Pretty... and problematic.
  • imagefactory/Shutterstock
  • Pretty... and problematic.

Mike McGonigal—former Seattleite and Stranger contributor, current music editor for Detroit's Metro Times weekly paper—wrote a funny rant about the prevalence of colored vinyl on the market for that publication's blog. The post—which doubles as a screed against press releases whose e-mail subject headers are rendered in all caps, which I cosign—was inspired by news of Georgia metal band Mastodon reissuing four of their albums on colored vinyl via Reprise Records, as if it were some kind of amazing accomplishment.

Why does McGonigal think colored wax is wack? "[C]olored records slow down the entire process for everyone who wants to make records. Also, they sound worse." I would add that it's also more difficult for DJs to cue tracks on colored vinyl—especially the white and clear varieties (those are not technically colors, but you get the point). Anything deviating from black in the vinyl game just makes life harder and causes more stress for a lot of people, regardless of how durn purty colored vinyl may be.

And as someone who publishes the Yeti 'zine and releases his own music, McGonigal finds himself in the awkward position of maybe having to resort to putting out his own non-black vinyl—because a damned large percentage of the market expects and demands it. You can partially blame Record Store Day for creating the appetite for colored vinyl and for exacerbating its resurgence. Gimmicks sell, and record labels and music retailers need all the help they can get in this age of downloading and streaming.

Read McGonigal's post here.

By the way, Mastodon play Showbox Sodo April 26.