Jon Ordon remembers the first album he ever bought.
The year was 1980, Jon was 12, and David Bowie’s Scary Monsters (and Super Creeps) had gone to number one in Australia.
It was the moment when Joni’s love for music began.
Jon said he would put up records and let himself be taken off.
“It’s the warmth of the sound of a record playing that draws me in,” he said.
“If you sit down and listen to a record on a quality system, your mind can just be blown away… it feels like you’re there listening to live music.
“There’s something about that vinyl sound that keeps drawing you back to the needle.”
Points to try
After leaving school, Jon became a chartered accountant, but music remained his passion.
He began visiting markets looking for albums he could buy.
“I would often buy albums not knowing if I would like them… if I liked them I would keep them, if not I would sell them.
It started as a hobby, but then in 1991, I gave up accounting and entered the world of records.
His world in the record business had begun.
“My dad said, ‘You’re completely crazy!’
“People told me I was dealing with outdated technology because everyone was throwing out records and switching to CDs.
“I told everyone there were other people who had a passion for records and I would succeed.”
Record business
Jon bought his first record store in 1991 in West Ryde in Sydney and started running record fairs.
“I loved being on the road driving around Australia, meeting other collectors, swapping records, buying records.
“I felt like I was part of a 1970s stamp club!”
After owning two record stores in Hornsby, Jon sold and in 2014 bought Revolve Records in Erskineville, which was an institution.
He later called time to own a physical store, packed up his collection and moved to the Blue Mountains to focus on touring the country with his recordings.
Addicted to vinyl
Jon’s passion for records has made him more than a collector; he is a self-described addict.
In his personal collection, which he has no plans to sell, there are about 3,000 albums.
“I have what I call a memory box, records that I bought in my teens that I don’t play often but keep for nostalgic value.”
Jon has alphabetized and categorized his personal collection by genre, of which there are many.
“In my early days, I was into rock bands like Husker Du, Sonic Youth and Big Black; so many memories of playing those records over and over again.
“Recently I’ve started playing more mainstream classical records like the Rolling Stones and Queen.”
In addition to his personal collection, Jon stores about 200,000 records in a warehouse on his property.
“[They are] completely random with some vintage albums, bargain prices to some records that are now in high demand,” said Jon.
Travel to Australia
While music has moved from CDs to streaming, Jon said demand for records remained strong with buyers ranging from those spending as much as 20C to others paying $100 for sought-after albums.
In 2023, the number of vinyl albums sold in Australia increased by 14 percent.
Jon still travels around the country in his white van selling his records at fairs and said since the COVID-19 pandemic, prices for records had gone up.
“Young people are going through their grandparents’ record collection and want to keep them.
“I see a new generation of young people coming into the record; they remind me of me when I was their age.”