah yep that’s what it is! And they still have those encyclopedias too. A lot of homework, they helped me with.
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I plagiarized a lot pages for school reports.
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Nothing they can do about it now. Ha ha ha!
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Thank goodness.
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I choose to believe you were listening to Sabbath. My folks had an encyclopedia set too, but they had white spines, New World, something like that. And yeah, a plant on the stero… the big question is, was that plant set onto a doily first? Lol. My mother-in-law still has their old original coffin-like stereo where you lift the lid and the LP/8-track is inside. Talk about a time capsule.
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Yes let’s go with Sabbath! And yes I remember lots of doilies! My grandpa had a big one, maybe the kind of thing you are talking about? It was like a big piece of furniture with a lid.
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Exactly, a huge wooden box with a lid, speakers in the ends. Yup. Still in my mother-in-law’s living room.
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The plant is probably a fake one, not a real one. Look at those pants too!
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I tried to play a vinyl at my grandma’s house earlier this year and I almost scratched it! I know nothing about vinyl records lol!
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Just be gentle with them like a CD and you won’t go wrong. In fact the instructions inside early CDs used to say “treat like this you would treat a record”.
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It’s putting the needle on the dang thing. I can never do it right!
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Many turntables have a little lever that slowly/gently drops the needle. That’s the kind you would want to play around with. Hopefully you will have the chance to!
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Maybe when I play around with my grandma’s vinyl player again. But, for now, I’ll stick with my CDs.
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CD is more convenient and sounds better in my opinion.
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Yeah, CDs are easier to collect and store. I know CDs are going out of style and the stores aren’t making things any easier, but they work for me. I’ll take your word on it about CDs having better sound quality.
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That’s my opinion of it anyway!
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It still sucks though with what is happening with the CD industry. Walmart used to be my favorite store because of the electronics, but now they hardly have any CDs (except for Hawaiian stuff, which I hate).
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This cans are bigger than your head. lol great read man vinyl 75!
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I wonder what happened to those headphones. And the microphones. I guess I must have tossed it all.
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check your local Value Village! lol
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I would love to find the same make and model!
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Great shot, Mike – nice to see the encyclopedias make an appearance too!
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