Photo by Robin Henson
Eric Levin knew Criminal Records had made it when legendary punk band The Meat Puppets played a 90-minute set in his Little Five Points parking lot just a few years after his store opened. As an Atlanta Police officer rolled by, he took in the scene, nodded, and left them to rock in peace. That was 1994. Now Criminal Records is conquering its 35th year.
To celebrate, the famous store will take over the for a free, all-day, all-ages block party Saturday featuring more than 30 bands across three stages at the store, in the newly revamped Findley Plaza and at Little 5 Pub. T.I.’s son Buddy Red (at 8:30 p.m.) and pop music clown Puddles Pity Party (at 6:30 p.m.) are just two highlights of the lineup.
Fans will toast to the anniversary with a special brew from Creature Comforts, Long Player, featuring the art of R. Land made special for the occasion.
Photo courtesy of Criminal Records
Artwork by R. Land
As Levin gears up for the festivities, he reflects on the store’s storied past. Levin first discovered Atlanta in 1991. He never expected Criminal Records would become one of the city’s biggest cultural institutions. Levin had been running a record store in Florida cheekily called Secret Service Records. Then the actual Secret Service shut him down. Afterwards a reporter joked he should call the store Criminal Records instead. The name stuck.
He had never been to Atlanta when he helped his brother move. Wandering around the city, he immediately connected with Little Five Point’s bohemian vibes. A visit to nearby Fellini’s sealed the deal.
“They were playing Sonic Youth very loudly at 2 a.m.,” he remembers. “I had never heard them play outside my headphones.”
Levin came back a week later and found Criminal’s first spot in Little Five, where Java Lords is now. It was not glamorous, he remembers. Levin lived in the back of the shop. The booming Atlanta hip-hop scene and the birth of grunge rock helped put the store on the map.
“I sold enough Nirvana CDs to keep me alive, but it was a struggle,” Levin says.
When 7 Stages took over the building in 1994, Levin pivoted to a spot with Junkman’s Daughter, an eclectic clothing and gift shop off Moreland Avenue, where he stayed until 2008.
“I remember the counter in the old location was so tall that it was so cool but also a little intimidating as a kid,” says Beth Binford, who visited the shop as a teen with her family and has now worked at Criminal for four years. “The store felt like a record store from a movie.”
Photo courtesy of Criminal Records
Eventually Criminal made its way back to Euclid Avenue. Despite the store’s reputation as a record destination, Levin’s early business was mostly selling CDs and comic books. Offering more than just music has always been part of Criminal’s DNA, differentiating it from other area record stores.
Akira B. has managed the comics section for Criminal for four years and thinks it’s one of the store’s more unique offerings.
“You get an entire experience and can really curate your vibe based on your interests,” they say. “Pair your movies with the soundtrack, find a comic based on the movie you’ve just seen, find a unique band shirt you wouldn’t find anywhere else, and explore the vast local comics [and] music scene we have.”
Over the years Criminal has also built a reputation for hosting intimate shows. Japanese band Boris played an epic, 35-minute song during a thunderstorm. Olivia Dean jammed once. Raine Hood, an employee at Criminal for three years, remembers how she got hooked on The Raconteurs after the band played inside the store.
“It was my first semester of college, and I completely ditched my first class and drove straight to the shop to get a wristband just so I could see Jack White in that setting,” she says. “It was amazing.”
Now Hood is on the other side of the counter and especially loves trading friendship bracelets with Taylor Swift fans who come in on record release days, and bonding with Laufey and Maisie Peters’ fans during listening parties.
But the biggest event the store has ever put on is Record Store Day (RSD), a celebration of record stores with limited vinyl releases that Levin co-founded. He and RSD’s other founders across the country conceived of the idea after Tower Records, an international chain, announced its closure in 2007. It was an auspicious time for record stores, but all the owners who helped launch RSD were successful. Like a sleeper radio hit, RSD took a few years to gain traction after it launched in 2008 on the third Saturday in April. But by 2010, it took off.
“Seth Meyers made a joke on SNL about RSD, and that just broke me,” Levin remembers. “I knew we had done it. Now we don’t have to send our press releases because the media comes to us.”
Photo by Robin Henson
RSD has been a boon for the entire industry, according to Doyle Davis, the owner of Grimey’s in Nashville who considers Levin a mentor.
“It’s a massive shot in the arm financially but also the engagement with customers is off the charts,” he says. “To see their elation at scoring that treasure they waited hours in line for, to having hundreds of people thank you for just doing what you do. RSD — and good record stores in general — bonds the customer, the fan, with the culture in a way that streaming can never touch.”
Criminal has become more than just a store. It’s become an icon of Little Five and the city’s music scene.
When employee Chole Rhoden first came in, she didn’t even own a record player; she bought a Pink Floyd poster. She’s not alone.
“People wander in all of the time like I did the first time with no way to play a record, just a curiosity for music,” she says. “The store becomes a way for them to connect with others and an appropriate place to geek out about their favorite band [or] artist — it’s really wholesome. A lot of first timers gasp when they come in, they expect the store to be a lot smaller than it is, and then they realize just how important music is to so many.”
The Criminal Records block party is Saturday, Aug. 15, from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. The event is free and open to the public.
Artwork by R. Land
