It's been awhile since I put my records back on the shelves. Between listening, DJing, and selling records at flea markets, it's become a huge mess with piles everywhere. I'm still not done. Plus, some of my shelves have started to buckle under the weight, which is why some of the shelves are left bare in the middle.
But here are some alphabetizing dilemmas:
Does a band beginning with a number go at the beginning or alphabetized as if it was spelled out? For instance, the band 7 Seconds might just go before the A section, with all such band names organized numerically. But then I have records by a band called 9 Shocks Terror that sometimes lists it's name as Nine Shocks Terror.
What do you do when an artist changes their name? For instance, do I keep all my Johnny Cougar, John Cougar, John Cougar Mellencamp and John Mellencamp records together under M, or put his early stuff under C? This sounds silly but I once got into an argument with someone who filed his Los Crudos records under L and his Crudos records under C (it's the same band). Of course the second problem with this is that Los means "the" so I would just ignore that when alphabetizing them anyway.
I would file a solo artist under their last name, so Leonard Cohen would go under C. How do you treat a band name that includes a person's name? Should the Jim Carroll Band go under C or J? What about the Jimi Hendrix Experience or the Dave Clark Five? What about rappers? Would you file Vanilla Ice under V or I? What about MC Hammer? M or H?
What about band names that are a person's name but isn't the name of any of the performers? I file Lynyrd Skynyrd and Tommy Tutone under L and To respectively but I've seen it done under S and Tu.
Discuss! Any other organizational dilemmas?