High Fidelity is total Gen X IMO. Loved the book and the movie.
Posted by Ok_Echo_6528@reddit | GenX | View on Reddit | 54 comments
Does anyone else miss going to record stores, talking / debating music and combining through records for hours?
RoninRobot@reddit
I often think about this scene where Beverly D’Angelo’s character tries to sell Rob her husband’s record collection. I read it was cut from the movie but I guess I had a DVD of the extended cut in which it’s included. I’m pretty sure why I’m fixated on this scene but it’s just odd the way Nick writes so close to my life / upbringing / psyche when he grew up 5000 miles away in a totally different country.
DunkinEgg@reddit
I can’t fire them. I hired these guys for three days a week, and they just started showing up every day. That was four years ago.
mamap31@reddit
This movie introduced me to Sad Bastard music.
Irish755@reddit
I don’t want to listen to Sad Bastard music, mamap31! I just want something I can ignore.
TheCheshireCody@reddit
I worked in record stores for years. I wish any of them had been as cool as Rob's.
The Hulu series with Zoë Kravitz is actually really good as well. She obviously doesn't have John Cusack's energy (which is unique), but she brings her own vibe which is entirely different but absolutely equal.
Ok_Echo_6528@reddit (OP)
If only you could have hired the “musical moron twins” Did you get lots of free records or at least a decent discount?
TheCheshireCody@reddit
Soooooo many free records, but 90% of them sucked. We got hundreds of CDs a month from various labels, but the vast majority of them were unknown bands. We also got a ton of merch - posters, flats (12"x12" cardstock images, usually of the album cover, for making displays). Occasionally we'd get something absolutely unique, or a promo of an album months before its release, a few of which I still have. The best was getting concert tickets, VIP passes, private party invites, and even Broadway tickets from the label reps and A&R folks. Made dealing with the public worth it. :-P
I was actually prepping to open my own shop in the late Nineties when the whole music retail industry collapsed. I knew the owners of several indie shops in my area, places that had been around for decades. One of them, Vinyl Solution, was renowned through the area and the owner was one of the most musically knowledgeable people I've ever met. When they all went out of business (Plus Tower Records and Sam Goody) I knew that I, with a fraction of their knowledge and connections, would never be able to pull it off. I'm a good one for tilting at windmills but even I knew that would be foolish.
I'd definitely have hired Dick, but not Barry. There's a version of them in the TV show, and somehow Barry (renamed Cherise) is even more annoying than the film version.
Ok_Echo_6528@reddit (OP)
I bet you still keep in touch with some of the people you worked with or met while working at the store. I did bars and night clubs for decades and met some of the best people I have ever known (also some of the worst lol)
TheCheshireCody@reddit
A few of them, mostly from the later days, and really only thanks to social media. The folks from the Nineties I've 99.9% lost track of. One of them I thought was my friend still, until I tried to get a job from him and found out his wife had told him she knew about his constant infidelity and (falsely) told him she'd heard it from me. I almost got my block knocked off because his wife lied to him about how she found out he'd been lying to her - maybe it's better to not keep friends like that anyway.
Ok_Echo_6528@reddit (OP)
OUCH! Nobody needs that kind of BS in their lives
PahzTakesPhotos@reddit
Love the movie, we have the soundtrack on CD (as well as the movie on DVD, of course). But this was the movie that confirmed to me that I don't like Catherine Zeta Jones. Something about her grates on my nerves. But she's only in it for a short bit, so I can ignore it.
I actually bought the soundtrack based on that song Cusack plays, saying he's going to sell the album. (The Beta Band).
Irish755@reddit
“Charlie. Is. *Awful.*”
“Who is this?”
“It’s the Beta Band.”
“It’s good!”
“I know.”
cpencis@reddit
Fourth wall? What fourth wall…
ONROSREPUS@reddit
Didn't see it. I haven't, willingly, seen anything with Jack Black in it.
moscowramada@reddit
If you find him obnoxious then this is his best role: he's written to be an intentionally obnoxious character.
OGREtheTroll@reddit
Nick Hornby, the author of the book, did a collaboration with Ben Folds on his "Lonely Avenue" album from 2007 in which Hornby wrote all the lyrics and Folds wrote the music. It's an overlooked album but is absolutely phenomenal.
bookant@reddit
Read this when it came out back in 1995. One and only book I've ever finished and then immediately turned back to page one and started again. Strongly recommend all of Hornby's books, they're all awesome.
And in spite of moving it to the US this is rare movie adaptation that really does live up to the book.
Standard-Cockroach64@reddit
I still go to my favorite record stores weekly. Got back into vinyl back in 2017, and I enjoy the chats I have with the owners of the stores I go to, and the customers too.
I've gone down so many rabbit holes with suggestions about albums from others, and I will gladly thank all of those that got me into something I'd otherwise would have missed out on.
My kid even got into vinyl.... and she had me help her pick out a proper turntable instead of getting a shitty suitcase unit (or worse). Have to say, I'm proud to see some of the stuff she picks out.
Ok_Echo_6528@reddit (OP)
Very cool! Totally wish I could bond with my kid over records
Standard-Cockroach64@reddit
It's fun... and she's gotten me to check out many bands that I otherwise wouldn't have known about. But the best part is that (I think) it gets you out of the mindset of just listening to the singles on a streaming service and actually taking the time to hear the entire album from start to finish.
dwkdnvr@reddit
Is this where I admit I’ve never seen the movie? Love the book and have read it several times, but somehow managed to bypass the movie.
JD_tubeguy@reddit
Awesome fucking movie and yes miss record stores though I cannot play physical media currently.
ActCrafty@reddit
It’s Gen X to the MAX!
Thirty_Helens_Agree@reddit
I don’t miss debating music - looking back, that was pretentious as fuck.
But I do miss the actual stores. I stopped in one not too long ago - it was a popular local shop that was not as mainstream as the shops in the mall, but had more accessible stuff than the really weird underground shops. It closed and employees resurrected it and kept it going. Anyway, it was cool, but nowhere near as well-stocked as it was in the 90s.
Ok_Echo_6528@reddit (OP)
I totally get what you are saying. I never really argued about music but would exchange in some debating. At least back then you were talking to / debating with an actual person or group of people instead of someone on the internet
pzeeman@reddit
This is so great.
It’s still the first thing I think of whenever I hear Walkin’ On Sunshine. The special Monday morning tape.
The book was pretty significant in my life. I devoured it in Cancun in 2000.
And as a huge Rush fan, it took me way too long to realize it’s Jacob’s Ladder the Jack Black is singing when he first shows up.
snarf_the_brave@reddit
SO and I do top 5 lists for everything because of this movie.
Longjumping-Soil-644@reddit
Love this movie. So underrated. Also Empire Records
WarpedCore@reddit
Top three movie on my list. So great on so many levels.
I miss going into a music store and hanging out with whomever is working there to talk and listen to music. Many times I was introduced to a new band because of this.
Ok_Echo_6528@reddit (OP)
YES!! I would often go to the shop to just “quickly pick up a record “ and end up leaving 2 hours later having spent 3 times the amount of money that I intended to spend but having heard 6 new bands. It was awesome
WarpedCore@reddit
It is nearly impossible to be able to live that ever again and it's really sad. I met new friends hanging out at the record store back in the day.
aran_maybe@reddit
Get your PATCHOULI STINK out of my store!!!
SaigonWhoreNoseBiter@reddit
YOU'RE GOING TO LOOK BACK AT 10 CALLS A NIGHT AS THE GOLDEN AGE. GET READY MOTHER FUCKER
knudude@reddit
“…Should we leave it at that?…”
ancientastronaut2@reddit
We still go to record stores quite often.
ZebraBorgata@reddit
John Cusack movies seem to be in the wheelhouse for GenX. I loved it. It’s also the first time I recall seeing Jack Black and I thoroughly enjoyed his character.
ZumaThaShiba@reddit
I have always arranged my music autobiographically thanks in part to this movie
cybaz@reddit
I'm not super into music and I loved High Fidelity
MoarFlavor@reddit
…Maybe a little picture of me in the liner notes.
Gavin_Tremlor@reddit
I worked at Tower Records in San Diego. Great store, cool people.
Rosetta_FTW@reddit
Damn the man. Save the Empire!
figbash137@reddit
Miss it so much <3
OldLifeguard-00@reddit
I was living around Wicker Park in Chicago when this movie was released. Never read the book, but understand it’s set in London.
Legitimate_Ocelot491@reddit
The book was way better. Laura was completely miscast in the movie.
figbash137@reddit
The book is written by Nick Hornby. Lots of his books have been turned into movies (About A Boy, Fever Pitch x2), several being relocated to the US. He’s an amazing author, highly recommend! He also wrote the screenplay for the movie Brooklyn.
ClassroomFit7065@reddit
Mother what a night it really was!
Brother what a night... angina's tough!
Myfreakinglyfe@reddit
I’m almost 54. Still buying vinyl at record stores. Even more than I did when I was younger. I have grown up money now, lol!
SilverBallFox@reddit
My wife and I picked up the hobby of collecting records again a couple of years ago. Turns out there's plenty of record stores hidden from view until you get into the hobby. One of the main reasons that I enjoy the hobby is flipping through the records at the record stores takes me back to when I was a teenager trying to decide which record or cassette tape to buy. Except now I have the money to buy more than one at a time. LOL. I get that same boost of nostalgia each evening as my wife and I are flipping through the record collection, like cruising the CD case or the cassette case back in the day. Choosing which musical experience you're going to commit to for 30 minutes at a time.
myleftone@reddit
Look at the grime on the walls, the fingerprints on the battered road case, the jerry-rigged camera bracket. They either shot this in a real downtown store or the set crew knew exactly what they were doing. Phenomenal detail.
TopspinLob@reddit
A Cooossssssbby sweater!
figbash137@reddit
Is that Peter fucking Frampton?!
LittleBitOfStarshine@reddit
Damn, mom! That’s some cold shit!
Ray_The_Engineer@reddit
LOVE this movie. Excellence in casting.
-HEF-@reddit
At the Tower Records that was near me in the late 90's, I would make a whole day around going there. Stop for lunch and then hit the store. Start with magazines, then a browse through the stacks, and then the listening stations. I was prob in the store for 2-3 hours. Then I would go to a pub near the store, have a beer and open my purchases... read the magazines and/or liner notes. I miss it dearly. There aren't any music shops within an hour of my house.