Compiled by one of the greatest record diggers and produced by one of the great design publishers, the A-Z of Record Shop Bags brings together over 700 record bags and is a must for anyone interested in records.
With a foreword by Jon Savage (best known for his history of the Sex Pistols and punk, England’s Dreaming), a legendary music writer and fierce record shopper, who can still recall which shops he bought each of his records from.
This incredible and unique new book tells the history of the British record shop through a huge and inspiring collection of original and exceptionally rare record shop bags.
We trace the rise of the record stores through the classic high street electronic retailer and TV rental shop (like Rumbelows!), we reveal the record shop where Dusty worked, where David Bowie cut his musical teeth, where Epstein first met The Beatles and even the Jewish record shop that sold Ska before anyone else. You can see the sad demise of the small high street record shops as the chains moved in, the death of Woolworths (the UKs biggest vinyl retailer) and ultimately the return of new record shops to our towns.
Not only is the book a history of our high street, but also folk art, huge nostalgia, inspiring graphics and more. The chances are you’ll see the bag from the first shop you shopped in, that sadly missed local hang out, even stumble across the four-storey record superstore just off Oxford Street that you never knew existed.
Through these old paper and plastic bags the visceral history of music shopping really does come to life – you can almost smell that weird red plastic bag that Soho Records used to hand out in the 1980s, and remember how thin those old paper bags used to feel.
