It's cool to find out about a band long after everybody else does.

I got a Wilco record (Being There) last fall. It was cool! I liked it! So I got Mermaid Avenue, and dammit that was cool too! (Never mind how long I've been listing to Billy Bragg, that'd spoil it). So here I am, Wilco is cool and they've got a bunch of records. If I want more Wilco (and I do), there it is, right there. Real Wilco fans have been sweating out the years between releases, but not me. I get it all at once.

This isn't perfect. It doesn't apply to bands that never do become hip (e.g. Opal), because things drift out of print and you're screwed if you weren't there the first time around; either you live without it, or search endlessly and probably end up paying collector prices. Ugh.

But on the whole, I'm out of touch and feeling fine.

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Electricsound: Testify! There should be a Recovering Record Collectors' Support Group: "My name is Richard W. and I haven't read Forced Exposure in five years. I'm taking my recovery one day at a time".

I used to be (until extremely recently) obsessed with knowing about bands before anyone else. Buying that soon-to-be-worth-a-month's-salary 7" single when it was first released. Reading the NME searching for groovy new bands til my eyes and ears bled.

A nervous breakdown and a re-think of the important things in life was all it took to break this obsession.

Now, I'm recovering to the point of hopefully being able to happily say, as wharfinger excellently puts it, "I'm out of touch and feeling fine". There's no shame in being the last to know. At least that way all your hip friends can gain pleasure out of feeling in some small way superior to you.