We lived like Kings once.
We had our own audio paradise in South London, although not massive on media attention or glamour you could really get down and dirty with the underground music scene in Croydon, you could feel alive. Whether you thought you were the next Clapton or Biggie you could be sure there existed a place in Croydon for you to go and forever discuss and dream up your musical fantasies. I remember Beano’s record shop on Church St. (now a crèche, Beanies) where friends and myself would spend hours rifling through the endless collection of CD’s that was in reality organised chaos but you always found something you wanted, always. From the music we bought at this shop opinions formed, tastes emerged and the motivation to make our own music grew, an evolution I am sure Hip-Hop and other music fans felt also. Beano’s was not just a reasonably priced record store it was a musical inspiration factory, and Beano’s was just one of a collection of record shops that existed in Croydon about eight years ago.
There were other record shops that existed in Croydon around the same time as Beano’s such as Swag Records (Station Rd.) but most importantly Big Apple Records (Surrey St.), which many believe was the theoretical birthplace of the infamous music genre DubStep. I am sorry to reveal that along with Beano’s, Apple Records and Swag Records no longer exist to pleasure us with their collections of musical delights, but more importantly in addition to the ‘shop’ we have lost the unique social spaces that they provided. The architecture of the record shop is more often than not very simple with nothing in particular to note about style or arrangement but what is there not to love as a music lover, a sign, a volume and a shed load of CD racks. Unappreciated at the time by most people including myself these independent record shops provided orgasmic musical environments for exploring and experience, and now we have HMV and their complete proficiency to categorise and price music like a 5 year old.
On a note as exciting as an album found for £1, I can reveal that there are still at least two independent record shops in Croydon, Memory Lane Records (Frith Rd.) and 101 Records (Keeley Rd.). As far as I am aware that is where the trail ends, for certain there are music shops and small gig venues still alive and strong but the record shop amongst the elements of the Croydon music scene is dying. For Croydon’s Social Urbanism this situation is an issue of great concern when the social space is lost that the record shop provides, part of the foundations that the Croydon music scene is built on also crumbles away in front of our very eyes. Obviously music in Croydon is not going to be swallowed up and disposed of just because the record shops are dying, however I can not help but visualise an increasingly less unique style emerging from Croydon, and that would be a real shame. I can only hope that we gradually become less and less accepting of the prices we have to pay for music in this day and age bringing about the revival of the record shop and that wonderful atmosphere and community that existed alongside it. Demand more than Cher Lloyd!
tW
dont forget this one.....
ReplyDeletethe vinal resting place in Addsicombe. I did this multimedia when I worked at the Advertiser
http://www.sitbonzo.com/vinyl/
Thanks for the insight sitbonzo,
ReplyDeletewas getting my hopes up and then only for the store to have closed too, although they're still online it is shame the shops gone, looked nicely aged and homely.
Nice write up. Worked in Beanos myself between 2001 and 2004, the organising of the chaos was in fact an artform. On the ground floor it was anyway, 2nd and 3rd I had nothing to do with.
ReplyDeleteGood times. Oddly enough I still bump into customers around the place (and remember what they would buy), regardless of what gig I am at there will always be at least one person I recognise, mainly because they are wearing exactly the same clothes they did 10 years ago. Bless them.
Thanks for the comment.
ReplyDeleteYou're officially the first person I have had contact with that worked there since it closed, which is awesome.
You may well have sold me a CD or two in your time there, and it is great to see that by way of some of the people you met there that Beano's has had some impact, if only a small one.on your life. Is it true they sold most of the vinyl stock off at the end to the director of 'The Boat that Rocked' to cover the internal walls of the boat?
Almost true! They bought 8,00 singles to dress up the set. Great timing as we were getting rid of stock. They paid handsomely for them! The down side was a bunch of us sitting up all night peeling off the 20 for £1 stickers! David (owner)
ReplyDeleteThat was meant to be 8,000 !!!
ReplyDeleteMi Price records used to be in the building later occupied by Swag Records. It was an import Hip Hop, House, Dance shop. http://www.britishrecordshoparchive.org/mi-price.html
ReplyDeleteDon't forget about Wax City records. The were originally on London Road, before they closed they eventually moved round to Surrey Street, just further up from Swag.
ReplyDeleteI agree it's a shame about the record store decline in Croydon. I think Memory Lane has gone now too, that was a good place for first pressings of vinyl if one fancied something nice or cheap CDs. 101 Records survives still as far as I know, I think they pay a cheap rent or something.
ReplyDeleteOther shops: Beanos [obviously], Cloakes [which went as long ago as 2001], Buy Or Die [later became a shop selling reggae music] and Shake Some Action which was at the bottom of Crown Hill and sold mostly punk and bits of extreme metal, along with the odd stoner rock LP. They closed in 2001 as well. I remember that the guy running it used to sometimes put on gigs in the actual shop, usually of punk bands.
The Vinyl Resting Place was my favourite, though, and I remember it well. Got so much vinyl from there in the 2000s, and got on really well with the people running it. Very sad when that shut down.
I used to record there in the studio upstairs AGES ago (read pre 9/11, in the 90's)... Took breaks by getting the Holy Kebab almost across the street. What wonderful memories...
ReplyDeleteI feel you can judge how culturally rich and and pleasant a place is by how many record shop there are, the fact that there are virtually none left in croydon says it all.
ReplyDelete