First music I bought with my own money was the Beatle's "Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band." I was ten. This was in 1971, after they had broken up. I remember explaining to my Mom that I needed to buy it now, because since they broke up, Beatles albums wouldn't be available that much longer. Dear Mother let me buy it, somehow refraining from laughing.

I'm pretty sure it was Lionel Ritchie/Commodores, but I don't remember which album. It was definitely vinyl, and I think it cost $6. I would have been around 13, and my mother questioned whether I really wanted to spend babysitting money on that.

I hope you said yes mom!

My first album was one I snuck from my step fathers collection Rusty Warrens Back in Town...NOT something any 14 year old should hear.

My second that I bought and still love today Bobby Vinton...LOL

My first album was the original cast recording of Oklahoma.

As a little kid, I loved Mario Lanza and bought one of his records every week. I got one dollar allowance, and I think the records were 89 cents so enough left over for two candy bars. But my first albums were Simon and Garfunkel and the Beatles and I still have them all somewhere.

It was either Introducing the Beatles, or Meet the Beatles, 1964. I bought both and don't remember the order. At that time, a stereo record cost $1 more than a mono one. If I remember, it was $6 and $5 or something like that. It wasn't until a few years later that we had a stereo player so it was mono for the first few years of my record buying.

I can't remember what was the first album-- with 4 older siblings, and parents who liked and listened to records, there was so many in the house that I might not have bought my own until I was an adult. But I do remember the first single (and the first record) -- I even remember the 2 mile walk to Woolco on a warm day to get it -- Tommy James "Mony Mony"

I was given "the BeeGees Greatest Hits" for my birthday. It was two records and I was eight. I was given it because my aunt was visiting and she told my mom it was really popular with the kids.

My my parents didn't believe in letting us spend money on that sort of stuff. The first cassette tape I bought was Prince's "Purple Rain". I came across it this summer after Prince died. My dd bought me the CD for Christmas because she knew I loved it.

nicole___

A Uriah Heap album. (I actually hated it. :0) I thought the album cover looked cool )

******

It was ALL about the cover art...

Another "Frampton Comes Alive" here!

I went out with a friend to Sam Goody's. Came home and told my mother I bought an album.

She thought it was a lovely idea-something to put photos in. I showed her the album cover and her eyes got real wide. Then, I opened the bottom half to give her the full vision, and her mouth fell open.

;-)

;-)

;-)

You know the mom in "Almost Famous", who picks up the Simon & Garfunkel album and points to their eyes and says, "See! They're smoking pot!"

That was my mom.

Love the light weight of CD's compared to vinyl, but I sure miss the cover art too! and the liner notes ... yes, I do care who wrote each song, etc.edited to add: yeah, loved that Frampton cover!

I still love "my Peter" and drag poor DH to see him whenever I can.

I was recently going through a huge box of old cd's, taking out the cd and discarding the plastic. I bought binder storage pages to store them in.

I came across this insert from an Eagles album, which talked about each song, and who wrote it and what meant to them.

The first records I remember were played on our tall 'Victrola' -- same huge piece of furniture I huddled close to when listening to "The Lone Ranger" on radio. We had that cast album of "Oklahoma" on 78 rpm records.

I was about 13 when I bought my first record. The store had little glass booths where you could put on earphones to listen to a record before you bought it. I can't remember the popular crooner whose album I bought, but I do remember the other record. I was attracted by the beautiful blue cover. When I listened to it, I *had* to have it! I'd stumbled onto Heifetz playing violin concertos. I'd had zero exposure to classical music. I think this explains 'great music' -- a teenager can unknowingly fall in love with it in a grubby glass booth in a record store.

I never bought any. I listened to some old records on my Grandma's Victrola that she had and they were very old. I also listened to some when at my aunt's home, I liked the big band music at her place, String of Pearls, Tuxedo Junction and all of those.

Sue

For my birthday, when I new as quite young, maybe 9 or 10, I wanted a recording of The Nutcracker Suite, 78 rpm at hat time. My mother got it for me and I was extremly disappointed to find it was played by Freddie Martin and His Dance Band. I cried. I hated it. I have always loved classical music, and that was as sophisticated as I was then, but NOT played by a dance band.

Marilyn Sue -- Oh, DH and I still love the Glenn Miller big band pieces. Such a distinctive sound. You have to get up and DANCE when you hear it!

Meet the Beatles... I still have it.

Mine was Chicago, the album that had 'Saturday in the Park' :-) I sold greeting cards all summer to earn that LP!

I was 13 when I bought "Freewheelin' Bob Dylan". I listened to it this morning.

Masters of War is still relevant.

Going to date myself here. My aunt was shopping for some kinda romantic album. I wanted this. She had to pay half cause I was a bit short.

In a interview maybe a dozen years ago, Dylan was asked how it felt being the spokesman of a generation. He said something like (all quotes are approximate) " My songs weren't sermons and I wasn't a spokesman. They were just songs." "You mean you didn't want to speak about what was going on?" "No, I wanted to be as famous as Elvis, and what I wrote were just songs. For most of them, the message is whatever you think the message is, or no message at all". "Where did the lyrics come from, you didn't polish the meanings?" " I don't know where they came from, they came out of creativity, and I did it then and can't do it anymore like that"

He viewed his writings as poetic but not as messages. I've heard many other composers say the same thing, like Neil Young. What do the words mean? Whatever you think they mean. Were you trying to describe an experience? No I was writing a song, The words are the words that fit in the tempo, nothing more.

Which is why there are so many songs with odd sentences and even odder apparent messages.

Steve Miller, the Joker:

Some people call me the space cowboy.Yeah!

Some call me the gangster of love.

Some people call me Maurice,

'Cause I speak of the pompatus of love

Same as Elmer...Meet the Beatles, 1964!

I'm fairly certain it was Simon & Garfunkel's Bridge Over Troubled Water. I had older siblings that bought albums, so I just listened to theirs prior to beginning my own collection.

That Steve Miller 'message' is so funny. (I liked Quicksilver Girl but thought he got a bit to pop after that.) I think song writers think of the music first, and poets receive the words they must write down. (my late husband was a poet and described it as something that sort of germinated inside and then was ready to write down.)

First 45-The Beatles: She Loves you

First album, probably Meet the Beatles. Or Peter Pan. Then the Sonny and Cher Album.

My friend had a Victrola and just sent me a pile of old piano music from her grandmother. She wants me to play Elmer's Tune, which I find a bit hard. But am loving 'The Way You Look Tonight.' Fred and Ginger Rock!

Before my mother died I compiled a CD of what she and my father sang. The nurses played the Andrews Sisters constantly for her, until I'm sure she was tired of it. But they are very fun to listen to.

My sister was older. She owned Judy Collins. I always thinks it's her in the video: One Republic, Love Runs Out

I was never one to buy a lot of records. When everyone was going nuts over the Beatles I was mostly listening to a Bay Area country music station on the radio. I also had an older sibling and listened to his records. Spent hours at the rink and there was a lot of top 40 played there during public sessions and at the sock hops. I still have a few albums I did buy or were given to me. Phil Ochs, Joan Baez, Bob Dylan, The Shangra las, Janis when she was with Big Brother. I think the last album I actually purchased was Tommy by The Who in '69.

I went to so many concerts (weekly) during my teens that buying albums just wasn't something I needed to do.

I do remember my first record I bought with my own money. The Purple People Eater. I was 7.

How do you remember?!! It had to be one of Donny Osmonds..but Cher/Carpenters were also vinyls I know I owned in Jr.High. My first album bought on cassette would have been Barry Manilow.

Floyd Cramer's ...something...can't remember the title. I loved honky-tonk piano as a little girl. I still turn the radio up for "Last Date". Later it was rock and roll.

Peter, Paul and Mary

I think mine was Rolling Stones 'Sticky Fingers'.

It was around 64 and I think it was a Beetles album or maybe Peter Paul and Mary. I still have most of them.

Donna Summer here, too! And then the Grease soundtrack.

Donna_loomis, what a sweet gift you gave your father!

My first CD was Salt and Pepa - Very Necessary. lol I don't remember what my first cassette was but I do remember having C&C Music Factory, The Mickey Mouse Club (90's edition), Garbage and others I can't remember. :D

I did listen to a lot of my mom's records though. Donna Summer, Michael Jackson, Prince....

First vinyl my husband and I bought was the Deftones :)

The first 45 I ever bought was Elvis -- Love Me Tender

Me too, PKponder! It was Chicago 5, I believe and the album cover looked like wood.

Yup Sleeperblues :-)

One Christmas my parents gave me a portable record player with a record by the Monkees. I was in heaven. The first record I bought myself was Carole King's Tapestry album. I think I just about wore that thing out. I may still have it in a box someplace.

Beach Boys Pet Sounds and a Rolling Stones album

I have really enjoyed this thread! Not surprisingly, varied times and tastes.

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special shout out to blfenton. I have two vinyl, one tape, and a CD of Tapestry. YouTube to entire album. I have every word on both sides memorized. She's the anthem of my life!

Deep Purple---Smoke on the Water!

Our older sister had an after school job and money, so we listened to her albums and sang along as we did the dishes in the late 1950s. No one else bought records in the family at that time. She loved movie and Broadway show albums and especially loved Mario Lanza. I remember singing along with The Student Prince and Okalahoma! as we cleaned up after dinner.

I recall holding "Frampton Comes Alive" when I was in either junior high or high school, so I'm thinking that was the first album my father bought for me (my family didn't do allowances). Pretty sure we got it at the old Caldor chain. But the first album could have been the soundtrack of "One on One," a basketball-themed move starring Robbie Benson. I thought he was SOOOOO dreamy! (He STILL looks darn good!)

It was either a Neil Diamond album (he looked incredibly hot on the cover and there was a poster inside) or a Simon and Garfunkel album, Sounds of Silence. Closely followed by Spanky and our Gang, Carole King, Beatles, Laura Nyro, Don McClean...

The Beatles Rubber Soul album!

I got a cassette player just prior to heading off to college, from my parents. My parents didn't even own a stereo - they simply weren't much interested in music at all. But I think they wanted me to fit in.

So they told my grandmother that I'd be getting one, and so please give our daughter some cassettes because she might like that...

Apparently, my grandmother went to the music shop and bought me 3 cassettes based on what the guy helping her out figured might be nice for a grand daughter of my age... and amazingly, all THREE selections are ones I loved, and still love. (They eventually got replaced with CD's way down the road...)

Cat Stevens, Tea for the Tillerman

Carole King, Tapestry

Gordon Lightfoot - not sure which album but one of his late 60's one.

I am quite certain that Grandmother said, yeah, she loves cats, let's get the Cat Stevens one, and there's a cat on the cover of Tapestry, so yes, let's get that! Not sure how Gordon Lightfoot ended up in there, too, but hey, I ended up loving ALL THREE albums!

artemis...That guy made some great selections and got you started off well !

I'm pretty sure I'm not the only person here whose first music purchase was a 45! And you needed on of those little insert thingies to play it on a real record player... not even a "stereo" yet. Can remember trying to line up a 45 without that gizmo... didn't work very well! First album was probably a Beatles album. My Dad had a big hulking reel-to-reel tape recorder. Would attempt to record songs off the radio... couldn't avoid the DJ talking right up to the hook, commercials coming in during last 10 seconds or so, or brother/sister intentionally makiing noise... microphone just sitting in front of the thing!

I remember the insert thingies for 45s. At some point, I started buying albums instead. Have always loved all kinds of music.