Vent: the guy at the record shop in Portland refused to sell me a Nirvana CD because I was "part of the problem" | Canceled Culture Check - Thought Shares
Vent: the guy at the record shop in Portland refused to sell me a Nirvana CD because I was "part of the problem"
I was at Music Millennium on Burnside about 6 years ago and I picked up a used copy of Nevermind for $8. The clerk, guy named Dale, looked at it, looked at me, and said he couldn't sell it to me because buying it would keep the "corporate machine" alive. I just stood there holding my $8 while he rang up the guy behind me for a $60 Grateful Dead bootleg. The thing that stuck with me is how fast a canceled band turns into a rule for who gets to buy the thing they made. Where's the line between boycotting something and just gatekeeping the people who still want it?
That line about "canceled band turns into a rule" is exactly it. I ran into the same thing at a shop in Seattle when I tried to buy a used copy of In Utero, and the guy gave me a lecture while his own store was packed with $40 reissues. If the store doesn't want your money, buy the disc online or hit a different shop, because the clerk's guilt is not your problem to carry.