Organizing My Record Collection
This is a story by Bud O'Byrne. "I am a husband, a father and an artist. Everything I do, is from the heart. Whether its going to work providing for my family or writing a song to play with my band. I write what I want to read. Love it or hate it, it’s always the truth and it’s always real….unless it’s fiction…then it’s fake."
Being organized isn’t about getting rid of everything you own or trying to become a different person, it’s about living the way you want to live, but better - Andrew Mellen.
Well, Andrew Mellen (professional organizer/author), that sounds fine and dandy but what am I to do when I come home drunk and high to a mess of over 4000 records and I want to hear “Wheels of confusion” by Black Sabbath while I pass out eating someone else's left-overs I found in the fridge?
I guess what Andrew is saying is organize your life (record collection) by what works best for you. For a while, what worked best was living in sin with an unholy mess of records and sifting through them every time I wanted to toss one on. But as my collection started to grow and I wanted to find something specific, I found myself standing in front of my collection with a “who stole my Tres Hombres” face. It’s not a pretty face, says my loving wife and 2 beautiful boys. So instead of blaming my family for stealing my LPs, I’ve decided to organize and lick into shape, my ever-growing caboodle of vinyl.
That being said, I boiled it down to five different ways that might work for me (or you) and my (or your) collection.
- organizing by genre
- organizing chronologically
- alphabetize by album title
- alphabetize by band name/first name of the artist
- alphabetize by band name/last name of the artist
I know there are other ways to coordinate a collection such as organizing by the colour of the spine, how much the records are worth or the anti-altruistic autobiographical assemblage (made famous by John Cusack's character in High Fidelity). These ways are wrong. They are either too elaborate and intricate or indirect and tortuous for my liking.
What I want is accessibility. I want convenience. I want to walk up to my wall of records and find my copy of Misfits “collection II” because I had a shitty day I need a pick me up. Maybe I'm driving around town in my grocery-getter and I hear Sloop John B on the radio and I get home and need to hear me some Pet Sounds. Or what if I drop 2 hits of white clinical (double dipped) and want to melt my face off while listening to Evil Acidhead's “In the name of all that is unholy”?
What I'm saying is I want to find what I want to hear with as little trouble as possible and this is why I choose to organize my record collection first by genre and then alphabetically within each genre. I want that kinda record store-feel with a clear manageable manifest.
Now all I have to do is get off my lazy ass and do it. I'll start tomorrow.
Happy diggin', friends!
About Bud O'Byrne
I am a husband, a father and an artist. Everything I do, is from the heart. Whether its going to work providing for my family or writing a song to play with my band. I write what I want to read. Love it or hate it, it's always the truth and it's always real....unless it's fiction...then it's fake.
