Top Five Records Bought For A Dollar (or less!)

By Katrina Randell
All photos by Matthew Armstrong

I love records. I love buying campy records at thrift stores, the Sally-Anne, or places like Toronto’s Neurotica records. Below you will find my top five favorite records that either me or my fiancé purchased for a dollar, or in some cases, less.

5. Styx, The Grand Illusion

Come sail away? Yes please! This weird mix of ballads and soft rock makes this album well worth its 71-cent price. Did you know that Styx was accused of recording Satanic messages by Tipper Gore’s PMRC in the 80s? Me neither! I guess “coming to sail away” = “going to the devil’s house to get high on meth.”

4. Phil Collins, No Jacket Required

This is one of the first records I ever got on CD when portable CD players were the size of today’s laptops. What I failed to notice at the time was the gross sweat dripping off of Phil Collin’s nose. What’s up with that? I guess he could REALLY feel it coming in the air that night. (ZING!)

3. Billy Joel, The Stranger

I’m pretty sure Billy Joel was still drinking heavily when he recorded this album. The cover should speak for itself.

2. Van Halen, Self-Titled

Seminal rock & roll! A true classic.You can’t be a true music lover if you don’t love this record. I should have included a photo of the back cover with Diamond Dave curled backwards into the strangest position. He looks like a sexy pleather-panted snake. Hiss hiss, baby.

1. Al Jolson, “Rainbow ’round my shoulder” and “Rock-a-bye your baby”

We found these two records at the Salvation Army on Bloor Street near Landsdowne (one of the most multicultural areas in the city). I think we bought them because we couldn’t believe A) someone had kept them all these years, B) they are ridiculous, and C) we’d just watched the Sarah Silverman Program episode where she is in blackface and we found the whole thing very amusing. Sometimes I can’t believe these are real.

So there you have it. Who says you can’t have fun with five dollars anymore?