Too Many Albums?

May 30, 2003

Recently, Todd at What Do I Know? posted a piece about packing up his gigantic music collection in preparation for a move. He realized that the hundred tapes he had as youth were much more memorable than the albums he listens to now. The question raised is whether or not a smaller collection of records will have a greater effect on the person.

As an owner of more than 1000 albums, this question got me thinking. Should I pare down? Do I really need to have this many albums? (Obviously, I don't need this many albums.) After some deliberation I have realized that those who remember the days of old and how they fawned over a small amount of records are living in the past. The albums were influential because of the time period in which they were bought, not because there was less clutter.

Today, when I get a new album is just amazing, I don't listen to much else. The most recent example was Blur's Think Tank. The week after I got it I listened to it over 20 times. I definitely gave it a solid number of spins. Ocassionally a new album will arrive and I will fall in love. Then, it gets played at least once a day. The last one of these was the Starlight Mint's The Stuff That Dreams Are Made Of. So, I think it is possible to give an album a lot of attention despite havinga large collection.

What do you think? Would you rather have a few albums become intrinsically linked with a time in your life or be able to experience hundreds of albums without any serious emotional attachment?

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