BECKLEY, WV (LOOTPRESS) – What follows is the tale of how a chance encounter with a piece of history – though not in any official capacity – transformed what began as a routine Wednesday afternoon into a mildly amusing though otherwise still relatively uneventful Wednesday afternoon.
I myself am an avid proponent of secondhand shopping; thrift stores, Goodwills, flea markets, yard sales; You name it, I’m there with bells on.
I suppose this development was concurrent with my own foray into collecting vinyl records, at which time I was faced with the choice of building a collection of new records at a snail’s pace, or opening myself up to the notion of purchasing used items.
Given the retail markup of roughly 300% on new records in comparison to their pre-loved counterparts, I picked up a bottle of disinfectant and quickly made peace with the idea of some of my stuff having formerly been someone else’s stuff.
Hidden and astoundingly cheap gems began revealing themselves not only in used music selections, but in all manner of secondhand product – I’ll never pay new speaker prices again, let me tell you.
This afternoon’s stop at the Appalachian Drive Goodwill location was the usual fare of digging through records, CDs, and electronics with varying degrees of success.
While both the CD and vinyl selections were scant, there was one particular blue-tinted jewel case which caught my eye. Further inspection revealed it to be a CD copy of the Red Hot Chili Peppers’ 2002 album, By the Way, one of my favorite albums.
Customarily, I check to make sure the disc itself is intact and playable, which it appears to be. In the plastic case along with it, however, was what looked to be a purple, recordable, Memorex CD-R disc – a blank CD, for our younger readers.
Thinking little of it – as additional items such as these are generally removed at the counter when the employees do their own check – I eventually depart with my newly acquired treasures, which include a small, RCA radio with a cassette deck I snatched up for $3.
During the commute home, I go to retrieve the CD from its case – itself dated enough to contain the magnetic anti-theft strip customarily applied during a time when compact discs carried genuine monetary value – to find the purple, writable disc still in the case.
Vaguely curious, I pop the disc into the CD player to see what, if anything, I am to be greeted with.
The disc does, in fact, register as one with playable content, and track 1 begins with the familiar, sparse stabs of acoustic guitar chords – G/B – C – D, and repeat.
It’s the opening sequence to the ballad “Big Girls Don’t Cry” by Fergie, a pop singer who in the late 2000s embarked upon a solo venture which churned out a slew of inescapable hits to rival even those of her primary group, the Black Eyed Peas.
This was a song that was essentially everywhere during this period. As a high school student at the time, I distinctly remember being met with this number in most any situation in an environment where a girl had control of the radio – or CD player, or iPod, whatever it happened to be.
Vaguely intrigued, I continued on. What I was met with next? “Big Girls Don’t Cry” yet again. This time, however, it was the remix version featuring American-Jamaican pop singer Sean Kingston, known for his 2007 hit “Beautiful Girls.”
This version also featured production by J.R. Rotem, the mind behind Kingston’s success, as well as the producer of many a huge pop hit during this era. It was becoming increasingly clear that I had unintentionally picked up a time capsule of sorts on my humble journey.
What followed initially was more Fergie, other hits in the form of “London Bridge” and “Clumsy,” two other smash singles from the singer’s 2006 debut album, The Dutchess.
The sequence then took a decidedly 90s turn with Green Day’s “When I Come Around,” the 1994 fan-favorite representative of a Green Day that served a greater function than cosplaying as an older, less-inspired shell of Green Day.
Soon I’m hearing Guns ‘N Roses cuts such as the acoustic ballad “Patience” and the band’s take on the 1958 doo-wop number “Since I Don’t Have You, as well as a handful of Kid Rock ballads, and even some JEWEL.
Rihanna’s “Take a Bow” brings things to relatively more contemporary territory, and I’m reminded of how many huge hits this woman actually has that no longer even register with me due to the immensity of her superstardom.
Near the end, a block of Nickelback ballads in the form of “Savin’ Me’ and “Someday” bring the disc to its perplexing conclusion of Moby’s “Southside” and Ozzy Osbourne’s “No More Tears,” because why not?
What I got, along with a copy of one of my favorite albums, was an amusing, and at times even entertaining, synopsis of days gone by. In truth, the sequence of tunes could be much worse, and I might not gripe too much if this was all I had to listen to for an hour or so. If we’re talking multiple hours or even days, however, there might be a problem.
In any case, these sorts of finds are indicative of the intrinsic value of secondhand shopping – aside from the obvious benefit of drastically reduced prices.
The tracklist for this particular find can be found below should you feel compelled to replicate it via a playlist or even a mix CD of your own. Happy listening!
1. Fergie – Big Girls Don’t Cry
2. Fergie – Big Girls Don’t Cry remix featuring Sean Kingston
3. Fergie – London Bridge
4. Fergie – Clumsy
5. Green Day – When I Come Around
6. Brandi Carlile – What Can I Say
7. Guns N’ Roses – Patience
8. Guns N’ Roses – Since I Don’t Have You
9. Jewel – Foolish Games
10. Kid Rock – Lonely Road of Faith
11. Kid Rock – Only God Knows Why
12. Kid Rock – Picture featuring Sheryl Crow
13. Rihanna – Take a Bow
14. Madonna – Rain
15. Nickelback – Savin’ Me
16. Nickelback – Someday
17. Moby – Southside
18. Ozzy Osbourne – No More Tears