Do gold or platinum records really play?

Do gold or platinum records actually play or are they just props? If they actually play, are they the actual albums of the labeled artist, or someone else? The answer...

[jlATcairn]

I think I read somewhere the Beatles took their first gold record out of its frame and played it...and it was the Rolling Stones.

[BangBang-hkrg]

I heard Kurt Cobain broke open his award record for “Nevermind” and it was actually a classical music album.

[masontbm]

for anyone wondering, the record is "heist of a century" by la the darkman. on the third track titled, "i want it all", he's saying, "ho*s, cess, best guests, vortex and black timbos"

[johncicci]

No requirement on it being their actual record . This has been done since records were awarded. Many of the time they'd just take any scrap stock and stamp the right label on it after it's been plated. It's simply just an award to commemorate sales of a record album or single. One artist said his 1970 hit album fell and broke so he played it just for sake of it . Turned out to be an old Homer and Jethro album which wasn't even on his record companies label. Just stamped with his label on it.

[ChandlerHWhite]

You're an absolute legend for doing this. I've literally Wondered for half my life if they actually played

[lARl]

When the disc is better than the turntable lol

[equinox]

Violent J of insane clown posse tried to play one of their gold/ platinum albums and said that it was actually a Motley Crew album.

[aliwantizu]

I did some work for a guy who was in the music industry and he had maybe 10 gold and platinum records (I guess they are given to people who had a certain level of involvement with the record that went gold or platinum, ) and he said that every time he got one, he played it, and none were the correct album. He said he always had them reframed with the actual album (front and back, ) and something of his from when that album was made (such as notes he wrote when the album was being recorded and produced, or something given to him by the artist or group, ) so that's why he always had it available to be played. Apparently they just use old unsold albums laying around and turn them gold or platinum. They're intended to be displayed, not played, so it didn't matter to the RIAA what was actually used. He did say that a few artists such as Prince allegedly requested to have the actual album used, but he also said that could have just been a rumor.

[gregoriusu]

I always thought for the earliest "gold" records (which might have been White Christmas sung by Bing Crosby), that the company just got a worn out "mother" positive (from which no usable stampers could be made), gave it a quick gold plating (less than a dollar's worth of gold but very pretty), labeled it and handed it out. These days a lot of records go from master acetate to stamper without intervening father and mother stages, ensuring a limited edition pressing.

[DavidLee-rxuo]

I worked in a record store as a teenager. Gold records hung on the wall. I noticed albums with 4 songs aside where the gold plated had 6 or 7.

[TheIndependentLens]

I knew that the record itself would not be the actual record that is certified gold/platinum, but I was surprised that it played anything at all. I thought the coating would completely make it inaudible.

[Irapa]

Lil dude is just happy to be involved lol

[seanstewart]

I think it was in "Riders on the Storm", the Doors drummer's autobiography, that he mentioned one of their gold records didn't look right to him. The number of tracks and their lengths were wrong. He peeled back the label and it was a Rod McGowan album!

[thinkbolt]

I used to scan and clean up record labels for a guy who sold mock-up gold records to restaurants and clubs. He would spray paint any old record gold and put a laser-printed label on it. After that, I assumed the "real" gold records were the same.

[JohnMartin-cdqm]

Second song you played was La the Darkman "I want it all" Released 1998 lol

[twangology]

finally putting the record straight...

[DavidBrown-zpbr]

The best part about this is that he's using the turntable equivalent of a dumpster fire to play it

[JCSAXON]

I had a two-song, one-sided 7” released on glass before. The results were a bit dodgy but each copy was uniquely screen printed & quite limited

[gamerboygang]

Absolutely love Bruce’s enthusiasm, he was just waiting patiently impatiently😂😂

[MartinAston]

Interesting it actually had music ! LoL
…although if it’s an older one, back then any record being recycled could be used for this purpose, just needs the dip/paint job.
These days they simply just have blanks that don’t play at all. Some Artist have had actual ones made of the real metals ! Unfortunately they play like crap cause the needles aren’t meant to read metal and also the groove details aren’t as fine.