This is one for the oldies. Young people will probably find it funny/weird.
With the access to music these days (streaming and downloads) to me itās taken away a lot of the excitement I had about music when I was a child and a teenager going to record shops and choosing and buying a record.
I loved music from an early age and so did my sister. We used to sing songs together all the time. Whatever was currently popular. Some were and are cool songs. I remember singing Life on Mars (Bowie) with my sister when I would have been about 7. Some were a lot less cool and a lot more embarrassing - anyone of you Brits remember the Bay City Rollers? We sang them too.
But I loved going to record shops, spent all my pocket money on records (vinyl) and buying an LP was a lot of money for me as a kid so it was a big thing.
Do you still have your old vinyl and remember your first purchases?
If so, would you still listen to them?
So here are mine:
1st LP (12"): Killer Queen by Queen
Yes, I still have it.
Yes, I still listen to it and love it. It has a Ā£2.49 sticker on it still. What a great investment! That was around 1974. A good first buy I think.
I started buying singles later. My first single was Watching the detectives by Elvis Costello.
Still love it and still listen to it. Probably bought in 1978(?) again a good investment.
Iāve still got about 9 linear feet of vinyl records that date back to the 70s and 80s, although Iām not currently set up to play them (thereās a turntable hiding in the basement, biding its time ). I also have a goodly number of CDs (and still occasionally buy new ones). I rarely if ever bought singles because the economics of a record with only two songs never made sense to me.
Honestly canāt recall the first album I ever bought but I believe Elton Johnās Donāt Shoot Me Iām Only the Piano Player (1973) would have to have been among the earliest.
I first bought a turntable and started to collect records in 2021. Of course, I did not expect it to become a hobby of sorts, but itās too late to complain now. Fast forward c. 4 years and I have 200+ records, both 12" and 7", used and new, in my collection.
I bought my first 3 LPs on the same day back in 2018 - call that anticipation. They are new pressings of Bringing It All Back Home by Bob Dylan, Songs of Leonard Cohen and Relaxinā With the Miles Davis Quintet.
I started to buy singles in 2022. According to my notes, I bought 2 Hungarian singles on the same day: Kƶtƶde / HullĆ”m-reggae by GM49 and Ballada a fegyverkovĆ”cs fiĆ”rĆ³l / Snuki by Omega.
Actually, Budapest has quite a few record stores so itās easy to do some crate-digging or just look around to pass the time. Iāve also bought records in Berlin, Vienna and Krakow. One of my favourite purchases was Berlin by Lou Reed in Berlin.
I gave all my vinyl away to a charity shop a few years ago, however, i still remember my firsts:
First 7" single: Paul McCartney & the Frog Chorus - We all stand together
First 12" single: Bon Jovi - Livinā on a prayer
First LP: Now Thatās What I Call Music volume 1
Bummer for me, my turn table is broke. Good thing for me is I can go listen on the www.
1st album was George Harrison, All Things Must Pass.
A 3 record set.
I got it from the local head shop that had all the good records. Bootlegs, import Beatles on parlaphone and stuff. Plus the head shop in the backā¦ A very unique store in my downtown in 1972.
I gotta get me a new turn table. That album is sitting out with the rest of my Beatle collection.
I think thatād be āHelpā.
That was near my earliest memory of rock and roll exposer. I listened to Help on my porch with the neighbor girl. She had the record, I had the armstrong tonearm potable phonograph.
My mother hated itā¦
1st lp Moody Blues - āOn the Threshold of a Dreamā a classic and I still play it, I was 12 when I got it. First 2 singles Jimi Hendrix - Voodoo Chile and Dave Edmunds Rockpile - āI Here You Knockināā both Xmas 1970
Forever Your Girl by Paula Abdul, 1987 maybe. I still have it, by the way. And itās the only vinyl I currently own and have ever owned.
Not that I donāt like vinyl. When I got into music as a kid it was during the cassette era. Iād love to get a record player and start collecting vinyl. Problem is, thereās no room in my house for it, nor time to enjoy it!
My very first album was a Christmas gift from an aunt and she had no idea what to give me as I didnāt even know who this band was as I was only 5 or so.
)
). I also have a goodly number of CDs (and still occasionally buy new ones). I rarely if ever bought singles because the economics of a record with only two songs never made sense to me.
