It was generated based on the modern engine of the time. If you’ve heard anything about vinyl record history, or if you own a record player, you probably know about the three standard speed settings: 78, 45, 33 1/3. It created a war within the music industry-the War of Speeds.

The announcement of a new vinyl record to be played at a new speed cannot be understated. The War of Speeds: Shifting From 78 RPM to 33 1/3 RPM One drop and the record would smash into a hundred pieces. Its natural resistance to moisture is what made it first popular among music records and was known as the “natural plastic.” While easily scratchable, it did have one downside. This resin-like substance is scraped off and dissolved in bulk quantities to be reshaped into the disk record. These tree-dwelling bugs secrete “lac” which hardens and cakes onto the tree.

Fun Fact: Shellac is made from the female lac bug.

They changed the way music lovers would enjoy listening to their music forever. To go from a record holding two songs, one on each side, to holding a full-length album? That’s why vinyl records hold such prominence in the music industry. World War II ended just two years ago, and people are still enjoying their music at home one 5-minute song at a time on their 78 rpm shellac records. To understand why this is mind-blowing, you’ll need to glimpse into the world one year prior… Forty-two minutes of (almost) uninterrupted music!? Is your head exploding yet? It used microgroove plastic to extend a 12-inch record’s playtime to 21 minutes on each side. In 1948, backed by Columbia Records, the first vinyl record was introduced at the soon-to-be standardized 33 1/3 rpm speed. Though invented decades prior, vinyl records weren’t popularized until Peter Goldmark came around in 1948… Sayonara Shellac and Viva Vinyl That doesn’t mean you should start replacing your piping with your old vinyl collection…

Fun Fact: Depending on the creation process, polyvinyl chloride (or PVC) can be turned into PVC piping or vinyl records.

Material scientists were constantly innovating with these synthetic polymers that seemed to outperform wood, stone, leather, ceramic, metal, and glass in various respects. It is made from ethylene (crude oil) and chlorine, and its creation was part of the plastics boom in the early 1900s. Reeling back to “what is vinyl,” vinyl is a synthetic plastic called polyvinyl chloride. And before vinyl was shellac and before shellac were gigantic cylinders made of zinc and glass. What is Vinyl?Ĭalling records “vinyl” is much like calling a fence “wood” or a surfboard “fiberglass.” Vinyl is the material the record is made of. To gain some humility of this fact, we’re doing a deep dive into the history of vinyl records. Imagine that for a moment: before vinyl records and record players, you couldn’t listen to what YOU wanted to listen to.

Before that, people were just playing the radio. No, record players were the first iPod they were the first Walkman they were the first device that allowed music fans to sit at home and listen to the music of their choice. Record players are not just vintage CD players that older people and hipsters have in their living rooms. History Buffs and Music Aficionados gather around, for today we are marrying the two subjects in harmony-the history of the vinyl record.

Frosty 33 rpm