Wow! What a Record Store Day 2011 at Amoeba Music! And there's still a couple of hours left. "Today has been a total and complete success. Totally awesome and insane and busy. I haven't seen anything like this before in the nine years I've worked here. It certainly seems like the biggest Record Store Day we've had, Xmas-style busy all day," said Rachael from the Hollywood Amoeba at 6:30pm this evening, when things had slowed down a bit but by no means come to a close for RSD 2011.

The same was also true for both the Berkeley and San Francisco Amoebas, where people in line earlier today included such folks as the guys from SAVE KUSF and musician Jeff Glave, who was interviewed by Audra (see video below).

At each store Amoeba shoppers lined up outside from hours before opening this morning, jockeying a spot in line to cop some of the approximately 300 exclusive and rare RSD 2011 releases. What set this year's RSD apart from previous years was not just the volume of releases but the musical diversity that appealed to a broad cross-section of Amoeba customers.

Since it was launched just three short years ago, Record Store Day (RSD) has grown by leaps and bounds in terms of both record stores and record labels participating. Beginning in 2008 the first RSD tallied 300 independent record stores across the US, including all three Amoeba Musics, among its retail participants. Back then the number of exclusive RSD 2008 releases amounted to a total of ten special edition records being released. Fast forward to this year and the number of special RSD 2011 releases was approximately 300 with approximately 1500 record stores participating -- and no longer confined to the US. There are now RSD-rocking stores in 20 countries overseas, too, in Europe,  Japan, and Australia. In each of those countries today, as well as here at the three Amoeba stores, it was the special RSD 2011 releases that seemed to be the main attraction for attendees.