# What was the first 45 RPM you bought? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 1, 2014, 11:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-first-45-rpm-you-bought/685064 "2014-04-01T11:17:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2014, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-first-45-rpm-you-bought/685064/61 "2014-04-02T00:06:51Z")
> [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](#): > > And I just listened to it a few days ago on my iPod. Your taste exceeds your tender years. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Soul\_Brother\_Number\_Two](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/soul_brother_number_two/32/3515_2.png) [@Soul\_Brother\_Number\_Two](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Soul_Brother_Number_Two)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2014, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-first-45-rpm-you-bought/685064/62 "2014-04-02T00:12:16Z")
[quote=“Esox\_Lucius, post:35, topic:685064”] “I Want To Hold Your Hand” by the Beatles in 1963. Capitol Records with the yellow and orange spiral label. Flip side might have been “There’s A Place” but that’s a guess. I might still have it packed away, but if I do, it’ll be in terrible condition. I Saw Her Standing There is the flip side. Was gifted a bunch of those Capitol 45s as a six-year-old by my babysitter. Would play them on my Mickey Mouse record player. Over and over. My favorite was Strawberry Fields. I joke that I was born to take drugs/be an addict, as evidenced by my six-year-old fascination with the druggiest song the Beatles ever wrote. It’s All Too Much and Tomorrow Never Knows are close seconds. For the record. See what I did there? ---
**Author:** ![woodstockbirdybird](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/woodstockbirdybird/32/7905_2.png) [@woodstockbirdybird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/woodstockbirdybird)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2014, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-first-45-rpm-you-bought/685064/63 "2014-04-02T00:16:56Z")
> [@Intergalactic\_Gladiator](#): > > Queen, Another One Bites the Dust/We are the Champions. Me, too, although that wasn’t the [b-side](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Another_One_Bites_the_Dust) on my version. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2014, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-first-45-rpm-you-bought/685064/64 "2014-04-02T00:33:12Z")
Did anyone else have a music store that let you make custom compilation 8 tracks? You would pick your favorite 45’s from their selection. They’d put them in this jukebox 8 track recorder machine. Then the customer selected the songs (just like a jukebox) and it recorded them on a blank tape. I can’t recall what they charged per 45 but it was cheaper than buying the 45. The entire tape cost several bucks. I had several of those compilation 8 track tapes in high school. ---
**Author:** ![jabiru](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/bbce88/32.png) [@jabiru](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jabiru)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2014, 1:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-first-45-rpm-you-bought/685064/65 "2014-04-02T01:06:20Z")
> [@DChord568](#): > > It’s more likely you bought “I Want to Hold Your Hand” … > > The B-side of this single in the States was “I Saw Her Standing There.” (In the UK and most other places, it was “This Boy.”)… Ha! I was wracking my brain last night trying to remember what was on the B-side of _This Boy_ but couldn’t for the life of me remember. Now it turns out, _This Boy_ **was** the B-side! I like it better than _I Wanna Hold Your Hand_, in any case. The record cost me a hard-saved 9/6d. ---
**Author:** ![DCnDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dcndc/32/2842_2.png) [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2014, 1:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-first-45-rpm-you-bought/685064/66 "2014-04-02T01:12:20Z")
\*\*Clutch \*\*- _Pitchfork_ It was the early 90s and my friends and I were in high school and just getting into hardcore/punk. We were going to tiny little “clubs” in bad parts of DC to see shows, and one of our first shows was a Baltimore band called **Next Step Up** , a Cleveland band called **Integrity** , and a young band from Germantown, MD playing one of their first shows called **Clutch**. I was impressed enough that I bought their 7", a first pressing, and it is now in a frame on my wall. ---
**Author:** ![AppallingGael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b9bd4f/32.png) [@AppallingGael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AppallingGael)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2014, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-first-45-rpm-you-bought/685064/67 "2014-04-02T01:27:12Z")
Jewel/Osco sold current 45’s for 79 cents or 39, depending on current chart rank. My first pair, bought together, were “The Night Chicago Died” (Paper Lace) and “Doctor’s Orders” (Carol Douglas). 1974, I guess? I doubt I paid the higher price, and they were more likely on their way down the charts by that point than up. Nine years old, anyway. ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2014, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-first-45-rpm-you-bought/685064/68 "2014-04-02T01:33:40Z")
> [@jabiru](#): > > The record cost me a hard-saved **9/6d**. I’m intrigued; how do you say that and what’s the USD (then or now)? ---
**Author:** ![Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e47c2d/32.png) [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2014, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-first-45-rpm-you-bought/685064/69 "2014-04-02T01:50:40Z")
> [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](#): > > I’m intrigued; how do you say that and what’s the USD (then or now)? “Nine and sixpence.” A little less than half a pound. If my calculations are correct, at the current exchange rate, that’s about 79¢, but in 1964 it would have been somewhere around $1.32. ---
**Author:** ![Kyrie\_Eleison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kyrie_eleison/32/7682_2.png) [@Kyrie\_Eleison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kyrie_Eleison)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2014, 1:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-first-45-rpm-you-bought/685064/70 "2014-04-02T01:54:02Z")
“Heart of Glass,” Blondie. Flip side was “The Tide Is High.” Purchased at a Fred’s store in Memphis in the early 80s. ---
**Author:** ![Ranger\_Jeff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranger_jeff/32/2065_2.png) [@Ranger\_Jeff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranger_Jeff)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2014, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-first-45-rpm-you-bought/685064/71 "2014-04-02T01:58:07Z")
My parents bought me “Ragtime Cowboy Joe” by Alvin and the Chipmonks. The first one I bought could have been “Daydream Believer” by The Monkees. ---
**Author:** ![Ranger\_Jeff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranger_jeff/32/2065_2.png) [@Ranger\_Jeff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranger_Jeff)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2014, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-first-45-rpm-you-bought/685064/72 "2014-04-02T02:01:56Z")
> [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](#): > > I’m intrigued; how do you say that and what’s the USD (then or now)? > [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](#): > > “Nine and sixpence.” A little less than half a pound. If my calculations are correct, at the current exchange rate, that’s about 79¢, but in 1964 it would have been somewhere around $1.32. 12 pence in a shilling 20 shillings in a pound. 9/6d would be 9 shillings and 6 pence. ---
**Author:** ![jabiru](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/bbce88/32.png) [@jabiru](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jabiru)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2014, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-first-45-rpm-you-bought/685064/73 "2014-04-02T02:02:39Z")
> [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](#): > > I’m intrigued; how do you say that and what’s the USD (then or now)? “It cost me nine-and-six.” = nine shillings and sixpence. That equates (not allowing for inflation) to 95 Australian cents. ---
**Author:** ![El\_Kabong](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/el_kabong/32/496_2.png) [@El\_Kabong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Kabong)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2014, 2:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-first-45-rpm-you-bought/685064/74 "2014-04-02T02:06:27Z")
“Spirit in the Sky” by one-hit wonder Norman Greenbaum. > [@cochrane](#): > > I can’t remember that far back, but it might have been Snoopy vs. the Red Baron by the Royal Guardsmen. Yep, had that one and the younger brother played it until the groove was gone. ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2014, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-first-45-rpm-you-bought/685064/75 "2014-04-02T02:28:55Z")
Thank you all for the money 411. Not wishing to hijack, but what does the “d” for pence mean, and why not 9 1/2 shillings? I suspect the answer is **We’ve always done it this way** , followed by, **Go ask yer mother**. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![oae83](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/4bbf92/32.png) [@oae83](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/oae83)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2014, 2:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-first-45-rpm-you-bought/685064/76 "2014-04-02T02:40:03Z")
Mine was Hey Jude… on the first release date. ---
**Author:** ![Esox\_Lucius](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/848f3c/32.png) [@Esox\_Lucius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Esox_Lucius)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2014, 2:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-first-45-rpm-you-bought/685064/77 "2014-04-02T02:40:21Z")
> [@DChord568](#): > > It’s more likely you bought “I Want to Hold Your Hand” in early 1964, as it was released in the U.S. at the very tail end of 1963 and likely wouldn’t have been widely heard on the radio or available in stores until the year had turned. > > The B-side of this single in the States was “I Saw Her Standing There.” (In the UK and most other places, it was “This Boy.”) > > “There’s a Place” was a B-side (of “Twist and Shout”) in the U.S. It was not released on a single in the UK. I’m in Canada, but while there were some differences in release dates from the U.S., you’re still absolutely correct. I had a brain fart regarding the year. I bought “I Want To Hold Your Hand” after their appearances on Ed Sullivan which was 1964, not '63. And I bow to your knowledge. I had all those 45s at the time (as well as the Dave Clark Five’s) but a lot of the details about them have faded away. ---
**Author:** ![Esox\_Lucius](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/848f3c/32.png) [@Esox\_Lucius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Esox_Lucius)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2014, 2:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-first-45-rpm-you-bought/685064/78 "2014-04-02T02:54:45Z")
> [@Soul\_Brother\_Number\_Two](#): > > I Saw Her Standing There is the flip side. Was gifted a bunch of those Capitol 45s as a six-year-old by my babysitter. Would play them on my Mickey Mouse record player. Over and over. My favorite was Strawberry Fields. I joke that I was born to take drugs/be an addict, as evidenced by my six-year-old fascination with the druggiest song the Beatles ever wrote. > > It’s All Too Much and Tomorrow Never Knows are close seconds. For the record. > > See what I did there? Yes, I saw what you did there and I salute you for it.🙂 And for your taste in music, which was more advanced than mine. I didn’t start listening to records and the radio till I was 12. ---
**Author:** ![jabiru](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/bbce88/32.png) [@jabiru](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jabiru)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2014, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-first-45-rpm-you-bought/685064/79 "2014-04-02T03:18:11Z")
> [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](#): > > Thank you all for the money 411. > > Not wishing to hijack, but what does the “d” for pence mean, and why not 9 1/2 shillings? I suspect the answer is **We’ve always done it this way** , followed by, **Go ask yer mother**. 😃 I think the d stood for some latin word starting with d. Helpful, am I not? 😃 Similarly, I don’t know why the symbol for a pound was £. ---
**Author:** ![Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e47c2d/32.png) [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2014, 4:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-first-45-rpm-you-bought/685064/80 "2014-04-02T04:40:58Z")
> [@jabiru](#): > > I think the d stood for some latin word starting with d. Correct: _denarius_. The symbols £. s. d. were derived from the Roman coins _libra_, _solidus_, and _denarius_. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-first-45-rpm-you-bought/685064.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-first-45-rpm-you-bought/685064.md?page=5)