And the rest was History: A Brief Chronicle of Record Store Day

For over nine years now Record Store Day has been having a global impact; on April 16, #RSD16 was even a worldwide trending topic on twitter. Unfortunately, many do not know of the day’s exact origins.

Originally, Record Store Day was conceived from a comment made by Chris Brown, A Bull Moose (a music, movie, book & video game store in Maine and New Hampshire) employee. Brown felt that the Record Store equivalent to Free Comic Book Day needed to be created. From there, a group of Baltimore record store owners met in 2007 to brainstorm the exact logistics of the event, including Eric Levin, Michael Kurtz, Carrie Colliton, Amy Dorfman, Don Van Cleave and Brian Poehner. The first Record Store Day did not actually take place until a year later on April 19, 2008. The “word” about the day was spread through various social media platforms and through the creation of “The Record Store Day” website. And the rest is history.

Record Store Day has become a staple in terms of featuring limited edition, special releases every year. This year’s lineup included special releases from David Bowie, Bob Dylan, Metallica, Johnny Cash, Madonna, Patti Smith, Deftones, Frank Zappa and the Doors. Previous years have featured releases from The White Stripes, The Raveonettes, Frightened Rabbit, The Deftones, The Beach Boys’ Al Rabbit, the Beastie Boys, The Foo Fighters, and more.

Record Store Day also features official “ambassadors” with each passing year, who sponsor and virtually organize the event. This year’s ambassadors were Metallica. As ambassadors, Metallica released remastered editions of their first two albums (Kill ‘Em All & Ride the Lightning) in a box set. Previous Record Store Day Ambassadors include: James Hetfield, Lars Ulrich, Kirk Hammett, & Robert Trujilio (2008), Jesse Hughes of Eagles of Death Metal (2009), Joshua Homme (2010), Ozzy Osbourne (2011), Iggy Pop (2012), Jack White (2013), Chuck D. (2014), and Dave Grohl (2015).

Watch out for next year’s Record Store Day taking place on April 15, 2016!