there are not too many of us here that were buying music pre-cd, i don't remember 8track tapes, but when i started buying music only had the choice between vinyl and cassette. and the home computer wasn't around either...

I was using tapes for ages, all those 5 albums I put down in my first post were tapes and I used tapes for years after that even when things were coming out on cd just cause I couldn't afford to buy originals but copied tapes from my friends onto my own blank tapes. I remember not knowing parts of songs for ages cause songs were cut off at the start or end of a tape.

mine are shocking...

Blink 182 - enima of the state (i was really into the vandals, suicidal tendencies and that kind of stuff for a while but didnt buy anymore albums til this shit)
Marilyn Manson - Holywood
Korn - Life is Peachy
Limp Bizkit - chocolate starfish
Papa Roach - Infest


It's kind of weird how far I've come and yet people my age still think its cool... I'm embarrassed by this stuff - but at least i was about 13 at the time.

I will say that I got a healthy dose of the beatles and annie lennox when i was younger though. I find it a bit odd how some of you have fairly reputable lists for the first albums you purchased.

the spice girls - spice - i was 7/8
the spice girls - spice world - i was 9/10
madonna - ray of light - i was 11
the smashing pumpkins - adore - i was 12
red hot chili peppers - californication - i was 12

Is it odd to think that any kid growing up in the late 1960s wanted Beatles albums? Those albums were must haves.

What about Donna Summer "On the Radio"? You can't tell me seriously that that is a bad record. Really? No.

Also, Abba rocked, hard. Just watch the Abba 1977 movie. I think they were fucking brilliant. Just forgetting the showbiz/hype part of the equation for a moment and just looking at it from purely musical perspective.

I love you.

There was a Spice Girls documentary on TV the other night, and half way through I thought "I should've video'd this for Contre". Sorry it took me so long to think of that.

Pavement have made some great Pop songs.

I partially read a book once where it studied Theodor Adorno's concept of Pop music. The opposite of Pop music being 'Serious Music', as he put it. Pop, being 'popular' (obviously), but in the sense of 'popular song structure'. There's a set structure that a song can be established upon that can be classified as Pop, or a Pop song. Where as serious music, would be, say, Sonic Youth. A band that follow their subconcious, if you want, who have no set structure, or a structure that doesn't necessarly follow a popular foundation anyway.

everyone should read adorno, particularly his essays on the culture industries, such as hollywood and the business of selling culture to the masses, i recall adorno also did make refernce to the then music business companies who were intrinsically tied to the film industry due to cross ownership etc....

This is the only post of yours that I have ever agreed with.

I remember Tumbleweed too. Interesting seeing them mentioned here.

I have never figured out my taste or forced myself to like a certain type of music. Like someone else already mentioned on this thread, I too was brought up in a very musical household where there is still a hi-fi system in every room, my mum and dad played Sardinian folk songs all the time, they sang together at party time, and we always had music coming out from the tv, radio etc etc. Music magazines were a necessity as much as food and shelter. Art-making was encouraged, rather than supressed.

There wasn't a specific type of it that I would listen to at any particular time (apart for a huge crush on grunge in the early 90's).

I thought about this yesterday and it's one of the trickiest things to work out. I went through the pop music phase, indie phase, indie-dance phase, hip hop phase, rock phase, grunge phase, noise rock phase, crude noise phase, apocalyptic folk phase, crooners phase, psych rock/garage phase (to this day one of the strongest musical influences on me), electro, synth pop, world music (I hate this term), soundtrack collector phase, punk, you name it. It's only now that I've completely stopped caring about what music I listen to and just get on with it.

The only short-lived and slightly embarassing mini-phase that I went through is the new age one. It lasted only one album that scarred me for life and was buried in my mind until I read this thread. Buried, you understand, both mentally and physically.

kids these days have it soo easy... my first albums were probably these....

age about 5 or 6

i was too young to actually get the john foxx era

sorry, still a classic!

I don't consider the lieks of Britney Spears and all that tripe as Pop. I don't know what I describe that music as... shit probably best describes it, or synthetic. Pop to me is not a dirty word.

again, still a classic although not as good as scoundrel days

and this absolute "gem"

The whole pop thing really is a gray area, Britney Spears is Pop, also the latest Sonic Youth RR is pop. The meaning of pop really comes down to the person, and that will always change with each individual.

here are some classic singles i owned as a kid...



i still have this as well, not yr reissue crap!

classic! 4ad labels first and only number one single by the way!


i know this is the album cover, i had that too!

and who can forget this classic!!!



i forgot about this one too...


man im off to the attic to find my box of 7 inchers......

Whoa! I must have played that single a million times when it came out. I also really liked 'I Won't Let The Sun Go Down On Me' by him, do you remember it? At the end of the video, Nick Kershaw storms out of a concert hall with all his fans. That is a classic. I like Thompson Twins' 'King For A Day' too. People don't have hair like that anymore.