Is Bop Street the Best Thing in Ballard?

bop%20street.jpg Usually being the biggest of anything is a worthy distinction in its own right, but Bop Street Records’ appeal exceeds the sheer volume of its massive collection of music.

Located on the increasingly trendy Ballard Avenue, the current incarnation of Bop Street Records is two floors, several hundred thousand vinyls, and a small venue all rolled into one mesmerizing venture.

The walls are adorned with the witticisms of hipsters past and present. You can see a loud “Jesse Sykes” autograph right next to a nondescript “Neko Case” to gauge the relative egos and appreciation that come through its doors. Radiohead’s Jonny Greenwood says it’s the best record store in the country, and if you don’t believe us it’s printed on the business card, so there.

Owner Dave Voorhees, unlike other snobby, music geeks that seem to permeate many area music shops is approachable and more than happy to offer advice or guide a visitor towards a recording of choice.

Case in point, Seattlest was eyeballing some crappy, late Zeppelin albums when Dave offered a little, free insight about the magical, hidden, watercolor sleeve on In Through the Out Door that reveals Zeppelin’s desire to spread into corny gimmicks as their career wound down.

As we were tallying our potential purchases for consideration we noticed a DVD of a 1993 Nirvana Concert in Miami. (It’s not all vinyl, CDs and DVDs are available in much smaller quantities.)

We added the Nirvana DVD to our pile and moseyed up to the cash register.

“How much for the DVD?” We asked.

“Tell you what, why don’t you take it home and watch it. Check it out, if you like it great, bring it back if you want. Borrow it or whatever. No charge.”

Talk about service.

Where else can you go to a Mecca of music, get treated warmly and then make off with free loot to boot? No where, that’s where. Only at Bop Street. The best record store on Earth.

Photograph of Bop Street's expansive collection by Krisken from the Seattlest Flickr Pool

Contact the author of this article or email tips@seattlest.com with further questions, comments or tips.

By John in Miscellaneous on October 14, 2008 5:07 PM

Comments [rss]

jwhieger

CODA sucks and so does anyone who denies it.

Troy Morris

It still hurts.

o Sano

that place is a dumping ground for (mostly) awful and some not-so-awful records (majority). the no price tag approach combined with the owner or clerk making up the prices as they wish is plain dumb. all in all, bop street is certainly not the best record store - that goes to jive time and easy street. be prepared to pay a pretty penny for that unauthorized nirvana dvd fool.

zep never made a bad record either. yes, the last two were uneven but "presence" rawks.

Troy Morris

Goddamn, it still stings.

Troy Morris

Shockit,

Honestly, I was expecting some backlash, but I am really hurt by your statement.

It cut deep. I think I'd rather have you threaten my entire family with some sort of horrible, Medieval Disease than suggest Vampire Weekend.

Bravo.... you done well.

Troy Morris

Wait wait wait.

Just because I admitted I could "care less" about Zeppelin, doesn't mean I have ZERO taste.

Plus, vampires are scary.

Shockit

"I could care less about Zeppelin."

Sweet dude, go listen to Vampire Weekend bro!

jwhieger

The last two Zeppelin albums were obvioulsy not the best work by the band. You could feel the '80s pop influences starting to come into play.

That being said, there's some gold on there, but still crappy by Zeppelin standards.

Troy Morris

I remember stumbling across some website that threw up Zeppelin songs and the songs that were eerily similar, and yet, were older....

Personally, I'm prepared for the following backlash, not terribly impressed by the metal balloon.

That's my secret.

They're good, but I have yet to see why I need to piddle myself.

I'm sorry. I feel a huge weight off my shoulders. I could care less about Zeppelin.

Oh, it feels better every time.

Shockit

lol @ "some crappy, late Zeppelin albums". That crap is better than 95% of the music out in today's industry. From here on out, any future music post from Seattlest lacks all credibility in my eyes.

Abbey

I love few places in Seattle as much as I love Bop Street.

The best part of the store is the basement, which is just rows upon rows of shelves of records up to the ceiling. I could have curled up and died a happy girl there amongst all the vinyl.

admiralzing

I also had a good experience my first time at Bop, I purchased both a jingle cats and rick astley tapes. Yes, indeed, they also have an amazing collection of crappy old cassette tapes that can be yours for some kind of cheap price that I forget.

gasstationdogs

Ummm, you lost all credibility at "some crappy, late Zeppelin albums". If you don't know why... jesus, where to start? I can't start.

But you know, hey. Keep going to Bop Street, keep learning.