I Saw Santa Using the Mall Employee Service Entrance

It’s the week before Christmas and we’re certainly going through the ringer over here. First the big snow cancelled all our events last Saturday. And just last night all of our lighting went out at once in the main area of our downtown store.

But we’re still hanging in there. DIY till ya die right?

This week Pepperoni picks Primus

“Alright this one’s for all you 90’s freaks out there. This 1993 album by Primus, “Pork Soda” sounds just about as weird as the album title. I’m not sure if it’s metal, funk, punk, or what. You’ve got your funky bass licks and you got a guy rambling on about who knows what and I can hardly understand a word he says. This one includes songs “My Name Is Mud” and also the Christmas hit “Mr. Krinkle.” Enjoy!”

I Need Some Sugar

It is the season when all parents and grandparents come to our stores trying to figure out how to get all these wacked out vinyls for their kids and loved ones. One way to make this easy is a Dumb Records Gift Card! These can be used at either store.

Tonight we have this show going on Downtown

This week Pepperoni picked Twin Peaks

“(Twin Peaks theme plays) Diane… it is 11:30am, Thursday December 10th. We are entering the town of Twin Peaks. There’s a waterfall. 106 miles to Chicago a full tank of gas and a half pack of cigarettes. Diane, if you ever get up this way, that cherry pie is worth a stop. That’s the best cup of coffee I ever tasted.”

Have you sat on Santa’s lap yet at the mall? While you’re there, be sure to check out our tree. They have a whole bunch of Christmas trees at the mall to check out.

I’m Too Young To Know Who Mac Miller Is

We had a Record Store Day Black Friday last weekend, and then a bunch of snow instead of Small Business Saturday. Who needs small businesses anyway, they’re always whining about getting the shaft all the time anyway.

Both stores had the goods and lines. Everyone behaved and made it the best Black Friday to date, good job!

This Friday we have another batch of new releases!
– KHRUANGBIN “The Universe Smiles Upon You II” this is actually 10 new renditions of Khruangbin’s first album! Out on double LP, white vinyl!
– JELLY ROLL has two re-issues for earlier albums “Self Medicated” and “A Beautiful Disaster” out on Friday, black vinyl.
– OLIVIA RODRIGO “Live From Glastonbury” double LP – looks like the records are two different shades of blue!
– A re-issue of the 1981 punk album from GUN CLUB, “Fire of Love”
– Big time punk rock band NOFX releasing the first volume of a new rarities comp, “A to H”.
– MAC MILLER with a triple LP deluxe edition of his 2015 album “GO:OD AM” – there are a couple of different variations but one has yellow, white, and clear vinyl.

Eric Carr’s Pee

Oh it’s that time again. The time when we gulp down our thanksgiving dinner and get back to work on setting up for Black Friday Record Store Day!

Both stores will have the goods. All but a few more minor titles will be at both stores. We’ve publishe a list of titles where we only have 1 copy and which store will have those. Otherwise you can expect to see the rest at either store (assuming it’s still there when you make it in).

Both stores open at 8am. You can start lining up at the mall at 6am. You can start the line downtown whenever you crazies desire.

We will have 50 shirts and 50 bags at each location (100 shirts and 100 bags total). Free for the first 100 in line at either store will be able to snatch one of these!

Also starting Black Friday we will be offering our 2025 Ornaments at 11.99. These are made locally by Jeff’s Cat wife and there will be a limited supply.

This week Pepperoni picked Sublime

“It’s time for another 90’s classic. I’ve already picked Operation Ivy, but it’s time to strike big with another 90’s ska-punk adjacent pick: Sublime. This 1996 album was released right after singer Bradley Nowell had passed away – unfortunately the band could not tour on the huge success of the album. It’s got hits that you all know and love like “Santeria” and “What I Got” however I prefer circle pitting in my living room to the more punk cuts such as “Paddle Out.”

This Saturday we’ll be hosting a real heck’uva reunion show assuming we survive the possible snow. Tickets are available online to help make sure you secure your spot.

I Forgot About Wasabi Baby

This Saturday we’re hosting a listening party for Wicked For Good at the Mall at 6pm. We’ve got lots of giveaways and items you can get with purchase of the album! We’ll have copies of Wicked For Good as well as the original Wicked on hand.

Also this Friday we have this show going on downtown.

Here are the Friday releases this week:

– THE BEATLES boy it’s not often that we have new stuff from THE BEATLES… here they are with “Anthology 4” – rare studio outtakes and more, all songs that have never made it to vinyl.
– WICKED: FOR GOOD (the soundtrack) on double black LP – of course we are having a listening party for this one 6pm Saturday at the mall! There is another (picture disc) version coming out for Black Friday as well!
– AEROSMITH and YUNGBLUD giving us a collaborative EP called “One Last Time” – does that mean they are finally going to give Springfield the concert they’ve owed us for decades??
– A reissue of JERRY GARCIA and DAVID GRISMAN “Not For Kids Only”
– A reissue of KORN’s 2005 album “See You On The Other Side” on double magenta vinyl.
– The soundtrack from the hit 2025 film “Sinners”

This week Pepperoni picked Tears For Fears

“How about a nice, real nice, 80’s pick? This is an album that if an original copy used ever comes in, it’s snatched up off the shelves within a matter of minutes. Every time. Tears For Fears 1985 album “Songs From The Big Chair” is THE album you all crave, that multi platinum Brittish pop-rock duo with the HITS “Everybody Wants To Rule The World,” “Head Over Heels,” and “Shout” (really the whole album is great). It just hit its 40th anniversary and I tell you what this is a timeless classic. We still have a few copies of the anniversary of coke bottle clear vinyl over here!”

We had a good time last week with Nil8, Acid Fog, and Evan VS Michael playing our store! Thanks to all who came and all who are commenting about not knowing it was happening.

I Was the One to Tell Ian Mackaye that the Drummer of Soundgarden gave Fugazi a Shoutout at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame

So much happening here lately! To kick things off, we’re helping BLM-SPI host their food drive, you can drop off non-perishable food items at both our locations through November 21st.

Tonight we have a hardcore show happening downtown

Friday night we’re hosting a rock/punk/metal show featuring the Springfield legends NIL8, marking their first time playing the store.

Here are the new vinyl releases for this Friday!

– TEARS FOR FEARS “Songs From The Big Chair” is getting a re-issue! Out on clear viny.
– JESUS AND MARY CHAIN “Psychocandy” is also getting a 40th anniversary treatment, on fancy gold vinyl!
– GREEN DAY’s 2000 album “Warning” is getting a 25th anniversary pressing, looks like that might be a transparent orange or goldish vinyl of some sort.
– 5 SECONDS OF SUMMER “Everyone’s A Star” I am guessing this is some sort of pop punk band, out on glittery pink vinyl.
– CHEAP TRICK celebrating 50 years as a band and they have a brand new album out tomorrow called “Washed Up”!
– THE BLACK CROWES 1994 album “Amorica” is getting re-issued, on double black vinyl.

This week Pepperoni picked Blink 182:

“What’s my age again? My pick this week is Blink-182’s 1999 album “Enema Of The State.” Much like Green Day, Blink-182 was a band that broke through to big time mainstream success playing their rowdy pop punk / skate punk with lyrics about being a loser and adolescent frustration. This album might have been at the height of their career – it’s got hits like “All The Small Things” and “Adam’s Song” on it as well.”

Chris is once again our pinball champion, getting the top score in the Addams Family pinball contest which wrapped up this week. Here he is showing off his trophies including Dale from our last contest for Dale Jr. pinball.

We’ve also recently added a new pinball to the lineup at our downtown arcade, Genie from 1979.

We are solidifying our plans for Black Friday, here are all the details. First 100 through the line at either store will get either a few shirt or bag. We expect both locations to have all the heavy hitting titles

Brian, Polyvinyl records staff, and Ian Mackaye hanging out in Bloomington recently

Accidentally Scanned My Retina

Our Mall store is now a whole 1 year old. When people ask how long we’ve been there I can now say a year and make them feel dumb. Kinda on brand if you ask me.

Here are the new records coming out Friday!

– HAYLEY WILLIAMS “Ego Death At A Bachelor Party” – the singer of Paramore is here with a new solo album on her brand new label. We ordered a bunch but looks like shipping on this might be delayed, hold tight with us on this one, more copies should be showing up in the coming week!
– WEEZER with their 2010 album “Hurley” being reissued on (black) vinyl – this is one we’ve never been able to get!
– Debut for American singer-songwriter SOMBR, “I Barely Knew Her” we had a couple of requests for this one. On red vinyl.
– The sixth studio album by MIDLAKE from Texas, “A Bridge Too Far” out on exclusive pink vinyl.
– Another one from California hardcore band DRAIN, “Is Your Friend” – on black and coke bottle clear vinyl.
– And finally, this one we had announced a few weeks ago and got pushed back a few times but CHANCE THE RAPPER – “Acid Rap” is getting re-issued out on vinyl for real this time.

This week Pepperoni picked James Brown Christmas

“First of all – I must get one thing straight and that is that we do not actually start celebrating Christmas in the Pepperoni household until December 1st. No tree up before then allowed. However, I must get my holiday pick out of the way for this year now – so you have plenty of time to come to Dumb or Dumber Records and pick it up. This year, I am choosing James Brown “A Soulful Christmas” as my record pick to bring you joy and cheer this holiday season! James Brown had a total of 3 Christmas albums throughout his career – this was the first, and in my opinion the best. You won’t be finding “White Christmas” or “Silent Night” on this one, folks. Nah, James is here with all original tunes like “Santa Claus Go Straight To The Ghetto” and “You Know It”, honestly some of his greatest work – even the classic “Say It Loud (I’m Black And I’m Proud)” is on this. Essential soul Christmas!”

Recently the Illinois Times published that we won Best Record Store and Best Music Store in town. They even wrote this article about us!

Sorry, I Lived

Brian and the Gold Pan boyz

We had a great time at Record Fair last weekend. Well Brian did anyway, I was in an elephant costume at the time scaring people at Mall Trick or Treat.

The big deal about record fair was Mark Kessler’s personal record collection was up for sale, of Recycled Records fame. The event was pretty well attended and we made an offer and brought home the remainder of the Kessler collection after eveyone had a chance to pick out their own records. So yes we did end up with some Recycled Records, we know how you all like to ask about that.

Looking onward to things going on this week, we have the next Goth Night happening downtown this Thursday. Last Goth Night was a huge hit and lots of people came out fully dressed and ready to dance. We expect this to be much the same, plus zombies.

It’s a big Friday with lots of new record releases!
– TYLER THE CREATOR “CHROMAKOPIA” – every mom and grandma was coming in with crumpled up pieces of paper with this written on it last year for Christmas and we never had it, but now we will!! Finally a widely available physical release!
– TWILIGHT: ECLIPSE original soundtrack!! On milky clear and black ice vinyl!
– NEW ORDER gets re-issues for four of their studio albums 1981-1986!! This includes “Movement,” “Power Corruption And Lies”, “Low-Life” and “Brotherhood”!
– Hip hop duo CLIPSE with their album released earlier this year “Let God Sort Em Out” which we were out of copies of immediately is already getting a re-issue. We will be prepared this time, and this one has a bonus track!
– HAMILTON: 10 SHOTS, it’s 10 tracks from the musical! Out on indie store exclusive purple vinyl.
– oh yeah and Rhino’s ROCKTOBER reissue series continues and we will have everything being released Friday as part of it! This includes STOOGES “Alternate Funhouse” and also Warren Zevon’s “Excitable Boy”. I know there’s a ton of ZZ Top coming in as well as part of that.

This week Pepperoni picks Paramore

“My pick this week is PARAMORE and their 2007 album “RIOT!” This is mid-2000’s pop punk gold as far as I’m concerned. Hayley Williams was my celebrity crush in middle school, I had braces and a Paramore sown-on patch on my book bag. “Misery Business” is their biggest hit on this one. Enjoy!”

“P.S. OH YEAH, we WILL have copies of Hayley’s newest solo album at both stores “Ego Death At A Bachelorette Party” when it comes out on November 7th!”

The Addams Family pinball contest is still going till Nov 11, so plenty of time left to get a big score up! Here is our current top scorer, but it could be anyone’s game just yet!

We Need A Wedding August 21st STAT

There’s a lot of stuff happening this weekend! Don’t miss Music Fair happening this Sunday in Riverton! Rumor has it there will be some records there from Mark Kessley of Recycled Record’s personal collection. We know ya’ll will never stop asking us where all those records went. We’ll be there with some of our own records as well

Also this Friday DSI will be hosting a show at our downtown location sponsored by Security Bank. Emily The Band and Ricki Marvel will be playing!

And White Oaks Mall is hosting Trick or Treat on Sunday from 3pm to 5pm and our mall store will be participating.

Here are the new vinyl releases coming out this Friday!
– To our surprise, Mac Miller’s alterego project LARRY LOVESTEIN is getting another re-issue (the first since Record Store Day 2 years ago). (It’s a 10″ record).
– Another hot one from a not-so-distant RSD, the SPONGEBOB SQUAREPANTS MOVIE SOUNDTRACK is being re-issued on yellow vinyl.
– Kacey Musgraves coming out with a fancy white vinyl anniversary edition of “Pageant Material”
– EARL SWEATSHIRT’s 5th studio album that came out earlier this summer, “Live, Laugh, Love” on black vinyl.
– AJR with a re-issue of their debut album “Living Room” on bone and black splatter vinyl.

And then we’ve got a ton of ROCKTOBER re-issues!
– We’ll have plenty of three MR. BUNGLE ALBUMS: “California,” “Disco Volante,” and “Mr. Bungle.”
– MINISTRY “Psalm 69” gets an expanded re-issue (we will have “Mind Is A Terrible Thing To Taste”
– There are a bunch of DREAM THEATER re-issues, the one we ordered the most of is “Train of Thought”.
– Also for Rocktober you can expect some FLEETWOOD MAC re-issues not pictured, WARREN ZEVON, and more.

This week Pepperoni picked Bon Iver

“I think it’s about time I chose this modern classic “For Emma, Forever Ago” by Bon Iver. Yes I know how to pronounce it, I didn’t just walk into a record store yesterday. I do feel inspired by the idea of isolating myself in a cabin and writing my own album. I want to express my longing to eat all the wet cat food I want since these dummies here put me on a diet.”

Last weekend we had a great time at our Peanuts 75 year anniversary Listening Party. We got to hear a curated playlist of Peanuts/Vince Guaraldi tunes officially provided to us by Lee Mendelson Productions. August decorated 50 treat bags with exclusive stickers and goodies for everyone to pick up and it was just a nice time all around.

I Got A Rock

This Saturday at the Mall we have a Peanuts event going on! We’ll have various Charlie Brown/Peanuts/Vince Guaraldi records available plus free stickers and posters!

Also this Friday we have our possibly only Hip Hop Show happening at our store downtown this year. We’ve got a whole new lineup of new up’n comers, pull up.

Last week we had hardly any new vinyl releases, so we’re making up for it this Friday!

– TAME IMPALA are back with their 5th studio album “Deadbeat” and the long awaited follow up to 2020’s “The Slow Rush.” We’ll have copies on exclusive clear and also black.
– THE MINECRAFT MOVIE SOUNDTRACK is coming out on vinyl and we will have copies on teal vinyl!
– THE LAST DINNER PARTY are here with their second album, “From The Pyre.” We will have copies on black vinyl, and maybe a couple of exclusive pink.
– A 10th anniversary reissue for GHOST’s 2015 album “Meliora” out on double slime green vinyl!
– Death metal band MORBID ANGEL gets a reissue of their 2000 album “Gateways To Annihilation” on fancy purple and blue vinyl.
– There are also a large number of releases coming out as part of Rhino Records’s ROCKTOBER series and this time around we’ve ordered all of them! A few notable titles pictured below include:
–Black Sabbath “Sabbath Bloody Sabbath”
–Death From Above 1979 “You’re A Woman I’m A Machine”
–Morphine “Good”
–Type O Negative “The Least Worst Of…”

This week Pepperoni picked the other Minecraft record

“Here we are back with another pick. The Minecraft Volume Alpha soundtrack by C418 has been flying so fast off the walls we can hardly keep up, so I’d say we are ready for Volume Beta as my pick, even though it’s only been a month since the last one! This one is TWO records in one, that’s right four whole sides of instrumental minimalist tracks, the soundtrack to your minecraft playing or probably just good study music or music to read to. Enjoy!”