Home Grown: The chameleonic collector with a clean-cut Swedish set-up

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Because every record collection has a story.

Home Grown is our series profiling you lot and your excellent record collections. Taking our cue from the brilliant submissions to the #VFRecordCollections thread on Instagram, we want to share a little of your hard-earned love for vinyl with the world.

Each week, we’ll be profiling a different collector from around the world and finding out what makes them tick. Want in? Send us a pic of your collection and a few words about your collection to [email protected].


Name: Jimmy Myhre

Location: Mölndal, Sweden

Size of collection (approx.): Somewhere between 7-7,500 LPs and 12″s, about 1,200 singles, 115 10″s, 2,200 CDs and 118 cassettes. So many memories of my life within the grooves…

How long have you been collecting for?

That is hard to say but the more intense interest in buying records came in the late ’70s, my brother has always been a huge record collector so I learned a lot from him. I still remember the times we listened to Emerson Lake & Palmer, Yes, Neil Young, Alice Cooper, Kraftwerk, Tangerine Dream etc, all on his hi-fi system. To hear the music on really good speakers was the thrill of my life. If I remember rightly, one of my first records was The Specials, always loved them, and after that the wheels just kept spinning…

What part of your set-up are you most proud of?

Another tricky one, I have been through so many phases, especially during my early years, the first one I can think of is the punk, post-punk, ska and reggae era, that’s when I really started to buy records. Almost at the same time I slid into synth, goth and early new wave.

My Joy Division, Sound and The Cure records always meant a lot for me. I was going through some bad times when I got my first work and they really helped me out. It was alright to feel sad, cold and lonely.

When I got divorced I left my house and moved into an apartment, the first thing I did was to set up the stereo and played ‘Ge Bullen Ett Ben’ with Dag Vag. This song and record also means a lot to me, it puts me in a better mood, it reminds me of my closest friends, and that’s the power of music.

Between the lines of all genres lie some favourites that never die. I collected their records during the whole time. Mike Oldfield, Jean-Michel Jarre, Iggy Pop, Neil Young, The Doors, David Bowie, Leonard Cohen, Yes, Emerson Lake & Palmer, Bob Dylan, Beatles, Rolling Stones, Fleetwood Mac, The Kinks, Velvet Underground.

In the late eighties and beginning of the nineties I was really into indie and techno, and I have some fantastic records by bands like Ride, Slowdive, Smiths, House Of Love, James, Spiritualized, Jesus And The Marychain, Underworld, Leftfield, Dreadzone, Aphex Twin, Autechre, Plaid, Black Dog. I love them all.

From the nineties until now I have merged more and more into a chameleon. There are so many different genres and records, I just love good music. I can’t name them all here so I will only name a few… The Soundtrack Of Our Lives, Kent, Covenant, Apoptygma Berzerk, Boards Of Canada, The Knife, Mogwai, Sigur Ros, Grimes. There are so many superb records, more shelves are needed.

What does your record collection mean to you?

My collection leaves a mark where I am, it helps me to see through time. In some cases it makes me sad or angry but sometimes I find myself standing at the top of the mountain. It’s just like life. Some grooves will live longer than me so hopefully those tunes will pass on to a new generation, new feelings, new things to stand up for.