2019: Records From The Wild Side

I felt like I was all over the map when it came to record collecting this year. I was just as excited over a five dollar Helix record as I was over the Gypsy test pressing. I obsessed over New Wave Of British Heavy Metal, records from 1989 celebrating their 30th anniversary, hair metal, and we ended the year with me absolutely in love with a bunch of new hardcore records. What a weird fucking year.

Every year my numbers in the graph fail to really represent what I purchased over the year because I find it an impossible task to keep the blog up to date. While I added 185 records to the collection in 2019, I'm still around 25 posts behind on this thing. I know that each year I commit to finally catching up and keeping up to date on this thing up to date, but honestly, after this string of 23 posts in December (my highest monthly post count ever!), I'm really feeling motivated, and this might actually happen in 2020.

The biggest number that surprised me this year was how much I spent on records, as the total dropped significantly this year. Come on...I'm better than that. Let's try to get those numbers back up for 2020.

As I mentioned earlier, I didn't do a great job focusing on any specific thing this past year. I bounced around between a number of obsessions, and feel like I didn't really make a huge impact on any of them...well, I guess that I did discover a ton of new hardcore records, and hair metal records are relatively cheap...so I guess I did okay on those fronts. Still, when it came to big scores, I feel like came up short. That's not to say that I didn't still pick up some big ticket items, so let's get into five of my favorites.

1. AC/DC 'Dirty Deeds' first Australian pressing - I imagine that AC/DC will top this list until I've finished my Australian first press mission for the Bon Scott albums. These things aren't cheap, and I still have four more to complete the set, so you can expect to see AC/DC here for years to come. Scoring Dirty Deeds this past year was a big one, and finding one with the song book insert was a nice bonus.

2. Kiss 'Lick It Up' Japanese pressing - This past year was the first time that I'd decided to check out Lick It Up. I was on a hair metal kick, and figured that maybe it was time to give it a listen. Wow. That album was so much fun, and I became obsessed with it. Once I started looking to buy a copy, and discovered the Japanese cover OBI, I knew that was the one that I needed. I couldn't go cheap on though, and needed a copy with the sticker insert as well, which only helped to jack up the price.

3. Gypsy 'Giants Despair' test pressing - I wasn't really interested in buying hardcore records when Marcus tipped me off to the eBay auction for the Gypsy test pressing. Still, this album was huge for me when it was released, and I knew that if I didn't make a move on it now, I might not get another chance. I was very excited to win this at a bargain price, and once it arrived, suddenly it was getting plenty of spins as it rekindled my love for this record.

4. New Electric Warriors comp LP - This wasn't too hard to acquire, and it didn't break the bank, but early in the year when I was obsessing over the NWOBHM, this record opened my eyes to a bunch of cool obscure bands from that era. It felt like I'd uncovered a long lost treasure, and it felt special to own a copy of this...plus that album cover is so badass, I've had it on display in my record room since its arrival.

5. Sepultura 'Beneath The Remains' LP - This is not only the best Sepultura album, it is also one of my favorite all time thrash records. I've wanted a copy of this for a long time, and inspired by my 1989 in 2019 spending spree, I finally pulled the trigger on one. I was very happy to get a copy with the hype sticker included.

Hardcore was a slow build for me this year, but by the time the end of summer hit, I was starting to pay attention to a few cool new bands...and things just blew the fuck up from there. There were so many great new bands and records this year, that my Top 10 wsa really difficult to nail down. I love all these records so much, and I can listen to all ten of these records daily.

New metal records didn't really stick with me this year. Don't get me wrong, there was still plenty of cool shit being released...I just wasn't drawn back to them for repeat listens. The only exception was that new Admiral Sir Cloudesley Shovell record...that thing fucking rules, and I can't get enough of that one.

So there you have it. That was my 2019. Shit was fun, but overall it felt a little tame. I remember sitting here last year, and my head was spinning with all kinds of themes and obsessions that I couldn't wait to start chasing... but right now, looking forward to 2020, it is wide fucking open. I don't know where things are going to go. I know that I want to tackle some thrash records, and I'd really like to knock off some serious hardcore records, but where it will all shake out is anyone's guess.