SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
Record Store Day is today. How do we observe it? What kind of card do you send? Stephen Thompson from NPR Music is here as our guide. Stephen, thanks so much for being with us.
STEPHEN THOMPSON, BYLINE: It is a pleasure to be here, Scott.
SIMON: I'm afraid I don't know what Record Store Day really is.
THOMPSON: Well, Record Store Day started in 2008 as a way of attracting customers back to brick-and-mortar record stores - encouraging people to get up off their couches, stop just listening to music through their computers, go to an actual record store and buy some music. And in conjunction with that, Record Store Day has a whole bunch of kind of sponsored, exclusive releases.
SIMON: Well, what kind of music are you looking forward to?
THOMPSON: For me, there are a couple that stand out. You know, one of my favorite bands from the '90s, Harvey Danger, put out a record called "King James Version..."
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "MEETINGS WITH REMARKABLE MEN (SHOW ME THE HERO)")
HARVEY DANGER: (Singing) I bowed before the avatar. He said, the problem's clear to me. You never got over Morrissey. Yeah. I said, well, right you are. It's so much harder to be underfed than under-understood, he said. Yeah.
THOMPSON: ...Twenty-five years ago, which makes me feel very old. It's a wonderful record. It didn't do very well, and now it's getting a deluxe reissue on vinyl with bonus tracks. That's one that I'll certainly be looking for. Fans of the French band Air - they have a classic album called "Moon Safari" from 1998. It's getting a deluxe reissue with live tracks and demos and stuff like that. And it gets more esoteric from there. There are some really obscure titles, some of which I'm pretty excited about.
SIMON: Is that what the day's for - in many ways, to celebrate music that maybe has been overlooked?
THOMPSON: Well, I think they certainly try to have it both ways. You have a mix of titles that are pretty esoteric to bring out the music nerds, but they'll also generally have titles by bigger artists. And each year, Record Store Day appoints a different ambassador - a kind of big, A-list pop, rock, hip-hop star who will release an exclusive title that will bring out more casual fans. This year, that artist is Post Malone. And Post Malone is dropping an album called "Post Malone Tribute To Nirvana," which is the first-ever vinyl pressing of a livestream Post Malone did during the pandemic, where he performed a bunch of Nirvana songs.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "COME AS YOU ARE")
POST MALONE: (Singing) Come as you are, as you were, as I want you to be, as a friend, as a friend, as a known enemy.
THOMPSON: And that's being pressed as a Record Store Day exclusive - 17,000 copies. And so fans of Post Malone will go to their local record stores and pick that up. There's also a 7-inch single of "Fortnight," which is the song he did with Taylor Swift. That's certainly been on vinyl for a long time. But for collectors who want this special pressing of it, they can only get it via Record Store Day.
SIMON: Stephen, I want to ask you carefully about a guilty pleasure.
THOMPSON: (Laughter).
SIMON: Maybe something you'll buy and play just for yourself over some headphones so no one can hear it.
THOMPSON: (Laughter) You know, now that you mention it, there is a title that I'm very excited about. And I feel like only a small handful of people will be as excited as I am, but there is a pressing of an album by a group called The Rock-afire Explosion.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "WILL YOU MARRY ME")
THE ROCK-AFIRE EXPLOSION: (Singing) And if only it was mine to choose, I'd never ever want to lose my Lucy.
THOMPSON: Scott, have you ever heard of the Rock-afire Explosion?
SIMON: Sure. No, never.
THOMPSON: (Laughter) The Rock-afire Explosion was the animatronic band that played in ShowBiz Pizza restaurants in the 1980s. Chuck E. Cheese also has had...
SIMON: (Laughter).
THOMPSON: ...These kind of animatronic, you know, robot bands.
SIMON: Yeah.
THOMPSON: But ShowBiz Pizza had a group called The Rock-afire Explosion, and they played original compositions exclusive to The Rock-afire Explosion. And I will be seeking out an album called "Original Dreams: Songs From Showbiz" by The Rock-afire Explosion.
SIMON: This will probably not surprise you. I've been told that my tastes, pretty much in everything...
THOMPSON: (Laughter).
SIMON: ...Are what they call basic.
THOMPSON: (Laughter) Wear it with pride.
SIMON: So - well, I want to confide in you. What I'd like to buy and listen to are songs from the movie version of "Cats."
THOMPSON: (Laughter). Well, that would bring out Taylor Swift fans, 'cause she is in the...
SIMON: What does she sing from "Cats"? How do I not know this?
THOMPSON: She sings an exclusive song. It is not from the original "Cats" production, where the whole movie grinds to even more of a halt than it had already ground to bring out Taylor Swift to perform a song that did not get nominated for an Academy Award.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "BEAUTIFUL GHOSTS")
TAYLOR SWIFT: (Singing) All that I wanted was to be wanted. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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