Adele Saves the Day!

When I was a boy, I remember going to a discount department store called Korvette's. Usually, we went whenever someone needed a reasonably priced article of clothing or household item.  I had two fetishes at that time in my  life: records and model cars.  Mom and Dad turned me loose in that store because they knew that I knew where both the Toy Department and the Music Department were, and that I never wandered far from either location.  I was never bored when they did the shopping because I rushed to my first destination and perused the plastic covered boxes with full color images of the fastest sports car or even the mildest of family cars.  

When I had reached the end of the hobby aisle, I rushed to the Music Department and began my journey by holding a twelve inch album in my hand and admiring the cover and the song list, while dreaming of opening the plastic seal, smelling the clean cardboard, and taking out the vinyl disc and placing it on the turntable of that record player.  I remember wanting so badly for it to be one of the days when Dad would come to get me and offer to buy a model car if it was on sale. I remember vividly that a model car had to be less than a dollar for Dad to make the offer. It didn't happen every week, and sometimes not every month, but when it did happen, enchantment grew into elation.  Usually, my sister Stephanie was the recipient of the records, which more than satisfied my desire to listen to and marvel at the circling disc with a needle following grooves of sound...fascinating! 

One of my Mom's favorite Korvette's tales told  of a time when every teenage girl would swoon over a new group called the Beatles.  I had two teenage sisters at the time, and two albums called A Hard Day's Night and Meet the Beatles were flying off store shelves at an alarming rate.  Mom would boast that many adults dismissed the group as  a fad and that someone was in Korvette's at the right time and bought the two albums, which were on sale for 88 cents each!  Mom was cheap...um...frugal like me, so this was the bargain of the century!   

So much has changed in my lifetime.  Korvette’s has been out of business for decades, falling victim to competition like larger department store chains and shopping malls. 

The automobile, once admired by me as awe inspiring, is now bland and bothersome.  In the ‘60’s, I could tell you the year, make, and model of nearly every automobile I saw, for every set of wheels had its own identity and character.  Today, however, I can’t distinguish one expensive nuisance from another.  A car represents expensive repairs, payments, foul road conditions, and my children out there in harm’s way.  So, my desire to own a replica of any more recent money and gas guzzlers has been abated.  

By the 1970's, records were altered into cassette and 8-track tapes, which were enhanced into compact discs by the ‘80’s.  Compact discs were Godsend for me.  No more would a needle skip on a scratch on the surface of a record.  Sounds of wear were a thing of the past.  All my favorite recordings had been digitally remastered.   Collections could include more tracks as a CD could hold nearly eighty minutes of music on one disc.  The appeal of the record player's magic had been replaced by a digital counter, enabling me to shuffle tracks, remotely change a track, or just listen and enjoy!  Most importantly, I could still go to a music store and hold a CD, examine the cover and titles, and continue to enjoy my hobby.  

Now, in the 21^st century, my favorite pastime of examining every square foot of a music store has been all but destroyed by the introduction of the IPod and digital downloads.  I have to admit, I enjoy having my extensive CD collection on the little device.  I like having the all the music on my person at all times.  What has changed is the music itself.  The desire to buy an entire album by an artist and fall in love with a masterpiece has fallen by the wayside with most of today’s music not catering to my listening desires.  The result is the purchase of songs rather than albums.  My collection of music from the new millennium is like a collection of singles.  With the popularity of American Idol, Glee, hip-hop, rap, and teenybopper music, I believe I am not anywhere in the target market for music moguls.  I can count on one hand the number of albums that were added to my collection in the 2000's.  It seemed that my anticipation of new music was as obscure as British Rock, Motown, Singer-Songwriter, and, of course, Rock and Roll music.  I was lost.  There was no going back........

Then, someone came to my rescue.  It was Adele...she saved the day!  I’ve always been a sucker for a gal who could sing me a story.  When Rolling in the Deep came to the airwaves, I purchased the single right away.  When Someone Like You was featured on a Saturday Night Live skit, I  grew attached to the heartbreak and soon this solemn ballad was mine.  Then, Set Fire to the Rain set fire to my brain. I couldn't get the song out of my head and so I downloaded it.  I was really starting to like this gal...the female singer songwriter without a gimmick is back!  Earlier this week, rumour had it that Rumour Has It was being played on top 40 radio, so I listened.  As soon as I heard the song, I went to I-Tunes.  This time I noticed something I hadn't noticed before.  When I clicked the word 'purchase', a little icon appeared saying 'Complete my album.'  It should have said 'You idiot, this is your fourth song from this album, so why don't you get the rest of the songs and enjoy the whole thing?  It's cheaper and you're cheap!'  So I did!

Right now, I'll remember longingly the little retail chain from my childhood where my love for recorded music was founded.  I'll revere the cars with character, and records, tapes, CD's, album liner notes, and countless other symbols of times gone by...while I scan my entire music collection, including Adele, on my IPod, and marvel that with the touch of a button, I can hear any song I want to hear when I want to hear it.  Life is good!