This brings back so many memories! Ah, mix tapes pulled from the radio! The best. I remember getting my first Walkman (cassette player) in 1991 in Hong Kong the year my parents lived there. It was the first one I could afford, and the transportability was amazing ☺️.
For years I was dependent on the local radio station when I drove, and I miss that sometimes—just listening to music, too—my go to tends to be podcasts or audio books before music.
My favorite is still live music. A couple weeks ago we got to go to a Beethoven orchestral concert with a pianist, and our seats were right near the front. It was the local orchestra, and some players messed up notes every once in a while, and I couldn’t help but marvel that this playing would never happen again, and no one besides those in that audience would ever hear it, and that people around the world could have similar experiences with their local artists. Kinda wild.
Nice article. I was surprised you didn't mention Buddy Holly and Nanci Griffith considering the significance they have played in your vinyl musical interests through the years. For me, when I was eleven in 1951, we had only a radio to listen to music. Unfortunately for us, we lived in a duplex with a paper-thin wall and our neighbors had some kind of a record player but only one record. It was an instrumental piano version of a song called "Down Yonder" and they played only the A-side all day long, over-and-over. I went outside to play, but my mother had to listen to it all the time. I just now looked it up and found out it was played by a woman named Del Wood and it went to #5 on the country chart. You can hear her play it on YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=idURSDVwIVE&ab_channel=CatsPjamas1
Kori. I absolutely agree with you. I too was 12/13 when I started taping songs off the radio. Then I got into vinyl. Would love listening to the whole album reading the gatefold sleeve and having to get up to turn the album over half way through. I dabbled with cassettes at University but then (reluctantly) started to buy CD's. Now I'm 66 years old. Have loads of vinyl (but no record player!). Loads of CD'S but don't play them. Just listen to stuff on Alexa when I want. Normally the odd track rather than the whole album. I miss those old days so much.
Ha ha, I too have a ton of CDs that I never play. But I can’t seem to get rid of them either. Most of them are in a CD binder rather than in the actual jewel cases, which are conveniently stored at my parents’. 😆
Actually got our old CDs out of storage and have been playing them in the car on school runs so our kids can enjoy them. It’s been really fun going down memory lane…
As a classical violinist, in high school I used to check out several recordings of one concerto from the library before picking my favorite one to buy at Borders or Barnes & Noble. The little samples with headphones at B&N would help me explore additional options. Today, I use Spotify daily to explore the countless recordings that have been released over the years, but I also share my old CDs with my children and enjoy our small but growing collection of vinyl. Great post!
This brings back so many memories! Ah, mix tapes pulled from the radio! The best. I remember getting my first Walkman (cassette player) in 1991 in Hong Kong the year my parents lived there. It was the first one I could afford, and the transportability was amazing ☺️.
For years I was dependent on the local radio station when I drove, and I miss that sometimes—just listening to music, too—my go to tends to be podcasts or audio books before music.
My favorite is still live music. A couple weeks ago we got to go to a Beethoven orchestral concert with a pianist, and our seats were right near the front. It was the local orchestra, and some players messed up notes every once in a while, and I couldn’t help but marvel that this playing would never happen again, and no one besides those in that audience would ever hear it, and that people around the world could have similar experiences with their local artists. Kinda wild.
Nice article. I was surprised you didn't mention Buddy Holly and Nanci Griffith considering the significance they have played in your vinyl musical interests through the years. For me, when I was eleven in 1951, we had only a radio to listen to music. Unfortunately for us, we lived in a duplex with a paper-thin wall and our neighbors had some kind of a record player but only one record. It was an instrumental piano version of a song called "Down Yonder" and they played only the A-side all day long, over-and-over. I went outside to play, but my mother had to listen to it all the time. I just now looked it up and found out it was played by a woman named Del Wood and it went to #5 on the country chart. You can hear her play it on YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=idURSDVwIVE&ab_channel=CatsPjamas1
Read Why I Dyed My Hair Purple for the Nanci and Buddy Holly stuff. :)
Kori. I absolutely agree with you. I too was 12/13 when I started taping songs off the radio. Then I got into vinyl. Would love listening to the whole album reading the gatefold sleeve and having to get up to turn the album over half way through. I dabbled with cassettes at University but then (reluctantly) started to buy CD's. Now I'm 66 years old. Have loads of vinyl (but no record player!). Loads of CD'S but don't play them. Just listen to stuff on Alexa when I want. Normally the odd track rather than the whole album. I miss those old days so much.
Ha ha, I too have a ton of CDs that I never play. But I can’t seem to get rid of them either. Most of them are in a CD binder rather than in the actual jewel cases, which are conveniently stored at my parents’. 😆
Actually got our old CDs out of storage and have been playing them in the car on school runs so our kids can enjoy them. It’s been really fun going down memory lane…
As a classical violinist, in high school I used to check out several recordings of one concerto from the library before picking my favorite one to buy at Borders or Barnes & Noble. The little samples with headphones at B&N would help me explore additional options. Today, I use Spotify daily to explore the countless recordings that have been released over the years, but I also share my old CDs with my children and enjoy our small but growing collection of vinyl. Great post!