Taking the piss: When novelty vinyls go too far
The world of modern vinyl records is a fascinating one. To be a vinyl fan in the 21st century was once to be an anorak whose obsession with the past bordered on outright conservatism—no matter how many first-edition Crass singles you had framed on your wall. Today, though, it’s not only a link to the past but also an avenue for some genuinely creative stuff. Jack White is obviously the shadow looming large over any discussion of modern vinyl and for very good reason.
Third Man Records is the company known for premiering their co-owner’s single, ‘Freedom at 21’, in 2012 by attaching 1000 copies of the flexi-disk to 1000 helium balloons and launching them into the atmosphere. They also released White’s last album as a free gift of unmarked white vinyl with every purchase in late 2024. More significantly, they have also released a number of slightly worrying “liquid-filled” records in their time, a stunt that has led to enough copycats who saw that bet and decided to raise the stakes somewhat.
Specialist labels like Romanus, Atomic Fire, and especially Bad World have whole back catalogues of limited edition vinyl records filled with questionably coloured solids, liquids, you name it. There’s the Sonic the Hedgehog soundtrack vinyl filled with gold rings that look like oversized Cheerios or the Mortal Kombat soundtrack filled with “blood”. Prior to these, the reigning champion of the stomach-churning stakes was Bad World’s release of the Saltburn soundtrack with a vinyl filled with…“bath water”. Those who’ve seen the movie know what I’m talking about.
However, it’s one thing to have a liquid that looks like human bodily fluid, it’s quite another for it to be the real deal. It’s rare, but this truly gross phenomenon has happened before. For the 2012 edition of Record Store Day, The Flaming Lips released The Flaming Lips and Heady Fwends, a collaboration record with quite an incredible guest list. Bon Iver, Erykah Badu, Kesha, Nick Cave, Yoko Ono and many more turned up to cut a track with Wayne Coyne’s psychedelic explosion.
What made these vinyl records so weird?
This is a cool thing, whatever your opinion on the band. However, within this limited-edition vinyl release, there was going to be an even more limited run of the record for a very, very good reason. This vinyl came with a liquid centre, and I’ll let Coyne himself explain the details, as he did on MTV Hive. He said, “What I’m going to try to do—and I’m collecting stuff for it as we speak—is I’m going to try to make a record that has every person’s blood in the record… I collected quite a few vials of blood, and it’s actually sitting in my refrigerator as we speak.”
Needless to say, a short run of about five copies of this edition was produced and not put up for regular sale. Being instead auctioned off to, in Coyne’s words, “interested rich Flaming Lips people”. With this level of caution and exclusivity around the record, it stands to reason that this is 100% real. However, mind-bogglingly enough, an Australian punk band, Private Function, took the “gross vinyl” crown off the Flaming Lips’ head in 2023.
Upon announcing their third album, the catchily named 370HSSV 0773H, the band announced that a limited edition “gold” run of 50 vinyls filled with gold liquid will be available for purchase. This run immediately sold out, and then the other shoe dropped. The band posted a reel to Instagram of each member of the six-piece band emerging from a bathroom with a container of, well…gold liquid.
The caption presumably gave 50 Private Function fans the ultimate buyer’s remorse, which stated, “Congratulations to the 50 people who ordered the ‘gold’ version of our new record, you just bought a liquid disc full of our piss. We worked with local legends @saltydog.records to build the world’s first piss filled record, it turns out it’s really hard. Please don’t use our DNA to commit crimes.” I mean, credit where credit’s due, I guess, it’s memorable.
However, I can’t help but think that anyone who’s bought these records doesn’t realise the worst thing about owning them. Anyone who has owned any kind of liquid vinyl will say the same, and especially if you own that Private Function album, you really must know this. There is only one thing you can count on a liquid-filled vinyl to reliably do, which is…leak. Best of luck!
