I’ll add it to the list in case I ever get a time machine!
First .45 was ‘The Letter’ by the Box Tops.
First album was the original Broadway cast recording of Hair.
Don’t think I ever bought a cassette, as I never owned a decent cassette player.
Bought very few CDs; first one might have been Beatles 1, which was released in 2000.
Since others have mentioned 45s… I don’t recall the first one. I remember two 45s that I owned, from around that same time frame of 1980-1981: Steely Dan “Hey Nineteen” and the Police “De Do Do Do, De Da Da Da.” I know there were others, but I can’t remember what they were right now.
First cassette: I don’t remember the first cassette I bought–most of the music me and my sisters listened to from the 80s was on cassette but I honestly can NOT tell you who bought which album. Incidentally I am the one who ended up with all the cassettes we owned (300+) and are all in a plastic tub in the bottom of bedroom closet.
First CD: This I do remember-the first CD I bought was Nirvana-Nevermind. I also remember the last CD I bought–a Prince greatest hits album because for years his songs were NOT available on YouTube.
I mostly listen to music on YouTube now and frankly I don’t how any musician makes money now when all their music is free on the site.
I didn’t have a CD player until 1987 (not sure when they became popular). I think the first (certainly one of the first) albums I bought was Graceland. After years of cassettes and not high quality turntables, I could not believe how good CDs sounded.
Hehe, the last cassette I obtained was a friend giving me a tape release of his band - about nine months ago. It’s from 2017. I thanked him for it, and asked him if he realized I didn’t have a working tape deck.
ETA: And well, my next release is going to be on tape. Mono tape. I know a guy who has tape duplicator that only does mono and also has a stack of brand new blank cassettes. It’s basically going to be a fancy download card.
I remember the first Digital album I got - Dizzy by Lunch Money. Their music was reviewed on NPR and when I tried to buy a CD online they said that they were out of physical media, probably because they had not been expecting such enthusiasm, but they did say that they were available on digital.
Previous to this, I had only bought digital singles in which I didn’t have much confidence that the rest of the album was going to be good.
Nowadays I still buy the occasional CD at concerts, or to support artists, or if it comes with swag or extra tracks. If there’s an album I like, I will usually try to download it if I can’t purchase it digitally, since I don’t subscribe to a formal streaming service. My alternative to digital purchases is YouTube, which I use for singles I like and for albums that I can’t even buy digitally or physically. I’d still prefer ownership of a track, though, because you never know when tracks will disappear from online services.
I’m pretty sure they do get some royalties from YouTube and other streaming sites, but it’s basically pocket change. My understanding is that they mostly rely on live shows to make money now.
Replying to myself to update: the first 45 I bought “with my own money” (allowance) was in 1963- The Beatles “She Loves You” on the Swan label; followed shortly thereafter with my first “own money” LP “Introducing The Beatles” on the VeeJay label (the American version of their UK Please Please Me album). I was 13.
That VeeJay album was still in print when I bought it in 1976 when I turned 13.
Around age six, I somehow talked my parents into buying Forty Funky Hits from a TV commercial. I LOVED Snoopy vs. The Red Baron.
The first album I bought with “my” own money was Sgt. Pepper’s. Probably, mostly for the album cover but also, I was aware it was “controversial”.
Bringing It All Back Home, by Bob Dylan, on cassette. (It was 1991. My fifteen-year-old self was super-mad about having missed the 1960s.)
I don’t know what my first record was. Maybe one of the Winnie-the-Pooh stories narrated by Sterling Holloway? I think I had a bunch of those when I was little. Not really sure about my first CD, either.
Sixth birthday, '70: “Let it Be” single. The flipside, “You Know My Name (Look Up the Number)” was more up my alley at the time.
Our family’s first CD was “Unforgettable with Love” by Natalie Cole.
My older brothers had a couple hundred albums between them, and I got some as Christmas presents from them,
I was 12 and worked for my self-employed machinist dad, so when I had some cash the first albums were:
- Supertramp - Breakfast in America
- Neil Young - Rust Never Sleeps
- Paul McCartney - Back to the Egg
I don’t remember the very first album I bought. But the first few I bought included
Hi Infidelity by REO Speedwagon
Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap by AC/DC
Out of the Blue by ELO
Songs in the Attic by Billy Joel
Glass Houses by Billy Joel
It was an 8 track of Atlanta Rhythm Section’s Red Tape.
Besides childrens’ records like The Teddy Bear’s Picnic,
my first 45 was Bird Dog by the Everly Brothers.
The Chipmunks’ holiday album where Alvin, Simon, and Theodore sing “Christmas, Don’t Be Late.” I remember my mother bringing it home with her after doing some shopping in December 1958.
First vinyl album: R. Dean Taylor - “I Think, Therefore I Am”. (remember “Indiana Wants Me”?)
First 45: The Archies - “Sugar, Sugar”.
First CD: Elton John - “21 at 33”.
And, you didn’t ask, but my last (new) vinyl album purchase was Paul Simon’s “Hearts & Bones”.
I still possess them all.
mmm