Knowing When to Give Up Being a Completionist/Variant Collector?

[DecayToDeath]

I have discography OCD that I'm too lazy to act on. I feel incomplete when I don't have all of it, but if it's not a necessity, I'll use restraint to hold off on it. 

 

I see the appeal of variant collecting, but I've never had the interest in it. I sometimes hunt down particular presses for the stupidest reasons (recently got the B2B variant of Weezer's Blue Album just because it doesn't have the fucking MoFi stripe on the top) but I'll pick one and stick to it.

[just a normal guy kevin]

I can get anxious when I find myself beginning to hoard, so I get a certain satisfaction from getting rid of things and de-cluttering.  I also don't listen to many bands who release 15 variants of each album.  Safe from the completist compulsion...for now.

[itsgoodtobefree]

If I tried to collect every variant of an album/single I would go insane (and probably poor). 

 

It pretty much boils down to this for me: will I listen to it?

 

Sure, I have a few albums that I bought for silly reasons like nostalgia or because they looked cool, but If I look at it objectively, if I'm never going to listen to it, it is going to be a waste of money. I mean would you rather diversify the music you own or the color of the records you own? 

[ThisIsHans]

I'm down with discography collecting.

I'm also a Self Defense Family/End of a Year collector, so I'm a masochist.

[throughbeingcruel]

...or just plain hoarding.

No offense to anyone but the variant game has always seemed useless to me. I see no use of storing a back-up copy as I don't plan on ruining any of the LPs on the shelf. Granted no one does but during my years I've only had one record ruined due to leaving it unattended for the cat to DJ. Learned from that mistake and won't make it twice.

The true rationalist in me has trouble justififying buying all this 'unecessary' plastic to begin with so variant collecting to me would simply be insane. Plus, with the length of my wantlist, I imagine it would take 5-7 years to amass half of what's on there. Don't even want to think how long it would take if I were to collect variants as well. When you can barely afford to have a single copy of everything you're looking for, why go for variants?

I can have a look at other variants online if I ever feel the need to but I only truly 'need' one copy spin and appreciate an album. I'd still like to consider myself more of an appreciator of music than a 'collector' but in all reality when some stuff two-three years old is already just sitting there you start questioning the necessity of getting it in the first place.

Personally I go for discographies myself but I have a serious problem with preferring coloured (if there is any) over black and always choose the variant that works best with the artwork and/or vibe I get from the album. Even then, I can definitely sense the collector impulse taking away from appreciating the music when an unfortunate black LP somehow lands in my possession and I immediately feel the need to hunt down the one matching the artwork and get rid of the black one. Feels quite idiotic really.

I try to instill into myself the (very true) notion that I am very lucky to be able to collect my favourite music in physical form in the first place, which is enough to quiet the insane collector in me.

/another Abe Simpson VS clouds rant

I was referring to the discography thing as appreciation. Even if a band puts out a record that isn't totally up to par, I'll still grab it to keep the collection complete. I don't see that as hoarding. Now, if i bought every variant, the cassette, and a CD copy, that would be hoarding.

[twatay]

Variants are for the birds.

[causeforalarm]

For the most part, I only buy different variants if the artwork is different.

[CaptainHerbalLife]

I was referring to the discography thing as appreciation. Even if a band puts out a record that isn't totally up to par, I'll still grab it to keep the collection complete. I don't see that as hoarding. Now, if i bought every variant, the cassette, and a CD copy, that would be hoarding.

 

Ahh, yes. And I wasn't calling you in particular out on it, more-so the act itself. I was referring to the fact that when I usually buy a record out of a discography completionist impulse, lesser albums might usually just sit around for a long time until I actually feel the obligation to give it a spin instead of just having it sit on the shelf. And such a behavior pattern, in my book, pretty much borders on hoarding. But it's a fine line

 

I've just grown to be more critical of my vinyl habit and tried to find a different sort of reasoning, to only buy stuff I know I'll still enjoy years later.

[dapeebs]

Then, my entire collection and 2 turntables were completely destroyed in a flash flood.

fuck dude. That's awful. This really makes me want to get an insurance quote for my collection...

[Shitty Rambo]

I'd argue a lot of people are still balls deep into variant collecting, just look at how many friggin' repress threads there are on the first couple pages of this very board.

[Fowty Dollaz]

I'd argue a lot of people are still balls deep into variant collecting

I like how this sentence makes 100% sense though the two things are (hopefully) unrelated.

[slushy]

For the most part, I only buy different variants if the artwork is different.

 

This is my take on it too. I'm down to pick up international pressings or tour editions/reissues with hand painted/screen printed jackets. Or if it's a repress with updated artwork that I think looks better.