In the fervor of my heavy record purchasing years of 1996-2003 (expanded time frame from earlier Thwart post) dropping at least $50-$120 a week buying music of many different formats from many different places locally and the good ol' fashioned way; 'Blind'. I remember getting a hold of Maximum Rock and Roll and being compelled to stuff 'security' envelopes with raw, loose cash to someone advertising their new record or tape. It’s only inevitable that I have music in every format available that I have maybe only listened to a couple times... Nowadays I’m rediscovering my collection.
Whereas I have quite the spread of music over many formats and NOW stored perfectly in plastic "poly" sleeves and/or fancey-dancey EXPEDIA holders from Ikea... I must also admit, what the fuck is up with 10" records? Why did labels and bands choose that format and why do I have a lot of them? Why do I have three different Electric Frankenstein 10"s? These questions baffle me too.
So who better than to pose this question to than the source itself?
“From a bands stand point; 10"'s are a fun novelty format that some bands just like to release. From a label or sales standpoint there aren't a lot of upsides. Some distributors and stores don't like to carry them because they do tend to sell less than LP's and 7"'s. Many record stores don't have individual 10" sections, so they end up getting filed before the LP's in the vinyl racks. And for whatever reasons some vinyl buyers have a stigma against 10" records. I've put a few out over the years, and have gotten feedback from some record buyers that they just don't like the format.”
Tom, founder and operator of Dead Beat Records and Mailorder initially started his enterprise without wondering what the future held. The future gave him a level of success that he surfs atop of after relocation to Cleveland Ohio. He adds: “On top of that from a production standpoint, they actually cost more to make than LP's, which you wouldn't expect because they are a "smaller" format than 12" records.”
If you buy a 10" the chances are if it didn’t come with its own poly sleeve then you had to get scotch tape and get inventive with an LP poly... Which is exactly how many of my 10"ers are stored. However, I did find out that a Ziploc freezer bag (if you trim the zipper part off the tip will hold a standard 10" completely... Years from now, if my own personal records are around in whatever form, Olive (or whoever) will ask a question left vacant of an answer...
Why is that Testors 10" in a plastic bag that sez ZIPLOC?
ADDENDUM!!! ADDENDUM!!!
This Treatise has been fortified w/ 100% more Fuxter Schittly!
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Reporting from his ‘Clean Room’, the nine-fingered Fuxter Schittly, a avid music listener and semi-pro collector of 78 RPM records takes the ear phones off long enough to add:
“In the early days of phono 10” 78rpm was THE standard… Fast-forward to the 80’s and many pressing plants still had this capability already in hand. Pressing more than one song or more than 3 minutes onto a 7” side crammed the grooves together which did not allow the needle enough vibration to sonically do the music justice -- lower bass and higher treble.”
With notations taken out about he has to get to some delinquent yard work due to a Local Community based Housing Authority (which is a time of anxiety with him. He did to have ten fingers like everyone else. While changing into his ‘yard clothes’ (please note, Fuxter does NOT wear underwear) “ Ten inch records were both economical and sonic for one or more songs on a side because the grooves had room to breathe.”
Cutting the conversation short the clean room is shut down for the day and heading out the door he tips his 10 gallon cowboy hat imitating the best John Wayne that could be executed from a nine-fingered man, winks and states: “Don’t be concerned with the size of a record… instead be concerned with the music in them partner”
He sez something about how his statement shouldn’t be used as a historical document or anything, it was just something he read while he was having a bowel movement recently…. Exiting he spits in a spittoon and makes that PTING sound just like in the ‘movie-pictures’ and that’s my cue to leave. Apparently he had a ‘chaw’ in the entire time I acquired this statement, which doesn’t account for de-dirtying procedures done getting into the Clean Room, about 43 minutes approximately.
He only spit once.
Damn.