The humble 7-inch record, not to be confused with my big 10-inch, is 65 years old! What was the first 45 you bought for yourself? When did you get it? Do you still have it somewhere?
Mine was “Come Dancing” by The Kinks. I was in 8th grade, so 1982 or '83. I don’t remember what the B-side was. We had one of those record players with the 45 adaptor so I didn’t need the yellow “spider” insert. Unfortunately, both record and record player are long gone.
Before that, I can remember getting those cheapo flexidiscs off the back of cereal boxes. Oh, and I had the Mr. Bill disc from the Mr. Bill book, too.
“I Ran,” by A Flock of Seagulls. 1982 or '83 as well. Seventh grade.
I think “Allentown” by Billy Joel soon followed, and that completed my lifetime 45 collection.
I Love Rock-n-Roll by Joan Jett and the Blackhearts. I’d play it over and over on my little denim box children’s record player until I finally had money for a tape player. And then of course I put the player in front of the record player and copied the song. “Now I can hear it anywhere!”
I seriously don’t remember the first 45 I bought myself, which would have been '75 or so I think, but my dad bought me Bang a Gong (Get it On) by T. Rex when I was 10 years old. That’s a pretty cool first 45.
“Rock of Ages”/Def Leppard. The highlight of my week was waiting for my parents to go to the grocery store and leave me alone, it was my only chance to crank it up.
Probably one of those post punk/new wave obscurities on MTV in the early 80’s (Flock of Seagulls or the likes) and my sister was actually the one that paid for it as I saved my allowance to get the LP’s.
The first 45 I ever had was most likely “Puff the Magic Dragon” around '69 and I found the song terrifying.
I think it was “Tie a Yellow Ribbon”. However, I bought it in 1981 (I think) and it wasn’t the Tony Orlando version, although it was the same melody. It was about the release of the hostages from Iran.
I remember it well: I bought “Y.M.C.A.” by the Village People at an ALCO in Widefield, Colorado, in early 1979. I was nine years old. It’s now in our basement, next to all of the other 45s underneath our turntable.
I’m obviously gonna win the old guy contest, at least so far. (EDIT: I see now I’ve tied for the time frame…but I’m still the old guy!)
In late 1962, I discovered the transistor radio and the local AM Top 40 station. While I had always had a musical bent, rock ‘n’ roll up to that point had been pretty much a non-entity for me. I was a typical suburban baseball-loving kid.
The local station, somewhat atypically, would feature an album each week along with the hit singles of the day, and actually played cuts from the album in regular rotation. That week’s LP was Sherry by The Four Seasons. I loved the songs from it, and resolved that I would purchase it using some money I’d saved up from my allowance.
Come Saturday, I hit the downtown department store’s record department, only to find that they didn’t have the album in stock.
I was so geared up to buy something that I bought the Four Seasons’ hit single of the moment, “Big Girls Don’t Cry.” This may have seemed a foolish thing to do, as that song was one of the tracks on the Sherry album. But even though I did buy the album the following week, it turned out to be a good move because the B-side of “Big Girls Don’t Cry,” a song called “Connie-O,” was not on the album, and it was a good song in its own right.
So anyway, “Big Girls Don’t Cry” was ground zero for a music collection that has grown over the years to ridiculous proportions, encompassing 45s, LPs, reel-to-reel tapes, 8-tracks, cassettes, CDs and today’s digital media. If I listened 18 hours a day every single day, I would be hard-pressed to hear it all before I die.
