While I was home on break, I was helping my mom dig some old decorations out of the attic and stumbled upon some of her dad’s old records. We found piles, and I mean piles of Bob Dylan records, which were occasionally interrupted by other albums. Some of those were original Beatles albums from 1965, albums from Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, and a live album called No Nukes from 1979. I have a small collection of older records, which include a U.S. 1967 press of Pink Floyd’s The Piper at the Gates of Dawn, along with records from Big Brother and the Holding Company, Jefferson Airplane, and some newer presses of many many many different albums. I am a huge fan of collecting old records. They have a mystique to them that makes me wonder about their original pressings and leaves me amazed at the wonders of vinyl record players.
Opening up some of the records I found left me fascinated. Deja Vu, the 1970 album by Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, contained a sleeve decorated with Atlantic Records’ many artists. I stared in wonder at the vintage, colorized record sleeve and ingested the old smell and dust that came with it. I have been listening to the album digitally for years, so seeing it in person was an awesome discovery. The Beatles’ album had a similar sleeve with a vintage Capitol Records ad with all their signed artists as well.
The coolest find was definitely the No Nukes live album. It was a live performance in 1979 at Madison Square Garden. The front says “From the Muse (Musicians United for Safe Energy) concerts for a non-nuclear future. Madison Square Garden. September 19-23, 1979”. The concerts featured artists, Bonnie Raitt, The Doobie Brothers, Jackson Browne, Chaka Khan, Bruce Springsteen, Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, and many more. At the concert, Bruce Springsteen delivered a historical performance, with many of his fans regarding it as one of his best first appearances.
However, some performers at the concert did not make it to the album. Reggae musician Peter Tosh wore Palestinian clothing during the concert, expressing anti-apartheid ideas, which got him removed from the album. I find this album incredibly inspiring, especially now in 2025. It seems that some things never change. Musicians are constantly generating energy and putting it towards a response to something bad or something that could change things. The use of nuclear weapons is unfortunately still relevant. It is all happening right before our eyes. This album has given me a push of hope in a time where I see more and more people losing theirs.
Music is a driving force of hope, and humanity will always need hope. Charity concerts and events like “No Nukes” will always happen. There will always be a need to respond to struggle or make a change. That is what makes humanity beautiful. Our art gets directly involved, and then inevitably preserved in records, CDs, and videos. We have to keep humanity in the heart of music, attend charity shows, and use or elevate our voices. That’s why collecting old records means so much to me. I get to see a response to whatever the world was like at the time it was thrown at the artists who made the albums. There is something about physically looking at a copy of what things were and the hopes of what they would be.
