We couldn't save record stores, but goddamn it, we can keep Rex Manning Day alive

Empire Records, the story of some plucky teens out to save their record store workplace from a corporate buyout, is inextricably tied to the mid-’90s culture it tried to capture. As such, it feels incredibly dated in an era where record stores—and, really, non-chain stores in general—have all but vanished in favor of digital media and behemoth, small business-swallowing companies.

And yet, this April 8th, as with every April 8th, we don’t have time to dwell on this. No, today’s Rex Manning Day.

Though we can’t count on people remembering Rex Manning, Empire Records, or record stores, today we fight back against the cruelty of changing times to celebrate the gloriously-maned Manning, played with slimy aplomb by Maxwell Caulfield.

Today, as the world reminds us of how fleeting youth—and the mainstream domination of Toad The Wet Sprocket and the Gin Blossoms—may be, we once again spit in the face of our own mortality by sharing Rex Manning Day memes.

The best of these consist of GIFs meant to remind us of the excellent “Say No More, Mon Amour” video or those simpler days when nobody knew who Renee Zell-wedger even was.

Others, taking the day more seriously, have created elaborate decorations or proposed celebratory practices that future generations will simply have to accept as a given.

Any way you choose to celebrate Rex Manning Day is acceptable because, in the end, it’s only through today’s festivities that we remember how nice it was to have lots of record stores around.

Actually, on second thought, there is one way you must not celebrate Rex Manning Day. See below.

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