What we need in Laramie: A record store

Jeremy Rowley
Jrowley1@uwyo.edu
Music is an inherent part of any culture. The substance within a society’s songs can provide a powerful insight into the machinations of the group. Unfortunately, much of this insight is lost in the city of Laramie because we do not have a legitimate record store.
It is undeniable that the relevance of record stores is steadily decreasing. It is only sensible that, in the face of digital media becoming more and more prevalent, the need for physical copies of music has gone down. However, there is still value in the existence of record stores.
Several years ago, I was visiting Berkeley, California as part of a school trip. While there, I visited both Amoeba Music and Rasputin Music, two of the largest independent record store chains in the state. As I walked the aisles, I spotted a CD that had been in the back of my mind for months.
At the time, I was very much into the band Death Cab for Cutie and their lead singer Ben Gibbard. Early in his career, Gibbard had released two EPs under the moniker ¡All-Time Quarterback!, both of which were out of print. What I failed to realize was that a compilation album of these two EPs had been put out and it was staring me in the face. I immediately spent my last three dollars on the used disc and it sits in my car getting played on long trips to this day.
While it may not have been the most exciting thing to happen on my trip from an outsider’s perspective, it is one of the few things that still stick out in my mind. The discovery of the album got my heart pumping in a way that cannot be explained–it can only be felt. Sure, the album appeared on iTunes a few years later. Sure, it is not the greatest record I have by any stretch of the imagination. But it is special in a way that the others are not.
Having a physical copy of an album, whether as a CD, a vinyl record or even a cassette tape, is special. It holds more memories and more value than the music itself. The palpability gives more life to the songs in the same way a teddy bear increases in personal worth if you carried it everywhere with you as a child.
Part of the magic of music is the volume of stories we attribute to different songs or albums. Having a true record store–a place that contains new and used CDs and vinyl of all kinds, both common, obscure and local–would bring a new wealth of stories to our town. I certainly hope one makes its way here sometime soon.