My home cleanout and organizing continues. I am staring down boxes of a lot of obsolete formats like VHS, CDs, cassettes and albums. What do I keep? What do I get rid of? When do you need the hard copy of a memory?
When I was 12 years old I got my first album. I still have it.
The album had a big sticker on it stating you had to be 18 years old to buy it. I was not. Putting on mascara and my best pair of Road Runners wouldn’t convince anyone otherwise.
So Norm, my father, went to the store and bought it for me.
I take a strange sort of pride in the fact that my first album was a comedy album. It make sense for me really. You know. Because I’m funny. I mean, I’m not being particularly funny at this moment but … I can be hilarious if I try very hard and you're just coming out of dental surgery in.
I probably haven’t listened to this album since I was 16. I thought about listening to it a decade ago when Robin Williams died and then didn't. I'm hesitant because I have no idea if I’ll think it’s funny or sad or dated or timely.
I don't think I want to lose the memory I have of it. What if I think it's awful, I hate it, and question every thought I've ever had about everything while I was 12? What then?
Now onto the first music album I bought.
I have no idea how we got there or why our parents let us, but I got my first music album on a trip to Buffalo with some highschool friends. You may notice I’ve spelled highschool as one word instead of the more socially acceptable two worded “high school”. That’s because I strongly believe it should be one word and I am rebelling against the two worded highschool spelling.
I realize I achieve nothing with this protest.
Anyhow, I had a certain amount of money to spend while I was in Buffalo and I’m sure if Betty had anything to do with it I was supposed to buy clothing, shoes or makeup. But I didn’t.
I bought this.
John Cougar, as he was known then, is now John Mellencamp. I was lucky enough to interview him when I was an entertainment reporter. And he was just like I thought he would be; relaxed & rough, with a smoker’s cough and without pretence.
I don't know what the second or the last album I bought was but I feel attached to them. Plus I have a turntable. So even though I rarely play them and when I do I feel like I've just sat down to listen before I have to get up and flip the album over, I am going to dedicate several linear feet of storage to vinyl.
My cassettes will all be given away or chucked. There are a couple rarer ones that I might have transferred to digital. The CDs ... omg the CDs. I worked as a music reporter for a few years in the 90's and I have almost every CD made in those years.
I also have all the CDs I bought myself in the years before and after my time at MuchMoreMusic.
But I don't own a CD player.
And a CD just doesn't have the patina of an album.
So I'm going to go through all of the CDs and just make note of any I remember loving - a Steve Poltz record comes to mind - and then I'll buy it in digital form.
I have Tupperware BINS of VHS tapes of almost every SINGLE time I was on television. There are hours and hours and hours of my life on television starting from when I first volunteered on local cable to the next 10 years of hosting shows, most of them daily.
I'd love to just hand the boxes to someone and say please convert everything and deliver them back with a bag of chips please. Maybe I will. Years ago I did a sponsored post for Legacybox and they really did do a great job of converting stuff for me, but there must be a local place I can try as well. I'll have to look into it.
You know what’s coming now. Now I'm going to ask you what YOUR first album was.
I'm excited to hear the answers.
Terry
My first album was by Neil Diamond, "Touching You, Touching Me". This article sure bought back memories.
My three older brothers were big music collectors so I usually listened to whatever they bought, which was all over the place for the time period, late 60's and early 70's. Good times.
Jenny
The first album I bought was purchased at Sears in Bloomington, Indiana, and I was in junior high school. It was The Beatles’ “Sargeant Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band”. I must’ve played it a gazillion times on my turntable. I took it to my older sister’s house, and her husband let me try out his headphones…and I was struck by the difference in the sound. I thought: “it’s like I’m THINKING the music rather than LISTENING to the music”. It was awesome.
I loved the John Cougar Mellencamp album that you showed, too, Karen.
Thanks for always entertaining us!
Sher
If I recall directly, my first album was the first Monkees one. I think I was 15!
Randy P
The first album I remember I would have likely bought in 1967/1968 when I started mortuary school - Sgt Pepper.
If I were with you now... #1 you'd call the police because an intruder was in your home and #2 I'd suggest that we sit down with your beverage of choice and we listen to Robin Williams together.
Karen
LOL. I first read your comment as the two of us sitting down listening to Robbie Williams, lol. Not Robin Williams. Two very different entities. Maybe while you're here we should also go reading glasses shopping for me. ~ karen!
Randy P
It's a date - and my education continues - had NO idea who or what a Robbie Williams was until a Google search a second ago. I'm thinkin' I'm not in his listening demographic -lol But Robin was, is and will be funny through the ages. You owe yourself a listen even though it will be melancholy.
CB
First vinyl : ABBA greatest hits
First cassette: Quiet Riot Metal Health
First cd: Sinead O'Connor - Lion and the Cobra
First itunes: Amy Ray - Prom
Karen
My first CD was Eric Clapton Unplugged and I just listened to it again (on Spotify) a few days ago. ~ karen!
Katy K
My first album was actually a cassette tape, it was the the soundtrack to The Jazz Singer by Neil Diamond. I was 12 or 13 and it cost $10. That means I had to work 10 hours of babysitting to pay for it! I played until it until it wore out!
Karen
You got your money's worth! ~ karen
Josephine Dubois
I feel like the first one I actually bought myself was probably like New Kids on the Block or something like that... Fun post!
Karen
I'm having much fun reading through the comments/answers! ~ karen
Donna
A mono Meet the Beatles.
I remember reading that John Cougar Mellencamp was his stage name for a while and he hated it.
Joni Peth
Thirds by the James Gang.
Mike Flegle
The first album I owned came as a Christmas gift from my parents, one by Olivia Newton John. I’m sure my dad picked that one. But the first album I bought was ELO’s Out Of The Blue. So good. Then came Steve Martin and Bill Cosby (before I knew what kind of man he was) albums. I’d carry them to my best buddy’s house, where we listened to them while playing ping pong (ok, table tennis) and making snacks in an EZ Bake Oven.
Karen
ELO and the EZ bake go very well together. ~ karen!
Mike Flegle
You betcha! They dovetailed together like Canada and hockey, puppies and smiles, and Cosby and prison!
Dana
H2O by Hall & Oates--I was 11 yrs old so it would have been 1982.
Kelly
Queen The Game
Stef
Frampton Comes Alive! About 10 years ago, I went with a highschool (am I spelling that correctly?) friend to his concert. We both wore big goofy grins the entire time.
Karen
YOU ARE spelling that exactly as it should be spelled.👍🏻 👏🏻~ karen!
Chris
All Together Now by Rolf Harris.
Oh dear - what we didn't know then.
Colin
Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto No.1
I was a strange child.
Auntiepatch
Beach Boys albums were my favorites and my first buys.
My first (and only) concert, was when I took my YMCA girls, in a borrowed van to see Bobby Sherman. I had screaming little girls around me for hours and never went to another concert. I should have received Hazard Pay for that. LOL!
Karin
INXS Decades on cassette. But my first pirated album predated that and was U2 Joshua Tree. Also cassette. The only good thing about the cassette. Try pirating vinyl. Ha!
Arthur J Soles
My first Album was "Miss Peggy Lee sings the Blues" and I still have it, in Digital format now. I wore the LP out!!
Mary
I know I'm dating myself with this revelation, but it was Chicago Transit Authority : )
Michelle R Lambert
The Police - Ghost In the Machine