Vinyl in the 21st Century: Zack Brida
A photo and interview series on college students with record collections.
Zack is a film major at Wesleyan University in Middletown, CT. At the time when I interviewed him, he was working as an RA in Butts B. I asked him if he liked it, he said “not so much.” Here’s Zack and his small, but worthwhile record collection.
I’m Zack Brida, class of 2019, and this is my record collection.
Starting off is Simon & Garfunkel’s Bridge Over Troubled Water. This was actually the first record I ever owned. My eighth grade teacher gave it to me as a graduation present, and my school was really important to me — I went to catholic school for nine years. I built a lot of great relationships and my teacher was a great mentor to me. She passed a couple years ago.
I bought Carousel, A Chorus Line, and Marky Moon by Television all at the same time at a record store near my high school. These are broadway recordings… I don’t usually like musicals. But I was in A Chorus Line last year through Second Stage [Wesleyan’s student-run theater organization], it was the first time I had acted in a couple years and was a really good experience, I had a great director and the cast was amazing. I just really loved it, so I felt like in order to show my affection for it I should buy the record.
Carousel, um, I’m not particularly attached to this at all. But there was a movie by this director Frank Borzage called Liliom, which was based off a play this is also based off of. So I was like, you know what I should do? I should watch that movie and then give this a listen. I couldn’t find this online anywhere even though I heard that it was the best musical ever. It’s not.
This is my favorite album ever, Marquee Moon. I don’t really know what to say about this. I think that it’s got a cool cover. Very popular t-shirt, which I don’t own and I’m really angry about it.
Kate Bush I think is the best pop artist ever. She’s just… I had to have something by her. All of her other stuff was around $20, and this was $5. I got the cheapest one. This is such a weird cover design and Kate Bush’s music is so… I don’t want to say quirky, but it’s definitely bizarre. And she’s also gorgeous and a brilliant artist. I didn’t listen to this song before I bought the record. But Wuthering Heights is probably the greatest pop song and best music video ever.
This is something that I haven’t even listened to — Bruce Springsteen’s The River. This is my mom’s, I guess she was a Bruce Springsteen fan. I don’t like him a whole lot, he’s very dad rock-y. But there’s a music critic that I really like, who says that this is actually a really good album. I think I’m familiar with the title track, it’s like, what you’d expect from Bruce Springsteen, just uhhhh, rivers [Zack’s best Bruce Springsteen impression].
My ex-girlfriend got this for me my senior year of high school. Pet Sounds by the Beach Boys. It’s definitely a good one. I prefer Brian Wilson’s Smile. But I don’t have that, unfortunately. What gets me every time is that Beach Boys expression. He just looks so dopey. And I feel like people haven’t caught on to that yet. So I got this in 2014 and I just listened to it on record for the first time in 2017, on Christmas Day. Really great experience, it changes the way that you hear the album.
I’m gonna go with this one next. I was in New York over Christmas break with some friends and we went to two record stores, the first was kinda strange. They had all these weird records but also Illmatic by Nas and that was the only one we knew. But then we went to a different record store and they were playing great house music. My friend Hudson and I were like “we should really get into house music!” So I bought this record. My conclusion about house music is… it’s fine. Daft Punk is cool. This is Pirahnahead, it’s just two songs by him, Dreams and Momma’s Pen. I think I like this. After listening to this, I went on his Spotify, and he has another song that’s just really bad. Embarrassingly, I was in a social situation, and someone asked me to play some music, and I thought, “I’ve got the perfect thing.” I chose Pirahnahead, it was a nightmare.
This is the most recent record that I got, I ordered it from Amoeba. Low by David Bowie. I think this was just reissued this year. David Bowie’s my favorite artist and this is his best album. It’s just so weird. This was the first in the Berlin Trilogy — this, Heroes, and Lodger. I haven’t listened to Lodger. I used to think that Heroes was better than this, but then I realized that I was very wrong. This is avant-pop on the first side, and then it just goes into electronic-textures. Brian Eno produced this. Then it’s almost world music-inspired. Weeping Wall, which is the penultimate track, is just so beautiful. And the cover art is pretty cool too.
My sister got me Doolittle by the Pixies, which is a phenomenal album. What she had done was she got me a Kenny Loggins record because I had said to her before, when I was just getting into music, I was really pretentious, and I said, “The 80’s was the worst decade for music ever.” And so she got me the archetypal 80’s record of just Kenny Loggins. I don’t even think Danger Zone was on it, which I would’ve appreciated. She wrapped that up and I knew she was getting me a record because she had asked me, “What do you think of Doolittle by the Pixies?” and I said, “Good album.” And that was on December 23rd. So I was like okay, I’m gonna open this up and it’s gonna be Doolittle by the Pixies. And then it was Kenny Loggins, and I was like… She asked me if I liked it, and I was like, “Yes?” My mom asked me if I was gonna return it, and I was like, “Maybe.” I still have it, it’s at home though. She [Zack’s sister] isn’t usually funny, but this was a good gag. Hey on this album is probably the best one and Debaser is a great opener. Here Comes Your Man is just so catchy.
So that’s what’s in my bag!
