# What is the 1st album you bought? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [May 4, 2000, 6:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-1st-album-you-bought/18536 "2000-05-04T06:37:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Olentzero](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/90ced4/32.png) [@Olentzero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Olentzero)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2000, 5:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-1st-album-you-bought/18536/61 "2000-05-05T05:23:04Z")
If memory serves, it was a copy of _Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band_ at the age of 9 or 10. Before I misdate myself, let me say that was around 1978. My sister got _Switched-On Bach_ around the same time. My album collection never got very big - I remember having some Spike Jones reissues and both Men At Work albums. (I still like 'em, too.) My first CD was a Scott Joplin collection; once I discovered the wonderful universe that is Tower Records my life was never the same. My first collection of CDs was stolen in a break in (and I still wonder what store would have bought my album of Swedish nursery rhymes) but I rebounded. Still just as esoteric and I love every one of 'em. ---
**Author:** ![Profane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/e47774/32.png) [@Profane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Profane)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2000, 5:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-1st-album-you-bought/18536/62 "2000-05-05T05:23:59Z")
My first album was Duran Duran 'Arena’in 4th grade. I blame my older sister for being a bad influence. My first CDs were NIN ‘Pretty Hate Machine’ & New Order ‘Technique’ in 10th grade. ---
**Author:** ![smilla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/48db29/32.png) [@smilla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smilla)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2000, 6:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-1st-album-you-bought/18536/63 "2000-05-05T06:26:33Z")
I can’t remember how old I was, but my first CD was DePeche Mode’s “People are People”. I still like to skip to “Everything Counts” when I’m feeling disillusioned and want to feel even more disillusioned. ---
**Author:** ![Pez](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/5e9695/32.png) [@Pez](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pez)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2000, 12:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-1st-album-you-bought/18536/64 "2000-05-05T12:40:36Z")
Hi everyone The first LP’a that I owned were Quiet Riot’s Metal health and Slade (can’t remember which one) both in good old ‘83 and the first LP I bought is Iron Maidens’ Run to the Hills (still rocking, although don’t listen to them much anymore I like their old stuff but the new stuff stinks). The first CD however, was (I hope) Raindogs by Tom Waits around ´89. Tom Waits is God. Now, to continue: what was the first .MP3? hmm, let me think: The first thing that I didn’t encode myself was I think Titties & Beer by Frank Zappa, love that song. Pez ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2000, 12:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-1st-album-you-bought/18536/65 "2000-05-05T12:51:38Z")
The first tape I bought was Led Zeppelin IV, when I was 12 (I think) but the first CD I bought was the Bad Examples Cheap Beer Night. They’re a local pop band from Chicago. Some of the best damned straight-ahead pop you’ll hear. As for Wendy Carlos, she’s still around, as far as I know. In the 90s she put out Switched-on Bach 2000, complete with synthesizers tuned to pure major and minor scales, rather than equal-temperment. (Although I think the intonation changes on the record.) ---
**Author:** ![Germ\_Boy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/85e7bf/32.png) [@Germ\_Boy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Germ_Boy)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2000, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-1st-album-you-bought/18536/66 "2000-05-05T14:54:41Z")
Thank you for your answer puly. Wendy is still very active in the biz and does a lot of producing, etc. I still remember feeling disoriented as he became she and I had to piece it all together. I musta missed the press release. My son is buying his own CDs now and his first was the Matrix soundtrack. At thirteen he has a long road ahead; i need to let hin read this thread to realize that early music choices may have long term impacts. The Germ ---
**Author:** ![DVous\_Means](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9fc29f/32.png) [@DVous\_Means](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DVous_Means)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2000, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-1st-album-you-bought/18536/67 "2000-05-05T16:49:23Z")
First ever album: “Night Moves” - Bob Seger & The Silver Bullet Band. I bought it on impulse after hearing the title track on the radio. It’s still a bloody good song, even after all these years. Much of today’s resampled, recycled, devoid-of-musicianship crud doesn’t even come close. ---
**Author:** ![cygnus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e0b2c6/32.png) [@cygnus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cygnus)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2000, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-1st-album-you-bought/18536/68 "2000-05-05T17:21:04Z")
Vinyl, when I was about 8, John Denver’s “Back Home Again” (very big with my cousins and me at the time). I can still remember walking out of the record shop (yes, it really was, and in my little town there was only one) clutching it in my hands and feeling as if I’d just crossed an important threshold. I’d listened to my siblings’ albums and 45’s, but never had one of my own. When I got my first CD player about 10 years later, my first two discs purchased on the way home from the store were both Rush - “Farewell to Kings” and “Moving Pictures”. (Still among my faves after all this time.) ---
**Author:** ![MissMonica7](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e36b37/32.png) [@MissMonica7](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MissMonica7)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2000, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-1st-album-you-bought/18536/69 "2000-05-06T22:51:29Z")
The first CD I ever bought was Pearl Jam’s **Ten** , when I was in 9th grade, '92. Still a favorite of mine. First cassette tape that I ever had (bought for me, however) was Bon Jovi’s **Slippery When Wet** ('87). Had several 45’s bought for me too, including Madonna’s “True Blue” ('86, I believe), where the record itself was made of clear blue vinyl. ---
**Author:** ![elelle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f0a364/32.png) [@elelle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elelle)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2000, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-1st-album-you-bought/18536/70 "2000-05-07T01:01:15Z")
OOooo… I have to come clean! When I posted, I really did think I was 11 when I bought Frank Zappa’s “Apostrophe”. But upon retrieving the album; still have it( yay!) the little voice of remembrance made me look. “Apostrophe” came out in 1974, and I was 13. So that’s when I bought it, with my own cash. And , I had never heard of Mr. Zappa. I do-really- remember coming across the album in a local department store, and seeing the cover, which was a close up of Frank’s mug, thought " This is a guy I want to hear!" Still pretty decent for a 13 year old girl! And I proceeded to get every record I could find by him afterwards. They’re all LPs, and my turntable is out of commission… sigh. I just didn’t want to tell an untruth on the SDMB. Goes to show how the twisty mind can play tricks on ya as you _cough_ age. ---
**Author:** ![Doobieous](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/da6949/32.png) [@Doobieous](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doobieous)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2000, 10:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-1st-album-you-bought/18536/71 "2000-05-07T10:20:02Z")
The first album my parents bought for me and my brothers was “Thriller” by Michael Jackson. I think we wore it out. The next one was one of Bruce Springsteen’s albums (both albums on tape). BUT, the one I bought first on CD was “Janet” by Janet Jackson. I still groove to “That’s the Way Love Goes” ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d26b3c/32.png) [@Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Blue_Sky)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2000, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-1st-album-you-bought/18536/72 "2000-05-07T13:53:14Z")
First LP: Elton John’s Greatest Hits (still have it!) First CD: Actually three (I put them on layaway at the same time I had my first CD player on layaway (which cost $275 in 1986!)): Cyndi Lauper’s “She’s So Unusual”, Hall & Oates’ “Gretaest Hits Vol. 1”, and the Police’s “Synchronicity” Note to Shirley: I have that John Denver/Muppets Xmas album on CD. I’ve got the video somewhere… ---
**Author:** ![drewbert](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drewbert/32/15890_2.png) [@drewbert](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drewbert)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2000, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-1st-album-you-bought/18536/73 "2000-05-07T14:53:49Z")
Well the first CD I bought was the compliation album “Eponymous” by REM. First music anybody ever gave me, I think, was a pair of vinyl “Best of Spike Jones” albums from my dad. I listened to them incessantly while 7 or 8, and I’m sure that fact must explain something… (Other selections from drewbert’s early musical history include a cassette of… ermm… \*cough(airsupply)_hack_ and um… a vinyl… er… Taco… I think I’ve said enough now, good day.) ---
**Author:** ![Motorgirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e36b37/32.png) [@Motorgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Motorgirl)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2000, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-1st-album-you-bought/18536/74 "2000-05-07T18:39:29Z")
The first album I remember paying my own money for was “I Got Lucky” by Elvis Presley, 'round about 1978. It was in a bin at the supermarket and I bought it on impulse with my allowance money for $2. I was 8 at the time. The first album I went LOOKING FOR was “Rio” by Duran Duran. I couldn’t find it in the dinky town I grew up in, but I did find another Duran Duran album which I bough for $6, then almost returned. Glad I didn’t. It was a copy of the American release of their first album, with the 12" version of Planet Earth in place of “To the Shore.” It’s actually quite rare, since they recalled most copies because sales were bad and they wanted to re-release it post-Rio with “In There Something I Should Know” on it. Glad I still have that album! ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2000, 2:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-1st-album-you-bought/18536/75 "2000-05-08T02:59:13Z")
First I bought was Sgt. Pepper. Second was “Urban Spaceman” by The Bonzo Dog Band. ---
**Author:** ![panamajack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/47e85d/32.png) [@panamajack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panamajack)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2000, 7:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-1st-album-you-bought/18536/76 "2000-05-08T07:31:14Z")
I remember getting my parents to buy Sesame Street or Disney-movie type records when I was real young, but the first album I bought with my own money was Midnight Oil’s _Blue Sky Mining_. I was 14, and hadn’t listened to much pop music by then. But by a weird twist of fate (I was absent the day we picked), I got put in the Weight Training P.E. class Freshman year high school, and that album was playing constantly in the weight room. Luckily, there was one other kid my size (read: not big) so we could work out and not annoy the others. By the end of the class, I was able to do the extra credit (500 reps of half your body weight). Technically, though, I received a gift certificate for Tower Records when I was 12. I wasn’t sure what to get, so I got Monty Python’s _Matching Tie & Handkerchief_ and a mix of Classical with Handel’s Royal Fireworks as the marquee piece. I still have them all, and enjoy them (Midnight Oil I now have on CD after that tape died). panama jack * * * There must be one place left in this world Where we can be -Antartica by Midnight Oil [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-1st-album-you-bought/18536.md?page=3)