Record Store Day: Come celebrate 'cool stuff' culture

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Enlarge More than 1,000 stores and 600 artists are participating in activities. "Back in the day, it was all about the vinyl and big images and posters and all kinds of cool stuff that came inside the packaging. We're bringing that back," says Michael Kurtz of Music Monitor Network, an organizer of the event.

By Steve Jones, USA TODAY

What started out as a promotional tool has turned into a party celebrating the culture of independently owned record stores.

On Saturday, more than 1,000 stores and 600 artists will participate in Record Store Day activities that include in-store signings and performances, and the release of dozens of exclusive musical products.

"It has exploded," says Michael Kurtz of Music Monitor Network, an organizer of the event, which is sponsored by the National Association of Recording Merchandisers. "We touched a nerve. So many people are passionate about record stores. It's like how people feel about wine shops. We had no idea it would be that way, but it is and it's incredible."

Chris Cornell, Erykah Badu, Static-X, Queensryche, the Del McCoury Band and dozens of other artists will play intimate sets in stores. There are contests to win guitars from Silversun Pickups, Disturbed and Brian May.

Radiohead, My Morning Jacket, The Decemberists, Sonic Youth, Tom Waits, Bruce Springsteen, Bob Dylan and Leonard Cohen are among those who are putting out DVDs and recordings in unique packaging or limited editions, many with exclusive tracks, live performances and previously unreleased material. Lists of all products, participating stores and artist appearances can be found at recordstoreday.com.

Representatives of MMN, the Coalition of Independent Music Stores, Alliance of Independent Media Stores and Newbury Comics came up with the idea for the event at a meeting in Baltimore two years ago and held the first Record Store Day last April, kicked off by Metallica at Rasputin Music in San Francisco.

This year, the number of stores involved has grown fivefold, with more than 150 related music releases.

"Back in the day, it was all about the vinyl and big images and posters and all kinds of cool stuff that came inside the packaging," Kurtz says. "We're bringing that back."

The Breeders' Kim Deal, who also plays bass for The Pixies, says she and her twin sister, Kelley, personally handscreened the artwork for her band's limited-edition (1,000 copies) vinyl Fate to Fatal EP, also available digitally at iTunes. They'll be making an in-store appearance at Shake It Records in Cincinnati. She says record stores, unlike mass-market retailers, are more than just a place to buy.

"They have the best haircuts and the worst attitudes," Deal says, laughing. "It almost used to be scary walking into a cool record store, because they were so judgmental and über-hip. But they did know a lot about music, whether they were making fun of what you were buying or not.

"You'd just go in to say, 'What's good?' "

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