Good Things

Here's one that has been a long time coming for me. Insted 'Bonds Of Friendship' LP on white vinyl. I can't say that this is my favourite record, or even in the top ten, but it's a record that I have owned for many, many years and throughout all of that time a white vinyl copy has eluded me. Not that it is the rarest record ever, as I know a lot of people who own one, and everyone has seen it before, but this is just one of those records that I was always too late for. I have traded with and bought from lots of people in the past, several of whom were selling their collections, and every time I found someone who had one of these it seemed that they had already got rid of it before I got there. I've also bid on several copies on eBay over the years and always came second. Ideally I wanted one in the shrinkwrap with the 'color vinyl' sticker still intact, but as they say, beggars can't be choosers.

In the end I won this one on eBay. There was one I bid on with the 'color vinyl' sticker that I didn't win, but a week or so later this one appeared and sold for about $100 less. I can certainly live without that sticker for that price.

And just because I can, I decided to take out my red copy for a final photo. I've seen lots of peoples' photos of the white and red together, so this is nothing new, but I was just stoked to be able to take this one myself.

I remember back in the 90s when Kent McClard wrote some piece in 'HeartattaCk' zine about turning 30 and he printed the lyrics to 'Good Things'. It was a pretty depressing read, based around the notion that 30 was old in punk years and the best years were definitely in the past. At the time I thought that 30 seemed a long way away, but I also remember wondering if, like old Kent, I'd still be listening to Insted when I got there. I'd love to be able to travel back and tell my 20 year old self that I'd be picking this thing up on white vinyl for the first time in my late 30s. Ha!