Grand Rapids Community College Library Circulation Specialist Kevin Lyons and his brother, adjunct English professor David Lyons, have been collecting records for the last five decades.
The brothers’ collection started when Kevin was 11 and Davd was 9. Growing up in Jackson, the pair got inspiration from bands the neighborhood kids were listening to like Black Sabbath and KISS.
“We fell in love with it,” David shared after saying this was music the boys typically were not allowed to listen to. “Not because it was a sense of rebellion, but because it was a sense of ‘well, look at what these older kids can do.’”
This inspired the brothers to make their first vinyl purchases in 1979, both buying single pressings, or 45’s, of live music. Kevin began his collection with “Copacabana” by Barry Manilow and David with Melissa Manchester’s “Don’t Cry Out Loud.” When Kevin hit high school he would buy his first full length album by the same artist.
“(My brother and I) heard the song called “Very Strange Medley” which is a medley of all his commercials, State Farm and Burger King and things like that,” Kevin explained. “So I was like, ‘we don’t have that on a 45…’ So I bought the album for that.”
Their love of music spanned the decades, and as long as vinyl was in production the pair kept collecting. Today they’ve gathered a total of 50,000 records made up of about 25,000 single pressings and 25,000 full length albums.
The brothers live together in a house lined with records and record players. David has turntables scattered throughout his bedroom, living room and office, and Kevin remains loyal to an all-in-one record, CD, cassette player and radio that he purchased from Best Buy 20 years ago.
In the ‘80s when vinyl began to fall off and CDs and cassettes took over Kevin began to collect other physical forms of music while David stayed strictly with vinyl. However, despite spending nearly 30 years working in a library, Kevin never got into collecting books, saying that they “make his eyes burn.”
Miraculously, in all of their years of collecting, the brothers have never once argued over a record.
“We had a plan from the start,” David said before detailing that the pair would go back and forth with who bought what. “… We had this sense of equity and equality from way back when we were boys which was a miracle… It was always the two of us, it was something we did together, and there was something magical about that.”
Their collection has albums from all different genres and to catch up on the 200-300 unplayed records that Kevin has, he spends his weekend catching up on music. With his favorite genres being pop and country, recent releases such as “Good Riddance” by Gracie Abrams and “Gag Order” by Kesha are next up on the older brothers must-listen list.
However, Kevin hasn’t always gotten records so close to their original release date. The 1981 record “Foxy” by Susan Anton was originally only released in Japan and it would not find a spot in his collection until 2021.
A five-year search went into finding his favorite album as well, as Kevin looked and looked for the self-titled Betty Buckley vinyl before finding it at the University of Michigan for just $1.99, “I would have paid like $50 for this album because I wanted it,” he said.
For David it took nearly 30 years to find Janet Jacksons’ debut album “Janet” and about the same amount of time to find “Emotions” by Mariah Carey.
Their collection holds rare records like the last Ray Charles album “Genius Loves Company,” which only had 500 pressings made upon first release, and a picture disc pressing of “The Lion King” as well.
Both brothers are alumni of GRCC and like to keep their record shopping local, according to Kevin. Some of their favorite spots are Grand Rapids area stores such as Vertigo Music, The Corner Record Shop and Vinyl Alchemy. Kevin noted that major retailers such as Target, Barnes & Noble, Walmart and Urban Outfitters have started selling vinyl in recent years as well.
Owner of Vertigo Music, Herm Baker, has known the brothers for 25 years now because of their collection and described the pair as motivated by “chart topping and academy award winning artists” with a “voracious appetite for new things.”
Their purchases come from the goal Kevin and David have set as they continue their collection, aspiring to own all single pressings of Billboard Top 40 pop hits from 1955 to 1989.
“The ‘80s we probably have all the Top 40 hits except for maybe a couple, the ‘70s are probably missing maybe 15 or 20,” Kevin said before adding that they’ve also started to collect the top hits from the ‘40s and ‘50s.
Reflecting on their collection, David described the unique feeling of growing up with music and how the way that someone hears a song and its meaning may change with age. He enjoys listening to an artist’s entire discography from start to finish to see how they have changed and evolved.
“Now that I’m older in life to be able to go back and listen to the nuances in their story, in their storytelling, or in their songwriting that we didn’t (pick up on) those lesser songs we didn’t really pay attention to when we were boys,” said David.
The brothers encourage anyone interested to begin their collection, and through their work with GRCC students they have been able to share their love for music and inspire others.
“You’ve gotta buy (records) that you’ll listen to over and over again, ones that somehow fulfill part of your heart,” said David.
