Introduced in 1948, the vinyl LP quickly surpassed the 78rpm shellac album as the standard. LPs could accomodate much more music per side as compared to the 78's measly 5 minute playing capacity per side. However, in the 1970s the LP was eclipsed by the cassette tape, which was in turn overtaken by the compact disc in the mid 1980s. Thought to be on the way to the junk heap of musicdom, the vinyl LP is enjoying a modest, though significant, renaissance as a younger generation discovers the charms of the vinyl album. A spiffy new copy of "The King is Dead" by The Decemberists is sharing shelf space next to our Simon and Garfunkel's Greatest Hits, a sign of our love of the old and the new, the tangible and the crackly.
Back in the day...... 78 RPM records were as good as it got. Most of my early music memories were played on 78’s. “Open the Door Richard”, “The Woofing Post Song”, Spike Jones and the City Slickers “Cocktails for Two”, Ruth Wallis’s “Johnny has a Yo Yo” and lots of others. “Woofing Post” and “Johnny” didn’t last long at our house after my mom found us playing them. 78’s would break into a thousand pieces especially when broken over ones head.
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