I was saddened to see the demise of HMV which recently went into receivership. I hope that the administrators find a way to keep the business going.
When I first went into HMV in the early 1960's it was in Oxford Street London. I had travelled from West Wales with my parents for a family visit. I was amazed by the size of the shop and its huge displays of pop, classical and jazz music. From then on I really became interested in collecting LPs.
In those days the internet was a fantasy. If you went into an office you saw banks of typewriters and not everyone had a 'phone on their desk. Most homes did not have a 'phone at all. As far as music was concerned we had no choice but to listen to vinyl records on record players, Juke boxes and AM radio. Compared to today the sound reproduction was primitive.
Record shops were everywhere even a small town had one on the High Street. It was a good place for young people to meet to chat about their favourite groups and listen to them over headphones in a booth. Most of the time they could not afford to buy anything. The record shop was, also, frequently visited by older classical and jazz music enthusiasts. It was a place for everybody to visit and mix with their friends. It was also the place where we found out lots of information about new types of music.
During the fifties and early sixties most homes only had one Radio so there was competition for who listened to what. There were very few programmes for teenagers so it was important not to miss a pop music broadcast. No-one had a cassette recorder so you had to listen "live". If you were lucky your family had a Radiogram and you could play your own music. The competition became even more intense and usually our parents won out.
All the Radios and Radiograms had valve or tube amplifiers. Unlike today they failed quite often. Luckily my father always had some spares. We used to repair the equipment ourselves and we even changed condensers when they failed. It was useful to know how to do this as repairs at the local shop were expensive. If you did not know how to change a valve you were literally cut off from the outside world for a week or two.
Early Televisions were also valve driven and most families could only afford one which was usually bought on credit or hire purchase. If you did not keep up the payments the Television was reclaimed.
Money was in short supply for most families so even a trip to HMV or a private record shop meant that you came out empty handed if you were a teenager. Buying a HIFI was beyond most people's budget so they had to settle for a Radiogram or a "Dansette" record player. Even then they had to save hard to buy one outright or buy on hire purchase. A teenager would be very lucky to get their own record player for their own exclusive use : you had to share it with your brothers and sisters.
Because the record equipment could easily damage your vinyl recordings the singles and LP's were made of tough heavy duty vinyl. I have some Beatles LPs which were made of 160 gram vinyl. Even these records were quickly damaged by the heavy tone arm of a "Dansette", their ceramic cartridges and sapphire needles. The needles quickly wore out but they were too expensive for a teenager to replace them very often if at all.
Storage space was at a premium and no record store, not even HMV, could keep unlimited supplies in the back office to meet the demand for a new Beatles or Rolling Stones release. You had to order it or wait in the queue on the first day. This generated a lot of free publicity for the record companies when huge queues of excited teenagers were filmed outside of HMV Oxford Street. Imagine the cost of transporting and storing thousands of 160 gram records; no wonder LPs were relatively so expensive.
In West Wales there was no point in queueing for the latest release as you had to order it. West Wales was low on the list of priorities. You needed patience. This meant that you enjoyed the record that much more when you got your hands on it.West Wales was not just behind the times as far as records were concerned. The latest fashion ideas took six months to penetrate down from London and Liverpool.
Transistor radios were only starting to become available and affordable. The programme material was limited for teenagers, in Europe, until Radio Caroline came along in 1964. They broadcast from international waters in the English channel . It illegally broadcast pop music for 24 hours but you could only pick it up after dark in West Wales. An AM radio signal can only travel for hundreds of miles by bouncing off the ionosphere as a "sky wave" at night.
Until pirate radio the major source of music for the teenager was the single and LP vinyl record played at home or at a friend's house.
The advent of pirate radio marked a big change in the attitudes of the government and society in general to the control of our cultural life. This was not just for young people but for the whole nation. In 1960 the famous trial of the publication of Lady Chatterly's Lover by Penguin books began the end of the censorship for publications in Britain. Theatre censorship continued until 1968.
The BBC blocked the broadcasting of the Beatles "Sergeant Peppers" album as late as 1967. This censorship did not last long. The also tried unsuccessfully to ban the Sex Pistols "God Save the Queen" in 1977. They soon gave up on that one too. They have now, more or less, given up censorship completely.
Young people and their records played an important part in the liberalisation of the cultural life of the Western World. The influence of the Beatles, Crosby Stills Nash and Young, the Rolling Stones, Elvis Presley, Buddy Holly, the Sex Pistols and the Clash, Frank Zappa and the Doors and many others has been immense. The record shop played a vital role in disseminating their music.
Records also played a vital role in family and friends relations. We used to borrow and lend records to our friends. We also played them a lot together. We did not have the money for so much individual ownership.
At Christmas the whole family would gather around the gramophone with the neighbours; there was plenty of social contact.
My father was a great fan of Errol Garner and I had to grudgingly admit that Garner was one of the greatest jazz players ever. He choose jazz but he could just as well have been a great classical music player. I still enjoy his music so much I could listen to it for hours.
Times have changed so much. I am sure that if I had suddenly been transported into the future as I teenager I would have suffered culture shock. This does not mean to say that times are worse now. In many ways they are better especially as far as music reproduction equipment is concerned. We can now play good quality music anywhere. Good quality equipment is affordable. We don't have to save up for a record. Some popular music is still being mastered with a full dynamic range. Times are good.
The Internet, and the ease of downloading, coupled with illegal copying has lead to the demise of HMV. The rise of individualism has also contributed. We must therefore be careful of social isolation. You no longer need to get out and go to the record shop and meet people and exchange ideas and musical knowledge face to face.
We could be losing something here; the importance of social interaction and the ability to deal with it face to face.
Records and record shops are an important part of our cultural heritage lets hope they survive. This is why I shall continue to buy records at my local shop. I really hope that HMV survives too.
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