Early in life, Lars Larsson understood that he possessed a gift for finding records. While other teenagers in his native Sweden were doing conventional teenagery things, young Lars was well on his way to becoming a record dealer, buying up US “cut-outs” (cheap unsold vinyl that US record companies had exported in order to clear inventory) and reselling the titles he liked to friends. By adulthood, Larsson had not only become something of an expert in obscure American soul and funk recordings, he’d launched a successful mail-order business out of his home with a name apropos for his obsession: Record Mania. Since 2001, Record Mania has existed not just virtually but in proper physical form as well, occupying a cozy space on Östgötagatan in the Södermalm district of Stockholm.
