The bargain bin

Ah, the bargain bin at the independent record store, it's like a graveyard for hair metal cd's or maybe it's more like the land of misfit toys from Rudolph. You really have to look sometimes, but occasionally in there along with stuff like Right Said Fred and the soundtrack for Super Mario Bros. will be a metal cd just waiting for a dinosaur like myself to grab it. At the store I go to, the bargain bin's high end is $4.99 and then the prices go all the way down to the other end at a whopping $.99. I don't buy too many $4.99 because they don't seem to be ones that are hard to find and chances are these will be here for a while because most cheapskates like me are looking for the real bargains. Sometimes you can search the whole alphabet and find nothing, but sometimes you find some treasures of sorts. Now the $.99 section is probably the hardest section in which to find anything worthwhile, but on occasion you hit the penny pinchers jackpot. Just the other day I found Michael Monroe's Not faking it in that very bin. Not the greatest album in the world, but very much worth paying just a little more than what you would pay for a candy bar. Most of the cds I buy from the bargain tend to be hard rock more than metal or speed metal. I have actually never seen a lot of mid-tempo metal or speed metal in the bargain bins. I am not sure if that is because they sell more easily so they go for higher prices or if it's because their owners hold on to them longer than the owners of hair metal stuff. You don't find a whole lot of real rarities, but I have a found a few out of print of items. Little Caesar's 1990 debut is probably one of my favorites that I found in the bargain bin, it cost me a whole $1.99. I was very proud the other week when I came away with four cds and it cost my less than ten bucks including tax. The bottom line is that I am thankful for the bargain bin and I hope former metal fans keep selling their cds so I can snag them for a few bucks a piece.