I only bought it coz it woz pink
As a Word reader, I like to think of myself as a discerning sort of chap who makes informed decisions about the entertainment I consume. I'm not one to be swayed by fads and fashions - quality is what counts. Except that I have a rather shady past and I feel the need to come clean about it. I was a coloured vinyl addict.
My problem first began as a small child when I was blinded to the musical shortcomings of my mother's copy of Living Doll by Cliff Richard by the bright yellow of its grooves.
Then, when I was old enough to spend money on records I would buy any old rubbish, as long as it was a nice colour. Whitesnake's Snakebite e.p. on beautiful snowy white vinyl; I Don't Care by Klark Kent in kryptonite green and, horror of horrors, Out of the Blue by ELO on double blue.
It wasn't all bad; Be Stiff by Devo in "lemonade" looked and sounded great, Miss You by the Rolling Stones in 12" pink (ooh-er missus) was a cracking record, and Don't Come Close by the Ramones was a red vinyl delight.
It wasn't long before I progressed to the harder stuff - why settle for just one colour when you can have a whole load of them in the form of a picture? Your Just What I needed by The Cars and Are Friends Electric by Gary Numan soon blighted my record collection.
They're all long gone to the second hand record shop, which is now long closed. Although I feel more erudite and grown up without them, I have to admit to missing the cheerful silliness they bought to my rather dour and serious music collection.
So, who else will admit to allowing their better musical judgement to be swayed by pretty colours and pictures?
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The Indians send signals from the rocks above the pass...
My first seven inch purchase with my own pocket money was Squeeze's Cool For Cats. Imagine my disappointment when I found that all singles weren't on pink vinyl.
A bit of coloured vinyl
My Mum had the Beatles' red and blue LPs on coloured vinyl and a Neil Diamond greatest hits on "diamond" vinyl. It must have affected me on some level as I was drawn to the blue 12" of "Bela Lugosi's dead" like a moth to a flame, also an orange E.P by Mouse on Mars and I shelled out extra for the first Pharcyde L.P on transparent green and orange plastic. Never saw the appeal of picture discs though...
I recall being very excitied
I recall being very excitied when I won a local radio competition and the prize was Set the World on Fire by Liar on picture disc. Thinking about it now thirty years later, I have a hunch that I may well have been the only entrant.
I
remember the mid-80's as a fine time to augment your vinyl collection with all manner of coloured, shaped and picture discs, particularly if you were a follower of heavy rock, where it became de rigeur to release singles in shapes so ridiculous that your turntable often refused to play them in protest.
Offending articles I remember from my own collection (now, too, sadly nascent in the age of 0's an 1's) include Ozzy Osbourne's (you know, when he was in a band) gold 12" of So Tired and various Marillion picture discs.
Bad taste in wall clocks, anyone?
Hmmm...
I have a number of coloured and shaped picture discs (I've still not manage to part from my vinyl yet) -
Second single purchased was Mr Blue Sky on blue vinyl, I've got Roxanne on red, the Klark Kent singles on green, some Tears For Fears pictures (which are very pretty ackshewly), the Police badge shaped thingies AND the blue 6 pack, a couple of Prince oddities (stop sniggering at the back) and treasure of treasures, a Sam Fox picture disc.
Guilty m'lud, oh so guilty.
Im mitigation I offer only that my then chap told me that Record Collector said the output of Ms Fox was quite rare and worth substantially more than the couple of quid I paid for it. Sadly no-one else thought so and it wasn't snapped up...