Friday, August 24, 2007

25 Years of CD Memories

In his nod to the 25th anniversary of the compact disc, Oneman confessed that his first cd purchase was Genesis by Genesis.

Yikes.


I was late to the compact disc marketing gimmick revolution because I was poor farm boy and because my dorm-mate's cd player failed to wow me. And the idea of abandoning the portability of my trusty cassette/Walkman combo troubled me.

My roommate took a curious approach to the format change. He asked his folks for a cd player for Christmas and his father replied with the tautological challenge, "What do you need a cd player for? You don't even own any CDs." So my buddy ordered 12 CDs for a penny from Columbia House.

Take that, pops!

And the first CD out of the box, his first CD, was The Best of the Doors. Strangely -- and people are strange -- another of my very best friends also got The Best of the Doors as his first album. Neither of them listen to the Doors anymore.

Another pal doesn't listen to his first CD purchase either. Rather than start his collection with a 12 disc bang through the tried and true combination of Columbia House and mail fraud -- young people "stole music" long before anyone heard of mp3s or Napster -- he bought just one disc to go with his brand new stereo system. And did I mention that his stereo didn't have a cassette player? So my buddy spent two months trapped with Guns N' Roses' Appetite for Destruction. To this day, even mentioning Sweet Child O' Mine causes flashbacks.

My first CD purchase was the poorly produced ... And Justice for All by Metallica. I had already worn out at least one cassette tape of that album, but it took the digital fidelity of compact disc to truly appreciate the utter absence of Jason Newstead's bass from the mix.

Your first CD confessions are welcomed in the comments.

7 comments:

ArchPundit said...

1987 I believe was my first CD Player--a Pioneer single disc unit (I sold stereos so the equipment was very important too) It had the best D/A converter amongst the mass produced CD players of the time.

I'm trying to remember the first discs I bought--

Nebraska--Springsteen
Generation X-Kiss Me Deadly
John Mellencamp--Lonesome Jubilee
And something I cannot remmber

Soon to be followed by XTC, REM, the Cure, and 10,000 Maniacs.

Unknown said...

I think my first CD was either Metallica's black album or Pantera's Cowboys from Hell. What a contrast there. One group going harder and less commercial and the other one going softer and hitting it big.

Close behind was SRV's Texas Flood and a Hendrix compilation. After years of hearing these with a quarter on the stylus it was nice to no longer hear the warping thanks to ordering from Columbia House in the summer months.

But you'll be glad to know I only own 1 REO CD - a greatest hits compilation. I'll share if you like... ;-)

OneMan said...

Yikes?

Come on, it isn't a bad album also the K-Mart in Dolton didn't have huge selection.

I have to admit, I do have the whole Genesis catalog on CD from Genesis to Revelation to Calling All Stations...

OneMan

Anonymous said...

Gustav Holst--The Planets. CSO, I believe.

Bridget said...

I *think* it was Jane' Addiction Nothing Shocking. I was stuck on tapes for the longest time.

Haha, OneMan, Genesis!

me said...

I technically have still never bought my own CD player (unless you consider the Mac CD drive or my car's CD player)... I always just used someone else's until I got married and then got to use my wife's as my own. ;)

We mostly only use it at the holidays for some Vince Guaraldi or Bing Crosby.

Boy, first CD?... Have to jog my memory there. It was probably either REM - Green or INXS - X (maybe even Live Baby Live). Can't recall.

I came by all my cassettes thanks to Columbia. I think they're collecting dust at the back of a closet somewhere.

So-Called Austin Mayor said...

I share Oneman's pain of being at the mercy of the K-Mart music department.

For instance, our local Special K filed the "British Steel" album under "Priest, Judas."

Yeesh...

-- SCAM

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