Heavy Heads
2015 Battlefield Rd Suit I-18, Springfield
Under $20

Reid’s review:
5/5 You can bring your grandma to this one
Heavy Heads was considerably smaller than Stick It In Your Ear, but somehow much better organized. The lighting as well was pretty cool, and there were rock banners hung from the rafters, which gave a little more character. It’s a hole-in-the-wall type of place, but if those are your shtick, then by all means, go for it. I, personally, enjoyed the experience. First thing that caught me was that the guy running the shop was chatting with a customer about his
desire to make it to a Foo Fighters concert someday. Yes, these are my people. This shop was busy as well, despite its semi-hidden location.
There was a smaller selection at Heavy Heads, but I don’t feel that it can really be compared to Stick It In Your Ear, given its smaller size. The relative diversity in inventory was great, however. The moment I saw Blink-182’s “Enema of the State” on vinyl, I knew that this was a quality shop. I genuinely jumped up and down like the man-child that I am when I found it.
The aforementioned employee was super helpful and friendly, and walked around the store making conversation with customers and offering advice on where to find certain albums. They, too, had posters, records, CDs, T-shirts; oddly enough, psychedelic blankets.
In general, the prices were about the same as Stick It In Your Ear, but again, that varies depending on the rarity of the item in question. The Blink-182 record I mentioned, for instance, was about $25. Which isn’t horrible; that’s about the going rate for a record.
A super rad place overall. I really enjoyed it. Great staff, great music, great store. I can dig it.

Stick It In Your Ear
300 E Walnut St, Springfield
Under $25

Reid’s review:
5/5 Pretty cool place overall
Stick It In Your Ear was actually a super cool shop. For a music nerd, it’s virtually the best place ever. You want a Guns N’ Roses T-shirt? They’ve got ‘em. Green Day poster that takes up half a wall? They’ve got that too. Limited edition record from Sam Cooke? Check. Spider-Man poster? Don’t know why, but you can buy those as well. Just when you think it couldn’t get any better, they throw Spider-Man in. As a Marvel and music nerd, you’ve got to understand that this place is the cremé de la cremé for me.
The layout of the store is OK, but you have to weave around people to get where you need to go, so it’s a little cramped.
However, they definitely make up for that with the racks upon racks of CDs, vinyl records, music memorabilia, posters and T-shirts.
The staff is helpful as well, and the guy working when I went in was stunningly chill. I’m really not sure he had any clue as to what was going on, to be perfectly honest with you. Further making me a fan of him was his music choice: “Drift Away” by Dobie Gray. If you have a question, he can answer it. This is the type of place where you could go in and spend literal hours nerding out about the new Green Day album, and nobody would judge you for it. On the contrary; they would commend you for not listening to pop trash (but y’all ain’t ready for that conversation).
Overall, great store. Prices might be a little on the high side, but it really all comes down to how bad you want those hard-to-find records.