One of the silver linings of the dark cloud that social media can sometimes be is the interaction between artists and their fans. Even big-name musicians—if they’re game—will respond to select posts, and The Decemberists’ frontman Colin Meloy recently chimed in when one of his fans had a vinyl-delivery mixup that ended up making the fan the owner of not
Her Majesty the Decemberists, but an early-’80s record called Only Theatre of Pain from gothic-rock group Christian Death. 

As 
Stereogum reports, comedy writer T.J. Chambers ordered Her Majesty on Amazon but due to an apparent mistake in the warehouse (or perhaps an Amazon employee bent on spreading the gospel of Christian Death) wound up with a vastly different album. Chambers tagged Meloy and Decemberists guitarist Chris Funk on his Twitter post, and Meloy responded first with a laughing emoji, then with some advice: “That’s actually a pretty classic record. DO NOT RETURN.” 

Chambers came back in agreement, writing, “You ain’t wrong” and vowing to try to get the LP signed by both Funk and Christian Death guitarist Valor Kand.

Best of luck to you, T.J. In the meantime, let’s check out both albums and marvel how technology can bring fans and musicians together to discuss the most random things.

Hi @amazon I ordered a @TheDecemberists LP and you sent me a band called Christian Death’s presumably seminal album “Only Theater Of Pain” so…I guess I’m gonna check it out? cc @colinmeloy @MRCHRISFUNK et al pic.twitter.com/qPBxp7wzVa
— T.J. Chambers (@tjchambersLA) June 27, 2018

that’s actually a pretty classic record. DO NOT RETURN

— colin meloy (@colinmeloy)
June 28, 2018