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.
Leslie Bridges
My first album at age 12 (I think) was Crosby Stills and Nash. No regrets. Still love it and can remember every word though I have no idea where my phone is. Also protesting that alot and bookclub are two words, because that's just dumb.
Anne
I'm with Tres, my first album was the Beatles, Abbey Road. I had a beyond-groovy grade five teacher who introduced us to wonderful music. I remember the luxury of lying on the couch and reading the albums covers. Heaven.
And I bet that Robin Williams album won't disappoint. Be brave.
Heidi Smith
Simon and Garfunkel Wednesday Morning 3 am. I was 5 years old. My next one was Jimmy Hendrix Experienced! Context: I am a baby only. That means I am the baby of the family but was such an oopsie that my siblings, ( all from the same parents are over a decade and even nearly two decades older than me!) Peace, love and summers of ❤️! It is entirely possible my sister conned me so she wouldn’t have to spend her allowance!😂😂
Heidi Smith
Simon and Garfunkel Wednesday Morning 3 am. I was 5 years old. My next one was Jimmy Hendrix Experienced! Context: I am a baby only. That means I am the baby of the family but was such an oopsie that my siblings, ( all from the same parents are over a decade and even nearly two decades older than me!) Peace, love and summers of ❤️!
Marcia
I bought my first album when I was a sophomore in hs. My school had a talent show and my biology teacher had one of the acts come to our class and do his comedy skit. It was Bill Cosby's "Noah" bit and I thought it was the funniest thing so I bought his first album "Bill Cosby Is A Very Funny Fellow. Right" I went on to buy more of his albums, but that was my favorite. As a side note, I've never been more disappointed in someone that I really liked. Sigh
Carolyn
The first album I bought was Ike and Tina Turner Workin' Together. Saved my allowance for months. It has my favorite version of Proud Mary. Love Tina!
Kasia
My dad bought me a Monster Mash album. It had that song and Itsy Bitsy Yellow Polka Dot Bikini, and a bunch of other songs I don’t recall. No idea who sang them or if it was a compilation. I thought it was so cool! The album is long gone, but I still remember the cover art. Sort of. It was light green and cartoony. Ha.
Sue Mitchell
I took my babysitting money and rode the bus to Tower Records and bought Tattoo You and Hot Rocks by The Rolling Stones!
dean
John Barleycorn Must Die -- Traffic
tuffy
Oooo that’s a good one
Leslie Bridges
Excellent!
Tres
My first album was Abby Road. Before the album was my first 8-track by the Partridge Family!
Kimberly
Ask Rufus
—Rufus, featuring Chaka Khan
Susan
I don't think I ever bought a vinyl record though I did steal my mother's Brazil 66 and played it constantly. As a child, I did ask for the jungle book record and memorized Louie Prima's 'I want To Be Like You'. I still know the words to that song so I guess that's my first.
My mom, who's 90, said the first album my father bought was a Liberachi album. My parents played a lot of records-Humperdink, Jerry Vale, Johnny Mathias, and later Neil Diamond. She still has all of them and we still love them, though many songs make us cry. Memories, I guess.
I did buy cassettes and was a member of Columbia House. I think my first purchase was Queens 'A Night At the Opera' which I still have.
Stephanie L Cinquanta
I think you are me except my first album was pink Floyd the wall. Then Billy Joel Piano Man, then Meatloaf. Wish you lived down my street. We'd be friends.
Shauna Henry
Rainbow in the form of an 8 track! I know, it's not an album, but I still love that my first music thing was an 8 track of a band called Rainbow. Not having any idea that it was a Ronnie James Dio band (or who that band was, or what type of music it was) and I loved it! Sure, I bought it with my own money because I was young and loved rainbows, but I ended up loving the music. First actual album, was either Queen, The Game in 1980 or The Muppet Movie (they may have been bought at the same time) when I was 10 years old.
Julie
I laugh when I look back....Mom was trying, I got a Connie Francis album for Christmas as an early teenager. I still remember "V A C A T I O N" in the summertime! Would have preferred the Beatles.....dating myself!
Cathi Kmieciak Carpenter
First album purchased… that’s tough… I remember so many. Growing up in the suburbs of Chicago, there was an AMAZING record store.. Rolling Stone Records. (https://www.rollingstonesmusic.com/ Yes they are still there and going strong!!!)They had an AMAZING $5 bin. Billy Idol,The Go-Gos, Pat Benatar Culture Club, Bruce, Eurythmics, Flock of Seagulls…I surely got them all. Then I interned at two radio stations in college. I was given first pick of cut outs… Cutting Crew, Joe Jackson, Tom Petty, Van Halen…so many. Between my husband’s collection & mine.. well we finally ordered a custom made shelf that will hold the weight & heft of 250+ albums. We have invested in a new turntable and oh my goodness… it’s Heaven. My son got me Elvis live from Hawaii for Christmas and my hubs got me the red and blue Beatles albums. Remixed, more music… but still wonderful vinyl. Long story short… my first album purchased with my babysitting money… I think it is, GULP, the Village People… YMCA. No hate people… I was 12!🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣 and hey.. did I also mention I had an 8 track? I also have an extensive collection of Barry Manilow vinyl. True story.😉
Larry Dalo
I remember walking to the store, about 3 miles, in the spring of 1978. I was 12 years old. I bought Meatloaf - Bat Out Of Hell, and The Godz - Rock n Roll Machine albums. Of course shortly there after Van Halen came out, and it was over for everything else
deneen
My first album was Summer Love Sensation by The Baycity Rollers. I so clearly remember my dad taking me to Sears on my birthday ('75 maybe?) to buy it. I felt so cool. The first album I owned was the one that came with the turntable I got the Christmas prior to that trip to Sears. That album was the soundtrack to the movie Shaft. Something about that is so funny to me.
Frank Busch
The first album I bought was Led Zepplin II. I still have it as well as all my vinyl, CD's and cassettes.
Teresa Chandler
I can't remember the first album I bought. I sold a bunch of my vinyl but I still have a box or two. I do have a 400 disk CD player and wonderful tower Sony speakers with just an 8 inch footprint. (Speakers used to take up so much room!) Most people I know listen to digital compressed files on small speakers. But, play a CD (or record) on good speakers and it comes to life - you'll hear things you never knew were on the recording. It's like seeing out a window instead of through a pinhole.
I know we are visual creatures but it boggles my mind how TV's and screens keep getting bigger and the resolution higher while music and sound gets smaller, more compressed and crappy.
I love reading which albums other folks bought first!
Go see a show! Live music makes you smarter.
Karen
I don't even like high resolution television. ~ karen!