Q&A Remix With Jack Probst

Today we welcome culture writer Jack Probst

Have you ever bought a record just for the artwork?

Heavens no. I made the mistake of buying a CD in high school based on the weird artwork, and it ended up being a Christian ska band. Never again.

What is your most memorable vinyl buying experience?

A buddy and I spent all day together traversing all the St. Louis record stores about ten years ago. I don’t remember what I purchased or anything we talked about, but the act of walking around a record store with a friend is what I hold dear. Record shopping can often be a quiet, solitary experience, but having a friend with you is rad. I love that feeling when you grab their attention from across the store to have them look at the cool things you’ve pulled out of the racks or you found something they’re looking for so they can both share the excitement.

What’s the first area you head for in a record store?

New releases/new used arrivals. It’s always the perfect place to find gems that haven’t yet gotten lost in the regular racks.

What’s the most treasured album in your collection and why?

It’s hard to pick just one, but I have an immaculate pressing of MF DOOM’s MM..Food with the Sesame Street sample before it got pulled, which I paid a cool $25 for used.

What one record in your collection would you be most eager to share with new friends?

Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy and Tortoise did a covers record together in 2005, which I play my vinyl copy for anyone who will listen. It’s no longer in print, and the only place streaming it is on where someone uploaded it to YouTube.They do a cover of Springsteen’s “Thunder Road” that fucking crushes the original, along with songs from DEVO, Richard & Linda Thompson, Elton John and more. It always reminds me of all the nights it soundtracked my stoned drive home after I clocked out at the record store.

Are you a completionist when it comes to artists? Which artist do you have the most records from?

I used to be before I started moving a lot and decided to lighten the collection. I did it much more with CDs than records, but I have A LOT of Lambchop’s albums on vinyl because Kurt Wagner is a genius.

What is your greatest “score;” could be on value or just rarity or something you were looking for the longest?

I started selling off some rare items on Discogs I never listened to a couple of years ago. Most of that cash went to pay for a belated honeymoon getaway for my wife and me, but I did splurge on a rare red vinyl copy of The Loud Family’s Plants and Birds and Rocks and Things, an underrated 90s indie rock classic.

Do you have a favorite live record?

I’m not big on listening to live music outside of seeing it in person, but I think Sunny Day Real Estate’s Live is a perfect recording I return to occasionally.

Who/what got you hooked on records?

Starting in the mid-2000s, I worked at a record store specializing in vinyl, much of it jazz. During those first few years, I was strictly a CD guy, taking stacks of used CDs and promos home to throw on my iPod. The vinyl bug bit me when I had the opportunity to DJ on the first record store day. It bit me hard, too.

What are your first memories of listening to records?

When I was a toddler in the mid/late 80s, we had an old Fisher-Price “My First Record Player” on which I would listen to Billy Joel records on. I was obsessed with Billy Joel before I could learn to talk. I stumbled across it in high school and would listen to the few records I had then on it. It spun slightly too fast and sounded terrible, but it was all I had for a few years.

What’s your favorite record to listen to on headphones?

Broken Social Scene’s You Forgot It In People is my favorite album of all time by any band. There’s so much atmosphere to that record, bits of conversation caught in the background and left in transitional soundscapes, a time capsule of those early 2000s indie years. It has a sense of urgency that matches the energy of many of those songs. It’s a too-many-cooks situation that fucking works so well.

What genre is most represented in your collection?

Indie rock is probably the broadest term for my collection, but there’s some hip hop, a little folk, some electronic stuff, and, oddly enough, I even have a few records from some of my favorite comedy podcasts.

Tell us a little about your favorite record store.

I’m a huge fan of Grimey’s in Nashville. Their old location was cramped and excellently stocked with stuff I didn’t know existed, and their current shop, built into an old church, is even better. I always find at least ten things I’ve been searching for every time I visit and they always play stuff I’ve never heard of that I have to have. They really know how to play the game that is record store. The last time I stopped in, I’d end up at the counter every time they put on a record, asking what it was and how much.

What’s the weirdest record you own?

I have a record of Vincent Price reading Chinese wok recipes I found in a dollar bin in 2004. I sampled it on some songs I’ve recorded, and it’s a weird gem.

Jack Probst writes sappy essays about music, comedy, and film. His personal essay column, The Bargain Bin, appears monthly at Merry-Go-Round Magazine, and his writing has also been featured in Paste Magazine, CREEM Magazine, Pitchfork, and NME. Send any and all complaints to @jackprobst.com on Bluesky or @jackdprobst on Instagram.