Henry Rollins: The Column! Is Here: Preview of the First Henry Rollins Column, Exclusive for the Print Edition of the LA Weekly

Ever heard well recorded SACD or 96/24 or 192/24 music through a decent system?

The 96/24 and 192/24 is the future folks and it's as good and usually better than vinyl! 

Henry, you speak the truth!  I re-connected with my inner passion for vinyl records in December 2007 when I was with a friend from L.A. visiting me in NYC - we happened upon Bleecker Street Records and when I went downstairs, all the new vinyl LPs were begging for my hands to thumb through them as I did countless times in the past (when there were more "record stores" and of course HVM, Tower, and recently Virgin Mega all OOB now) and I came across new LP "180 gram" issues of Black Sabbath 'Vol. 4' and 'Sabotage', and the Kinks 'Village Green' 3LP deluxe set, and decided to get all three.  From there, I started to look for new albums on vinyl, something I haven't done since 1988 when I bought Robyn Hitchcock's 'Globe of Frogs' since from that point, it was all about CDs.  Recent "new vinyl" includes latest Foo Fighters, Boris, Joe Jackson ... and many excellent "dollar LPs" at thrift stores (Monkees Greatest Hits 1969 Colgems was an especially big surprise) so I say to anyone who is a music fan and has the slightest care for sound, play some records again, and put aside the iPod and CDs for a while.

Absolutely! Nothing like spinning vinyl. I could never get into that sterile sound of CDs. As for MP3 or Ipod, never owned one never will. Never download any music from the internet. I'm not a song man, I'm an album man and buy all my music. Only CDs in my collection are because I just cant find that on record. There just aint no passion in digital music. Henry is right on with this article.  

He is the fucking man. Right on. 

I could not agree more with Mr. Rollins. I have plenty of digital music as well, but when I want to really listen " into " the music and hear it at it's highest fidelity I reach for the vinyl. Analog reproduces the sound wave closer that the digital "sketch" of the performance. Well done and let the records spin!

Yes this is the truth about vinyl. It is the way to listen to recorded music. I gave up a perfectly mediocre career in stand up comedy to devote my life to saving vinyl --this was back in 1983--and it has happened! But if you take care of your vinyl you shouldn't have to put up with sonic rice crispies.

In the same sense, there is no music on an LP either, just information in a different form- squiggles instead of numbers.. neither are music or sound. 

There's some impressive hyperbole here. My system certainly doesn't match up to yours (I'm a low-end audiophile because that's all I can afford), but some of the statements in here are over the top, and help define why the audiophile community is shrinking and no longer mainstream. I'm sure we can agree that it's a shame that the love of good-quality sound seems to be fading, because the enjoyment of music can certainly be enhanced by a great recording of it played back on an awesome system.

"Technically speaking, there is no music whatsoever on a CD" - if you want to take it to an extreme, you can say the same thing about LPs, which are just grooved pieces of plastic. Eventually even an LP is digital at the atomic and quantum levels, it just has a much higher resolution than a CD. To my ears, CDs are loaded with great music that sounds great, and sound very warm and natural when mastered correctly (which far too many modern CDs are not, but that's another discussion).

"Sitting in a room, alone, listening to a CD is to be lonely." As a happily married man with children and grandchildren, I'm certainly not lonely when I spend some time alone with my CD-based music, which is quite capable of moving me to tears. For me it is, just as you describe for LPs, exquisitely perfect solitude.

It's great that you enjoy your LPs - I know plenty of people who love vinyl and think it sounds better than CDs. But there's no need to insult those who may enjoy their CDs just as much.

Some genius remarked when asked why he preferred vinyl to digital replied simply "because I hear in analogue". Henry, might that have been you?

Love the article! I've just got my turntable back up and running, following a house move-related hiatus, and the pleasure it gives me is just as Henry says. I do listen to a lot of digital sources, because there is a lot of music that does not exist on vinyl, but something feels like it is missing. Whether that absence is real or imagined, I don't know, but music is supposed to give pleasure and a good hi-fi should, when you push its buttons, push yours right back. With the turntable back in my system, consider my buttons pushed!

brilliant

what an emotional bla, but basically true. CD is dead, self-killing. digital files are about comfort and mobility, badly traded-in with the mess of multiple formats.thus vinyl is prime,digital is like the tapedeck/walkman you had before...streaming is a comfortable disease, replacing radio for many...highres digital can be very good, but it's just different, at best.still i favor using all in its proper circumstances, WAV@mobile, vinyl@home, FM radio preventing streams, CD where there's no other choice, immediately archived to WAV. ;-)

What I miss about the halcion days of punk and metal is the proliferation of tattoos and piercings and the accompanying plagues of hepatits A, B, C and HIV/AIDS.

An estimated 2 BILLION people on earth are now reported to be infected with deadly and debilitating hepatitis. Mulitple world health organizations have cited unregulated tattoing and piercing as a significant source of these plagues. Especially in 2nd and 3rd world countries where regulation of tattoo parlors are nearly non-existant. The culprit is re-used/dirty blood contaminated tattoing needles and inkwells.

Why do U.S. celebrities/athletes advertise tattooing/piercing to the world over worldwide satellite media?

Truth.

The biggest thing I miss about the halcyon days of punk and metal is the tattoos, piercings and the plagues of hepatitis A, B, C and HIV that comes with dirty tattooing needles. I also miss the unregulated ear-destroying sound levels at bars, clubs and concert halls. Hey, can one of you spare a liver? I'm sorry you'll have to repeat that...I didn't catch what you said...louder please. I just read that an estimated 2 billion people on earth now have hepatitis B. (go figure).

Don't forget about bands like Poison, Motley Crue, Twisted Sister, Kiss...ahh those were the golden days of American art and culture until that bast...d Kurt Cobain had to come along and ruin it all. Luckily, he's gone now and things are returning to normal. Creed rules.

Maybe Clear Channel communications can just buy every media outlet in America and then we can prevent people like Kurt Cobain from getting on the air again and threatening our mass media death spiral bleedout. Their needs to be more obese, white, wealthy conservatives running the media...the communist socialist liberal agenda is assuming control of our youth....how will our great bloated white media empire survive such an blatant onslaught of outright communist propaganda and expansionism....sir.

Palin/Limbaugh in 2012.

Wilson Sophia 3 speakers? Rega Isis? Henry is an audiophile! Who woulda thunk?

EXECUTIONER 7" San Jose Hardcore from 1982. Out Now www.patacrecords.com

I can recall many more magnificent moments laying back listening to a turntable spinning delectably sweet, licorice candy colored circles of wide-open-spaces & roaring-fire-warm sonics through needled grooves than I can recall sitting for split seconds hearing a laser light butcher slice and dice twelve notes into the tin-can, crumpled plastic potato chip bag, dry-ice-burning, blizzard white harsh light of day.

Great article! I started collecting vinyl a year ago and that's because I was born in '91. Nothing beats it. Analog > Digital

"There is no music whatsoever on a CD. Lots of information but no music."

So very true. Henry Rollins is without a doubt one of the most important figures in modern music. Thank you for intelligence and candidness, Henry.

"Vinyl is the people, a CD is the man". In retrospect that defines the medium.Really enjoyed the article.

HR - I couldn't agree with you more. Vinyl will always be music's perfect recording medium. Just like the music locked inside its grooves, a record is undeniably fragile, yet amazingly robust. And when combined with big,bold compelling cover art and some well written liner notes, an LP delivers the total experience. I will be honest, I'm a spoiled vinyl junkie. Downloading music is way too much work. You never needed a login or password to walk into a Licorice Pizza. The check out line at Peaches was never as aggivating as the wait endured wtih a slow server. I don't recall ever encountering a buffer underrun error at any Tower location. Some may argue that the medium doesnt matter and it's all about the music. But LPs have the ability to also bring the story that went along wth making that music. There's a sweet satisfaction that only records will deliver. Maybe that's why the called them Licorice Pizzas.

Another great way to describe why vinyl is so great. Henry nails it. I can't wait to listen to some Model T Ford records this weekend. Nice job Henry!

Thank you HR Rollinstuff for sharing this great story. You made me once again want to kick myself in the ass for giving away my turntable and vinyl to the NY public access TV star Snuffles of The Wild Record Collection. Downsizing seemed like a good idea at the time and they went to a great guy, but alas, i am alone with my cold CDs.

Great column, Mr. Rollins! I'm spinning records right now and enjoying every minute. I like to think of myself as a preservationist, as I've rescued a lot of records from dingy thrift stores and crowded fleamarkets. I take them home, wet clean the vinyl, clean dirt from the jacket and remove stickers and any residues, then put everything in new sleeves - keeping any artwork and inserts. Some of these records from 40 years ago sound like new on my system after a good cleaning.

Since there aren't any real repair shops around to maintain turntables, I've learned how to adjust, repair and upgrade turntables myself. It's very DIY. Everything about vinyl records is more of a human experience, and the amount of effort you put into it is equal to the amount of enjoyment you get out of it.

I do as you say, Meester Rollins. **gong noise: bows**