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

Posted on November 13, 2025 by blacksheepspringfield

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

Posted on November 5, 2025 by blacksheepspringfield

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

Posted on October 29, 2025 by blacksheepspringfield

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

Posted on October 22, 2025 by blacksheepspringfield

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

Posted on October 15, 2025 by blacksheepspringfield

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!”

I’m A Lobsta From The Wata

Posted on October 8, 2025 by blacksheepspringfield

It’s Showtime, we now have Addams Family pinball available for play at our downtown store!

Also recently the Record Store Day Black Friday list dropped. We are ordering all of it as usual and will be splitting it all up between our 2 stores. Hope to see you then.

This week Pepperoni picked Bad

“I’m BAD! I love to puke on the carpet after I’ve just got done trying to eat all of the plants in the store or house, scratch up all of the couches as bad as I can, and knock all of the pens off of the counter. And almost as bad as me is Michael Jackson on his 1987 album, “Bad”. This was the follow up to Thriller, and it’s got “Smooth Criminal” and some other hits on it.”

Records? I have it on DVD

Posted on October 2, 2025 by blacksheepspringfield

Another car show weekend was had downtown last weekend. There were many cars.

Speaking of events, coming up we have this very very very very very very very very good country punk/shoegaze/indie show happening downtown on Sunday. Everyone who has seen Dusk when they have performed here in the past have fallen in love. Not to mention a rare treat seeing Attic Salt, a very great artist form Cinci Maura Weaver and the hot new band Holy Moly Angels. Not bad for 10 buck-a-roos.

Also coming up is another loud show happening on Monday

This Friday has some huge releases with Taylor and KPOP Demon Hunters, Wowee!
– TAYLOR SWIFT with her 12th studio album “The Life Of A Showgirl” – we will have copies on “sweat & perfume portofino” vinyl (orange glitter) and also CD at both stores. (crossing our fingers that these show up in time, it could be a case where they show up during the day tomorrow)
– KPOP DEMON HUNTERS (original soundtrack from the film) this has the potential to be bigger than Taylor! If you watched it you know.
– AFI also with their 12th studio album, “Silver Bleeds The Black Sun” and we will have copies on black vinyl.
– Rhino Records’s ROCKTOBER series kicks off tomorrow and we’ll have releases trickling in throughout the month. Just a few are out tomorrow including SEX PISTOLS “Never Mind the Bullocks…” and DEEP PURPLE “Live In Japan.”

This week Pepperoni picked Buckingham Nicks

“Comin’ at ya with another pick later on in the week! Fleetwood Mac “Rumours” remains our #1 top seller of all times here at Dumb Records and has been just about since we opened 12 years ago. Fleetwood Mac has an extensive catalogue covering a wide range of genres, starting out as a blues rock band in the late 60’s. But if I had to pick any album that I would highly recommend to fans of Rumours… it would have to be this one, “Buckingham Nicks” which was the only album the duo of Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks, released in 1973 before they joined Fleetwood Mac. This album had not gotten a proper re-issue since the 70’s, and also had been unavailable online before now! Come out to Dumb and snag a copy!”

Just Watched KPOP Demon Hunders And I Do Now Understand

Posted on September 24, 2025 by blacksheepspringfield

We had a blast at Vintage Fair last weekend!

Tonight this Loud show is happening downtown.

Here are some of this Friday’s vinyl releases:

– CHANCE THE RAPPER – we’ve never been able to get him on vinyl before now! Now there’s a 10th anniversary pressing of “Acid Rap” coming out, and we’ll have it in both stores!
– BRIGHT EYES are here with a new 8-song EP called “Kids Table EP”- Two re-issues from Pearl Jam related project MOTHER LOVE BONE. Their albums “Apple” and “Shine” are finally going to be available!
– NEKO CASE is here with her 8th studio album, “Neon Grey Midnight Green”! We’ll have it.
– A fancy neon green reissue of ROB ZOMBIE’s “Hellbilly Deluxe” is out, for a limited “Record Store Day Essentials” release.
– Last up there’s a new one from rapper singer songwriter DOJA CAT called “Vie” and we’ll have it on vinyl!

We are taking pre-orders for the new Taylor coming up soon. We’ve already put in an order for a metric ton of these!

This Sunday we have another loud show happening here. Also it’s Car Show Weekend so downtown will be filled to the brim with classic cars if that’s something that floats your boat.

a few pre-opening photos before things got real crazy last Sunday at VINTAGE FAIR

Chicka Chicka Cherry Cola

Posted on September 17, 2025 by blacksheepspringfield

Today marks twenty years since the first ever show at The Black Sheep Cafe on September 17th, 2005.

The Black Sheep all ages show space continued until the end of 2018, which is when we packed up all of our things and headed downtown and vowed to continue the mission of providing an all ages shows space to the youth of Springfield, just all under the name Dumb Records. While what Black Sheep started as is completely different than the space we have downtown today, this still marks twenty continuous years of all ages shows (maybe with a break for a pandemic somewhere in there).

This Sunday is Vintage Fair! We’ll have vendors setup in the alley by our downtown store. Springfield Vintage will also be joining the fun with vendors setup in their shop as well.

Here are this Friday’s hot new vinyl releases!
– BUCKINGHAM NICKS originally released in 1973 and not ever re-issued until NOW, the long awaited re-release of this Fleetwood Mac affiliated project. Out on light blue vinyl, pink vinyl, and a should have a couple of the half-speed mastered version on black vinyl as well.
– NINE INCH NAILS with the “Tron: Ares” soundtrack! There are actually two variations to this, one black vinyl and the other on white.
– The sixth studio album from North Carolina indie-rock band WEDNESDAY called “Bleeds” out on black vinyl.
– A re-issue of the all time punk classic from 1982 “Milo Goes To College” by DESCENDENTS. Out on marbled grey vinyl.
– A new album from CARDI B called “Am I The Drama?” on indie exclusive blue and regular black vinyl.

This week Pepperoni picked the Rolling Stones

“Good morning. You can’t always get what you want here at Dumb Records, but sometimes if you try some times you just might find you get what you need, and that really is a copy of “Let It Bleed” by The Rolling Stones on vinyl. This 180 gram pressing of their 1969 hit album, I can’t think of another band that has been active a whole 63 years, they sure have been long overdue for a pick from me! Plus this one opens up with one of my favorite Stones tracks “Gimme Shelter!”

Something cool this week, we had a visit from bands “The Thing With Feathers” and “The Band Feel” which includes the drummer from Greta Van Fleet.

Talking Eraserheads

Posted on September 11, 2025 by blacksheepspringfield

Well last Saturday we had our most attended and craziest listening party to date with Twenty One Pilots. We had 100 wristbands and posters to give out which we thought was way more than necessary, but after over 120 people came through we were out of everything. We also might have got in trouble with the mall for having too many people in our store and being too loud, sorry.

Yesterday Pepperoni turned 7! Folks came in and wished him happy birthday and at least one handmade card was presented. For folks who don’t know their Pepperoni lore, 7 years ago he wandered into our original location and never left. He’s been running the show ever since.

Here are your Friday Releases!
– TWENTY ONE PILOTS and their eighth studio album “Breach” – is actually being released tomorrow even though we had the advance listening party last weekend! Yes we will have copies available for sale, most of them will be the blue smoke indie exclusive vinyl!
– LED ZEPPELIN have a “Live EP” coming out!?!? Going along with the 50th anniversary of “Physical Graffiti” this consists of (four) songs from that album performed live in years 1975 and 1979.
– A re-issue for the 1995 album by JOHN PRINE, “Lost Dogs + Mixed Blessings” out on black and also popcorn flavored vinyl.
– A 50th anniversary pressing of Grateful Dead’s “Blues For Allah” – available on green vinyl and also picture disc!
– ED SHEERAN has his 8th studio album out, called “Play”. There are a bunch of different variants for this, we ordered three different kinds.

This week Pepperoni picked a Minecraft record!

“Heyyyy all you Pepperoni fan’s. Do any of my followers out there play the game “mine craft?” I am just now finding out about it. It’s a computer game where you play with blocks and they came out with a movie about it this summer. Well, apparently some people like it. Or if you like ambient music, think Brian Eno, you might like this. (This is apparently music from the actual game, not the movie soundtrack). (The movie soundtrack IS coming out on October 17th on vinyl and we will have it).”

We also just stocked new shirts at our Downtown store for all you loud music enjoyers

this show is happening downtown on Saturday, also for you loud music enjoyers