My Mad Music Corner: Chicken Zombies, or (The Obvious Virtue of Patience)

There are always those times when it sucks to be a collector, especially one in the Internet age, when the attitude of "get it now or never" is amped up to an even further degree in spite of the exponentially increased availability of pretty much anything. The decision to purchase my first copy of Thee Michelle Gun Elephant's excellent 1997 album Chicken Zombies resulted as one of those short-sighted decisions. In my defense, and the defense of many who make this mistake, it was the only available option within my demands at the moment (i.e. having the obi), and I had no clue when another opportunity would surface. (It did quickly afterward.)

My first copy of Chicken Zombies was an ex-rental CD, a bizarre concept to the West, but one that held sway for a while over in Japan. While we had rental shops for movies and whatnot, Japan had those as well, but there were also music rental shops. The reason this concept didn't carry over to the West is simple: the copyright holders of our music are paranoid, short-sighted, money-grubbing weasels. This short article will give you more information on the industry than I possibly could, honestly, it's a very interesting read.

But numerous problems manifested in grabbing an ex-rental, as they always do to the total dismay of a collector (unless you're in the VHS collector scene, where they're seen as badges of honor)-- the obi had irremovable stickers, the liner note booklet was destapled, with all but two pages of the liner notes gone, the CD was scratched and stickered, and the jewel case was covered in stickers, with just about every component of the jewel case cracked to some degree for good measure.

I felt defeated, and like a short-sighted idiot. The CD ripped surprisingly fine, at least. It worked until I could find a better, complete copy, with an unmolested obi.

Cut to a couple weeks after getting my rental copy and sure enough, a better, complete copy, with an unmolested obi, shows up on Buyee, for about the same price I paid for the first copy. I snatched it up in a heartbeat, and frankly, it's beautiful. Let that be a lesson to you fellow collectors-- if it seems like one in undesirable condition is your only choice, wait and see what pops up later, and don't forget to keep tabs on other channels to keep looking for a more desirable alternative.