| Jam Monkey 15.03.2010 16:14 |
Something I been reflecting on alot recently on why I, and so many others, collect Queen (or other bands for that matter). I'm not talking about the people that collect the albums and a few singles; I'm talking about the serious collectors, the people that go to great lengths to get everything they want to collect. There are many different types of collector out there of course. People like me who want every version of every song, some people like collecting the live shows etc etc. But whatever type of collector you are it's possible you could have a fanatical dedication to your collecting. Take me. Queen released about 20 studio albums, a few live albums and a few compliations. Yet, as of today, I own about 225 separate items. Why is that? Of course some of that is understandable. Any reasonably serious fan will want to buy The Invisible Man to get Hijack My Heart, its a great track, but what about all the other releases? I once paid £75 for a promo CD just because it contains a minnor edit of a track I already had. I've also paid alot for vinyl that contians shitty DJ mixes I don't even like. Clearly something is driving me, and its not the love of the band. I do love Queen, but surely no one loves them enough to pay alot of cash for a minnor edit, which after all contains less material than the album. This situation is made worse by the fact that I know they are many more people who dedicate far more time and money than I do to this hobby. Clearly this is fullfilling some kind of need in us all. I'd be interested to hear your thoughts, if only just to know I'm not alone in all of this. |
| LuckyRocks 15.03.2010 16:45 |
Hello Jam Monkey... I recently was thinking about the same topic - just wondering what really "drives" me to: - stand up in the middle of the night to get an item listed on ebay usa - spend hours and hours on the internet to find any item that is missing in my collection - and there are a lot! - visit the main Queen website few times a day to be up to date - dreaming about the "missing" Queen items in the night and so on... I assure you - and this is something you must believe - I often was thinking about selling all my stuff (and there are some very rare and beautiful items in there) and buy a great car, a flat tv or what ever you like! I mean - I don't often listen to Queen - the times have changed - I know all the songs... But there's something that "keeps me on collecting" - you are not alone - there are plenty of those so called "DIE-HARD-COLLECTORS" In the past I heard that it's the "possibility of becoming complete" that makes you keep on collecting - I think it's true... Anyplace anywhere anytime - and I'll get the missing item! I hope you understand what I wrote?! Anyway - my girlfriend always says - keep on collecting - if you are tired of your collection - make a break, but never sell it - you'll have regrets! LuckyRocks |
| djcamper 15.03.2010 18:10 |
Animal instinct of domination is the thing which is driving you. Buying hordes of items so you could get a feeling of being closer to a band. Only a feeling, as in reality it will not make you closer and nothing will able to do that, not discs, not autographs. There is time which is gone, and there is an illusion of getting back in time, done by your brain. Having these items in possesion is obiviusly not required to get such effect, as that's all happenning in your head, just look at the pictures of the items and imagine whatever you wish. So if there is no direct need in these items, what is the point of having them? The point is that your brain could push your ego up, masking it by an illusion of getting closer to the band legacy, feeling yourself more privileged and more devoted fan. Also the admiration of other fans and collectors adds to that too, creating the value to items. Just as with gold, if people haven't use it as a tool to show their status, it's value would be much lower. Buying and wearing jewelry people feeling theirself more important in the society, and I bet you're feeling the same with your items in the community of queen fans. The collecting of live recordings and demos is that I would call a true collecting, as from these things you can get the joy which you can't substitute. Buying remixes, anything with queen logo and Bohemian Rhapsody blue vinyls for thousands of pounds is a way to sign yourself of being more animal than a human, and in the majority of cases it shows the lack of understanding the true motivation under your actions. As you can see that exact thing happens with the two persons posted above. |
| TRS-Romania 15.03.2010 18:35 |
I was thinking about deleting the following 2.39 GB of Freddie material that I havent watched in the last 6 months ... or should I keep it ??? (see screenshot: link ) |
| mooghead 15.03.2010 19:05 |
djcamper wrote: Animal instinct of domination is the thing which is driving you. Tis true.. pure bravado. You do not own anything which, thanks to the internet, is not available to anyone else. Holding the physical object in your hands is not only sad, but stupid. Because I have it. But it has cost me nothing. I already have the Bo Rhap multi track. Unless you have blue vinyl number 1 there is nothing I am interested in. |
| fmarsong 15.03.2010 20:38 |
Im collecting Queen stuff because i love Queen |
| marcenciels 15.03.2010 23:46 |
well...in the end, it is a investment. what i collect ? 12" lp's or singles, thailand 7" and all live stuff. for those how see collecting Queen ( any other band or whatever) as a neg. thing...you have the right to think so. i dont mind. i dont think i will get all the one's i wish for. because investing will keep you grounded on the more important things. even if i do enjoy very much collecting and my collection. dont expect me to brag about my collection. i just have a close bond, in my own way with Queen. they gave me a lot in the pass and i find i still need them sometimes, when things are going wrottenly wrong. |
| The Real Wizard 16.03.2010 00:27 |
I collect the live stuff mainly because it inspires me as a musician. It's very interesting to listen to a band from night to night to learn about how they grew as a unit. I'm also a bit of a historian, so it's always fun to add one more piece to the puzzle when anything new is discovered. Multi-tracks and studio out-takes are equally interesting for the same reasons, but there isn't nearly as much of that around as there is live material. Unless you're a Beatles or Zeppelin fan, of course ! |
| Jam Monkey 16.03.2010 02:38 |
Well, I am going to keep on collecting. In the words of Sheryl Crow 'If it makes you happy, it can't be that bad'. Although I agree with what was said above that collecting demos/outakes is far more rewarding. |
| Pim Derks 16.03.2010 02:47 |
TRS-Romania wrote: I was thinking about deleting the following 2.39 GB of Freddie material that I havent watched in the last 6 months ... or should I keep it ??? (see screenshot: http://i43.tinypic.com/23lz5gl.jpg ) OMG. Garden Lodge November 1991. Is that a sort of sequel to Faces of Death Part XVI? |
| [BREAKTHRU1989] 16.03.2010 11:55 |
Hi, I started collecting Queen stuff 10 years ago when I was still a student, and not a lot of money to buy expensive items ... It lasts for about 4 years when it was time to spend my money in "serious" things, like a car or a flat. Now I just restarted buying some disc, particularly 12" singles. I enjoy collecting Queen stuff because I really love that band and items like picture discs, promo singles are among my favourites. I also like very much the design of albums & singles of the miracle and innuendo era (as a french, I just could enjoy Grandville illustration !) and as an example I got 13 different versions of the miracle album (cd and lp). I think it will never stops ... |
| ParisNair 16.03.2010 14:38 |
TRS-Romania wrote: I was thinking about deleting the following 2.39 GB of Freddie material that I havent watched in the last 6 months ... or should I keep it ??? (see screenshot: http://i43.tinypic.com/23lz5gl.jpg ) Delete it.....from the desktop I mean. But first copy it into some folder in the hard drive. You should not save a lot of stuff on the desktop..makes boot up of the computer slower. |
| rhyeking 16.03.2010 15:42 |
I, too, am a collector of song versions: Single Versions Extended Versions Edits Remixes Demos Alternate Mixes BBC Sessions You name it, I probably want it. If I'm in a record store and see a OOP single I don't own, at a decent price, I'll buy it, even if I have the song versions on it (ie, if there's nothing rare about it). There are a few things, though, I have little interest in: Multi-tracks: I know there are people who think these are the greatest things since sliced bread, but I can't get excited by hearing Roger's solo back up vocal or Freddie's piano track all by itself. I understand the value to those who want to dissect the intrumentation of the songs, but my obsession doesn't seem to extended that far. I ask myself, "what would I do with it? Make my own mix? No thanks." Bootlegs: I own a few, but I rarely listen to them. I don't often listen to released live albums, so bootlegs, with questionable quality, don't attract me. Don't get me wrong, I'd buy one if I saw it on the shelf of a used record store, but I don't hunt them down. One tradition I hold to is to listen to (or watch now that I have a bootleg DVD) the 1975 Xmas Eve Hammersmith Odeon concert EVERY Xmas Eve. Collectibles: I don't need the Freddie Mercury action figure or a clock with the Queen II album cover on it. T-shirts are where I draw the line (I was given the WATC boxers years ago, which was cool). I own a few posters I may frame someday. Biographies: When I first got into Queen, in the pre-internet world, I scoured bookstores for biographies. I read a few and then found them repetitious and not informative on the things I really wanted to know, like when songs where written, their inspiration, and what was recorded and unreleased from those sessions. There are some good biographies out there, but I think I'm past needing to read 6 Freddie Mercury bios by different authors. |
| pittrek 16.03.2010 16:24 |
I started to collect alternate versions about 11/12 years ago. I had all of them - extended versions, edits, remixes, BBC sessions, demos ... I've been a real fanatic into this stuff but during the years I moved to concerts. There is something magical about their concerts, so while originally my goal was to get the best concert of each tour, it later changed into getting every existing recording in best possible quality :-) And now I moved to video footage and start properly collecting QPR stuff + solo stuff, so again something else ... But the sad thing is that when I tried now to find some of the demos / remixes / extended versions, I can find nothing . I wonder if the same destiny waits for my concert collection... |
| believe in yourself 45455 16.03.2010 18:54 |
I'm not ashamed to tell that I did buy a copy of the AG ltd ed box and I do buy the single collections. Collecting is a form of materialism. You feel happy when you get what you're looking for. But for us, collectors/materialists, this feeling doesn't last very long so we need to buy something new again and again. Because we will never have 'everything' we want we will never be satisfied with what we have and always look out for more. It's also very human that we want to be surrounded by our 'treasures', expose them, thinking that this is happiness. |
| marcenciels 16.03.2010 19:07 |
NoMoreMrNiceGuy wrote: I'm not ashamed to tell that I did buy a copy of the AG ltd ed box and I do buy the single collections. Collecting is a form of materialism. You feel happy when you get what you're looking for. But for us, collectors/materialists, this feeling doesn't last very long so we need to buy something new again and again. Because we will never have 'everything' we want we will never be satisfied with what we have and always look out for more. It's also very human that we want to be surrounded by our 'treasures', expose them, thinking that this is happiness. i guess i'm not very human... take me to your leaders ? ;) |
| Queenman!! 17.03.2010 04:36 |
TRS-Romania wrote: I was thinking about deleting the following 2.39 GB of Freddie material that I havent watched in the last 6 months ... or should I keep it ??? (see screenshot: http://i43.tinypic.com/23lz5gl.jpg ) Well you could put that on a DVD and share it witth us. It would be great to see those movies again |
| rhyeking 19.03.2010 11:20 |
I read somewhere that collecting is hardwired into most peoples' brians, sort as a hold-over from our hunter/gatherer days, when we'd find something we thought might come in handy or valuable and we'd keep it (and defend it from other people who might want to take it). These days, it takes the form of collecting things related to something which interests us (stamps, 1st edition classics, Queen recordings, model trains). Supposedly, everybody needs a hobby of some sort in order to stay sane, whether it's being a sports fan or collecting coins or researching family trees. |
| marcenciels 19.03.2010 16:40 |
rhyeking wrote: I read somewhere that collecting is hardwired into most peoples' brians, sort as a hold-over from our hunter/gatherer days, when we'd find something we thought might come in handy or valuable and we'd keep it (and defend it from other people who might want to take it). These days, it takes the form of collecting things related to something which interests us (stamps, 1st edition classics, Queen recordings, model trains). Supposedly, everybody needs a hobby of some sort in order to stay sane, whether it's being a sports fan or collecting coins or researching family trees. that is a good way to put it. it makes me think of some of my ex-girlfriens... i was the hobby. only thing is... that would drive me insane !!!...héhéhé.... |
| Winter Land Man 20.03.2010 00:55 |
Jam Monkey wrote: Something I been reflecting on alot recently on why I, and so many others, collect Queen (or other bands for that matter). I'm not talking about the people that collect the albums and a few singles; I'm talking about the serious collectors, the people that go to great lengths to get everything they want to collect. There are many different types of collector out there of course. People like me who want every version of every song, some people like collecting the live shows etc etc. But whatever type of collector you are it's possible you could have a fanatical dedication to your collecting. Take me. Queen released about 20 studio albums, a few live albums and a few compliations. Yet, as of today, I own about 225 separate items. Why is that? Of course some of that is understandable. Any reasonably serious fan will want to buy The Invisible Man to get Hijack My Heart, its a great track, but what about all the other releases? I once paid £75 for a promo CD just because it contains a minnor edit of a track I already had. I've also paid alot for vinyl that contians shitty DJ mixes I don't even like. Clearly something is driving me, and its not the love of the band. I do love Queen, but surely no one loves them enough to pay alot of cash for a minnor edit, which after all contains less material than the album. This situation is made worse by the fact that I know they are many more people who dedicate far more time and money than I do to this hobby. Clearly this is fullfilling some kind of need in us all. I'd be interested to hear your thoughts, if only just to know I'm not alone in all of this. I notice your post is long, and I read the title of it, and maybe the first word of the first paragraph you wrote, but I collect everthing Queen, because it's my favorite band, I enjoy vinyl records, and they have a song for every mood. I also enjoy spending loads of money. |
| john bodega 20.03.2010 12:56 |
TRS-Romania wrote: I was thinking about deleting the following 2.39 GB of Freddie material that I havent watched in the last 6 months ... or should I keep it ???It really depends on how much you want to see Jim Hutton changing a dying Freddie's clothes, I guess... |
