Are you collector scum?

Quote :

I had a want list of a ton of rare pressings/colors of 80s hardcore records, but I couldn't really do anything about it. Ha.

My brother and I had something similar when we first started buying music years 'n years ago. We wrote up a "want list" of albums that we kept pinned to a bulletin board in our bedroom. "THE LIST" consisted of pretty much every album we didn't own yet by every single band we liked. Mind you, this was the early 80s and we were only thirteen or fourteen years old. We only owned one or two albums each by bands that had relatively massive (for the era) catalogs like KISS, Judas Priest or Black Sabbath, so it became a pretty big-ass list.

Naturally, it was impossible for us to ever put more than a dent in that behemoth with our piddly allowances and occasional birthday card money from Grandma, so it just fell by the wayside. We were so busy trying to keep up with new stuff that was coming out that we just stopped worrying about all the back catalog stuff on "the list," haha

I am this way about Black Sabbath. I must have all the different versions that I find.

I use to be that way about a few hundred or so bands when I was younger and had more disposable income. Had thousands of CDs and Cassettes but moved to Hawaii and sold everything there - when I ran into trouble finding work.

Now over the last 3 to 4 years I have been buying back my collection. Still a long way to go   

I like to collect ancillary products like vintage metal magazines ,press releases, posters, patches and pins. I'm all about the sound quality as far as cds first and foremost.I have a few vinyl favorites, but records cost anywhere from 25-30 dollars so they're an extravagance at this point. My favorite record is my German pressing of Kyuss's Sky Valley proudly hanging in my living room wall and my signed copy of Vektor's Black Future...

I love collecting music and music DVD's , but never had to need to own multiple copies of a single album.

I do own a few doubles, like they have a bonus disc etc, but for the most part I don't. I can barely afford to buy music now adays let alone re-buying a different version of an album I already own

I've gotten a lot better about not buying deluxe editions or special rereleases of things I already own. Part of it is in protest of cash-ins. Or that is at least how I rationalize it. Plus the reality is how often do I go back and listen to a bonus disc. Much less watch a dvd. Funny thing that really started my not rushing to buy such things was coming up with the rule to listen to the version I own first. Most times that convinced me that I should just live with what I already have.

If someone wants to collect all this stuff why should Rollins care??? He makes some points, but he comes across as a bully and an elitist.... If he doesnt want to be "scum" than he shouldnt be, but to tag someone that because he finds it silly.... who needs a life???

Maybe he's upset because he didn't think of multiple pressings and colored vinyl... and the band he mentions..... sorry but WHO???? .....

I don't fit his definition of 'scum' but again..... why should he care???

You're taking it a little personal, aren't you?  It's just an online article. Ol' Hank hit a nerve there, did he?  

MetalGuy71 wrote:

You're taking it a little personal, aren't you?  It's just an online article. Ol' Hank hit a nerve there, did he?  

no not really!! LOL....


He's entitled to his opinion but I've found over the years that he's one of these "my way or the highway guys" and for whatever reason lots of people listen to what he says... He just comes across kind of jerky to me.....

Fair enough. Rollins has always been a love 'em or hate 'em kind of guy. Not much has changed.

If I remember right (and I read the article back when this thread was first hatched, so I'm not positive), Rollins was talking about collector scum as the widely used descriptor...not his words.

The takeaway from that article, I think, is just to enjoy the music above anything else. Stressing about owning 16 pressings of a record...that's not the real reason for the music. And if you do want 16 pressings of the same record, it should be all in fun. Not a stress-inducing necessity. For some collectors, it is.

I am not one of those collectors who would go for rare stuff. I just stick to regular cds (deluxe editions if available).

over the last few years I increased my purchasing activity by completing missing cds and investigating into many new bands. that is what makes my collection diversified and enjoyable.

I have probably bought over 300 cds during the last couple of years. and even when I say to myself enough, I end up going for more.

just yestersay I ordered:

- accuser: who dominates who
-marshall law: power game
-tokyo blade: the anthology

don't think I can ever stop. just slow down if there are any budget restrictions.

I could never afford to be a collector scum. Of course never really was able to afford being a collector. I've maxed enough credit cards during my lifetime. If I ever win enough of a lottery jackpot (I know, a lot of handfuls of crap with that wish) though, I'd be tempted... no, not even then. I wouldn't be THAT irresponsible.

Yeah i only go for full length, discogs.

I close on my house on Oct.1 so my weekly budget is going to get even smaller. But, when I was single a few years back and could buy pretty much whatever, I never really went too far in for doubling up on an album I already owned b/c it took away from something I didn't have yet. Each time I pick up the umpteenth Kiss or Scorpions greatest hits and think about buying it to be a completest, I remember that I have yet to finish Warrior's discog or want to add more Nazareth to the library.

Rollins was a guest on the most recent Movie Crypt podcast (the podcast done by horror directors Adam "Hatchet" Green and Joe "Wrong Turn 2" Lynch).

It was fun listening to him talk. The dude buys music in a serious way. He said he buys 1 to 3 albums per day, either as FLAC downloads on bandcamp, LPs or cassettes. He said his mailman asked him about all the record packages he received, and he was like "We gotta keep this stuff going."

He also said he will buy the same albums on multiple formats, if available, like vinyl and cassette, and he also will buy multiple copies of the same vinyl, for various colors, etc.

Rollins is one of those guys I really want to like and I respect his mind, but I caught a spoken word gig around the time of the last presidential election and I just felt like 2/3 of the thing was him pandering to Dems in the audience.

And I get that he's a political guy, but spending an hour plus puffing everyone else up for being on the "right" side instead of talking ideas (which is what the Youtube clips I've seen always made me think he was about) was... Eh, I left early. Even if I'd been 100% in agreement with him, I think I still would have felt like my intelligence was being insulted.

I think I'll just agree with him on the note of "We gotta keep this stuff going." That's where I can give it two resounding thumbs up.

Though here's one for the collector scum and collector scum in training: I've actually started to realize that there are catalogs on CD that I'd like to maintain two copies of because the sonics are that different. So far, the big examples of this are Led Zeppelin (I'm keeping my snazzy box set of the 90s remasters in those mini-books), Elvis Costello (Ryko and Rhino for the bonus cuts), and Megadeth. Anyone else feel particularly drawn to that or does everyone else just pick a favorite mix/master and stick to it?

Runicen wrote:

Though here's one for the collector scum and collector scum in training: I've actually started to realize that there are catalogs on CD that I'd like to maintain two copies of because the sonics are that different.  So far, the big examples of this are Led Zeppelin (I'm keeping my snazzy box set of the 90s remasters in those mini-books), Elvis Costello (Ryko and Rhino for the bonus cuts), and Megadeth.  Anyone else feel particularly drawn to that or does everyone else just pick a favorite mix/master and stick to it?

You're kidding right? There's all kind of sickos just like yourself on this board. For instance, I have five different versions of Riot's Fire Down Under:

LP - Original Elektra pressing with name of the album on the spine misprinted as "Fire Down Below"
LP - 2012 Metal Blade repress on orange vinyl
LP - 2011 Audio Fidelity repress/remaster - sounds beautiful as is to be expected from Audio Fidelity
CD - 1999 Metal Blade reissue
CD - 1999 High Vaultage remaster/reissue

The one I keep debating whether I'm going to go nuts tracking down are the last wave of Savatage reissues with the differing bonus tracks and liner notes from the Ear Music line (which I just completed by grabbing the narrated version of Streets).

But I have to say, your dedication to have three vinyl copies and two digital copies of one album is a bit farther than I'm (so far) willing to go.

Runicen wrote:

Rollins is one of those guys I really want to like and I respect his mind, but I caught a spoken word gig around the time of the last presidential election and I just felt like 2/3 of the thing was him pandering to Dems in the audience.

Could just be a timing thing, staying topical. When I saw him live a few years ago, he wasn't very political at all. Some of course, but far less than I expected anyway. He had just come back from a tour of Eastern Europe and mostly talked about that experience.

From what I can remember, most of the political stuff was in reference to his time spent on a USO tour in Afghanistan, and again it mostly focused on the experience, not politics.

He talked quite a bit about the sh*tty movie rolls he's taken over the years which was pretty damn funny.

MetalGuy71 wrote:

Could just be a timing thing, staying topical. When I saw him live a few years ago, he wasn't very political at all. Some of course, but far less than I expected anyway. He had just come back from a tour of Eastern Europe and mostly talked about that experience.

From what I can remember, most of the political stuff was in reference to his time spent on a USO tour in Afghanistan, and again it mostly focused on the experience, not politics.

He talked quite a bit about the sh*tty movie rolls he's taken over the years which was pretty damn funny.

See, I WISH that was what he'd covered when I saw him. There was a bit of "Here's some stuff I did when I was 18 and touring in a van" type stories, but then he'd get back to, "I hope you're all planning to vote. I know I am and I know who I'm voting for because I DON'T HATE WOMEN! *rapt applause*" Maybe it was just a bad night and he wasn't really "on," so that was his fall-back, I don't know.

Can I trade show memories with you?

When we finally get those USB ports installed in the back of our heads, I'll gladly download my "show memories folder" to share with you. The folder marked "Definitely NOT Porn" remains private though.

I will most assuredly not be surreptitiously downloading the "Definitely NOT Porn" folder then..

I sat down last April 4, and wrote a want list of about 250 albums and over the last year I have barely put a dent in the darn thing. Every time I put a few oldies, rarities, or back catalog albums in MyEbay a new album comes out from someone I like and I have to grab it. Well, that cuts into the budget a bit and slows me down. I keep finding new/ old bands I want to purchase (like Obsession or Cities) and they get added to the ever growing want list. It just never ends!!!

the sentinel wrote:

I sat down last April 4, and wrote a want list of about 250 albums and over the last year I have barely put a dent in the darn thing. Every time I put a few oldies, rarities, or back catalog albums in MyEbay a new album comes out from someone I like and I have to grab it. Well, that cuts into the budget a bit and slows me down. I keep finding new/ old bands I want to purchase (like Obsession or Cities) and they get added to the ever growing want list. It just never ends!!!

I think that's referred to in some circles as a hobby.

With metal becoming more and more rare around here, I kind of turned into a scavenger, thus buying any metal cd I come across (black metal excluded).

No way to stop I guess. This is a lifetime addiction.