Moral quandary at the record store

So, last week I did something I haven't done in a long time. I went to the record store, and physically purchased physical CDs. Those CDs contained pre-recorded music. This is unusual for me because, as many of you know, I prefer to purchase my music from shady Russian intermediaries. But I didn't think the albums I wanted (new Golden Smog, new Long Winters) would show up on the site. I ended up buying a few other CDs, too (Galaxie 500's "This Is Our Music"(got it used, btw, a total find), and Ulrich Schnauss' "Faraway Trains Passing By", which contains a b'dass cover/remix of Slowdive's "Crazy For You." So rad. Anyway.), but the Long Winters album had to be ordered, cos they were currently out of stock. Fine. I'll pick it up over the weekend.

So, I go back yesterday to pick up the album, and, as there often is at stores that also deal in used CDs, there was a stack of used CDs on the counter, waiting for the clerk to tag and file them. As the clerk searched for my order, I perused the stack sitting on the counter. Something was wrong. No, no... why would someone sell these??? Now, if you're anything like me (and if you are, my most sincere apologies), when you need or want to sell some CDs for cash, you tend to weed out the dead weight in your collection: the hyped debuts that didn't pan out, the disappointing follow-ups to breakthrough successes, and the fliers that you maybe bought on the strength of a good review from a stupid, over-wrought, indier-than-though website that shall go unnamed (though not unlinked). But that was not the case with whoever dropped these CDs. This guy was obviously very hard up for cash. There were some classics in that stack. Dude was selling "White Light/White Heat," "In Utero," "In the Aeroplane Over the Sea." I mean, you do not sell that album unless you need money like, really badly. When I asked, the clerk said the guy needed money to pay his rent. Well, I felt bad for the guy. If you need money so bad that you're selling "In the Aeroplane Over the Sea," you're in a bad spot.

It's like in "High Fidelity" (the book, not the movie), when Rob goes to that lady's house to check out the record collection that her husband told her to sell after he ran off with some tart. It was a fabulous collection, and she wanted like 50 pounds for the whole lot, but Rob just morally couldn't do it. He couldn't rip off a guy who obviously was a collector with great taste. Now, I will not ascribe to myself such lofty ethical standards. But I did feel bad for the guy. On the other hand, if I were in the same spot, wouldn't I be thankful that such an outlet existed? What if nobody bought used CDs, and the market vanished, and I had no way to sell my CDs for some quick cash? There were some gems here.... what should I do???

In the end, I sheepishly grabbed only the promo-copy of The Juan McLean. I wanted to kind of help the guy out, but not rip him off, I guess. I'd have felt kind of bad if I had also picked up his copy of Art Brut, or "Isn't Anything." I hope I did the right thing.


sheesh... talk about "indier than thou." Blog post...OUT!