Against the Algorithm: A Vinyl Manifesto

My partner and I were both born toward the end of 1972. This puts us squarely in the middle of Gen X (aka, The Lost Generation). We both grew up on our parents’ 45’s and LP’s. Then we made mixtapes as we got a little older. By mid-high school, CD’s had firmly taken root. In the late 90’s we borrowed a friend’s car for a couple of years and we played the hell out of the 8-track player that came with it. Soon after, I nerded out on Napster. In the early 00’s a friend convinced me that the MiniDisc was the next big music revolution and I didn’t want to be left behind. So I bought one and the iPod came out the following year, I think. Of course, I bought the deluxe U2 iPod. When Apple Music streaming came out, I rejoiced and never looked back. But in this moment, where the world is groping around in the darkness of religious and political totalitarianism and where AI, marketing, and social media have been designed to steal my unique style of learning, my unique way of feeling, my way of practicing my unique spirituality, my unique expression of my sexuality and creativity, my divine right to joy… I won’t go out without a fight. I will not bend the knee to fascists and dictators of any kind, and yet, I don’t want to live off the grid foraging berries either. So I stay conscious to the compromises and the games I need to play to stay in The Game of Life inside of Culture. But I will not be robbed of the joy I find in my own creative acts and in those of others. So as part of the resistance, we bought the closest resemblance to the sound system I grew up with. It’s rad. Turntable, receiver, legit bookshelf stereo speakers (a subwoofer, one day to come). It’s really awesome having a shared hobby with my partner. We’re diving deep into the music, the liner notes, the album art… all choices artists get to make if they don’t sell their soul to the capitalistic machine. We’re building our vinyl collection from the ground up. I’d say we’ve made a damn good start.