#3 About CD Shelves
Do you have a CD shelf?
In this day and age of streaming, I buy far fewer CDs than I used to. I only occasionally buy albums by my favorite artists or music that isn't available on streaming services. Even so, back in the day, the only way for us to listen to music was to buy or rent CDs, so a shelf to store them was a necessity.
I'll briefly introduce the CD shelf I've collected from my student days, when I was obsessed with music and started digging for CDs, up until the point I was struck by the convenience of Spotify. It's like a mirror reflecting who I am.If you're a geek, be particular about your 'stuff'!!! Long live physical media!!
The full view of the CD shelf
I bought this CD shelf itself at Tower Records. I remember seeing the actual item on display and falling in love with it at first sight. A nice feature is the groove at the front of the shelf, which allows you to display CDs facing forward, just like Tower Records' recommended CDs.
1st to 2nd shelves
The first and second shelves are the Western music section. The ratio of Japanese to Western music is about 8:2. I have them arranged from A to Z, from AC/DC to ZEBRAHEAD. Placing Aphex Twin's 'Richard D. James' there creates an unnecessary sense of tension. I also arrange them based on the excitement of having seen them live, like the Oasis B-sides collection or Swedish House Mafia, who made their first visit to Japan at GMO Sonic 2025. And then there's our youth, Slipknot,If you're going to wear the T-shirt, listen to the music too (old man rant).
In the remaining space, there are some rare Maximum the Hormone goods (elegant), the lip sunglasses from the telephones I introduced last time, ULTRA JAPAN sunglasses stacked on top, and oolong tea from the Michelle Gun Elephant exhibition—what kind of music do you even like?
3rd to 4th shelves
This is where the Japanese music section begins. They are arranged in Japanese alphabetical order. The Asian Kung-Fu Generation tribute album features cover art by Inio Asano of Solanin—very stylish. I basically like Japanese rock, like Ellegarden and Number Girl. I also like louder stuff like coldrain. I've liked Kinniku Shojo Tai ever since I saw them on the late-night music show POP JAM when I was a kid. As I get older, I hope to become like Oken or Mukai Shutoku.
5th to 6th shelves
Sakanaction, SiM, group_inou, Hanuman, FACT! It's a good, genre-less lineup, isn't it? In particular, this group_inou release is an album that was distributed last year in 2025, and the CD was limited to live venue sales or mail order. After all, I want to own the music of my favorite artists on CD.Inou-san, please do more live shows, I beg you.
7th to 8th shelves
Buddha Brand, Boom Boom Satellites, HEY-SMITH, Maximum the Hormone, Ling Tosite Sigure. This is just the music I listen to! Naturally. I go to HEY-SMITH and Hormone shows whenever I can, and I love shows where mosh pits and stage diving are the norm.
Intent to kill and kindness intersect, and we turn into particles (The Mosh Pit Particle Theory).
9th to 10th shelves
This is the final section, and it's just completely chaotic. What I can identify is, uh, CDs by Ryoichi Yamada and After Soul, a bonus music source for an Oasis purchase, a mini-jacket for RADWIMPS, a Kaiyodo AKIRA figure, music magazines like Rockin'on Japan and GiGS, and non-standard sized music releases, etc... I've been meaning to organize this place better, but it's been like this for a long time.
The CD shelf is packed, and so are the T-shirts...
I've given a rough overview from top to bottom, and I'm pretty much at full capacity. As I mentioned before, the amount of CDs I buy has decreased due to streaming services, but I still buy them here and there. I might buy an additional shelf, but I need to move house before that because the place is packed too. Oh yeah, I also have a lot of band T-shirts, and they're overflowing from the metal rack...
Hey nerd... it's fine to be particular about your stuff, but think about your capacity.