Pete, can you and Martin take this a step further in a future show and each highlight about 10 or so album covers that mesmerized you in record stores as kids or teens that you bought site unheard? A few that you mentioned before were ELO's Out of the Blue and BOC's Cultosaurus Erectus. This would be awesome!

Yeah, it was great time back then for music lovers. All the dept. stores had record sections as well as so many of the electronics stores (Crazy Eddie`s, anyone?). No matter how small the stores record dept. I couldn`t pass them up - never knew when you might find a gem. Rock and Roll Heaven in the Rt.18 market in Jersey, and Vintage Vinyl, not to far away in Fords were two of my favorite record stores. I could spend hours in these places, buying online just isn`t the same.

I grew up in 70’s LA and worked at many different record stores including House of Records in Santa Monica, Bleecker Bobs Melrose and various Penny Lane locations throughout LA…Where I shopped was limitless there were so many stores at the time though my earliest and fondest memories are of the original Tower Sunset and Westwood, various Licorice Pizza shops especially the one on Sunset Blvd caddy corner from the Whisky A GoGo and Aron’s Records in west Hollywood. I used to dumpster dive Tower Sunset’s dumpster behind the store after hours on the regular and would score the most amazing promo displays and a plethora of cool promo record related stuff…my preteen bedroom had all kinds of rad Nugent, Boston and KISS promo display materials all over the walls…it was a magical time.

@Rockerlady

Жыл бұрын

I really miss Tower on Sunset and the billboard album covers. I think about them when I drive by that location.

@VincentBautista365

Жыл бұрын

I agree with you, Peter B, Plus the other chain stores in L.A. Music +, The Warehouse, Sam Goody, and Virgin. When the CD boom hit in the early '90s, Amoeba Music from the Bay area opened their third store in L.A. Plus, dozens of "Indie" CD shops opened up all over L.A. To name a few, Music Exchange, The Record Rover, Compact CD, Eastside Records, Record Surplus, and so many more.

@VincentBautista365

Жыл бұрын

@@Rockerlady Makes you want to cry sometimes. I ran into so many celebrities at the Tower on Sunset. Jack Nicolson, Tupac Skankur, Benicio Del Toro, Beyonce, and the list goes on.

I remember in 1983 - 1984, as an 11 - 12 year old, buying tons of 8-track tapes for 50 cents or $1 each (when the format was being phased out). Stores like Boscov's, Zayre's and Murphy's had quite a selection of tape cartridges from approximately the 1975 - 1981 time frame, which were in bins that had all the tape spines pointing up, for browsing at-a-glance. I found many gems that way, that I wouldn't have otherwise discovered (at least, not at that age). Devo, Manfred Mann's Earth Band, Wishbone Ash, Sad Cafe, Marshall Tucker Band, Pablo Cruise, Ramsey Lewis, Manhattan Transfer, Bad Company, Genesis, Procol Harum, Hubert Laws, Eddie Kendricks, Con-Funk-Shun, The Kaygees, Roger Whittaker, Ambrosia, Salsoul Orchestra, etc. Quite the hodgepodge. I'd leave the store with, like, a garbage bag size bag of 8-track tapes. I remember that by 1985, pretty much, all those cheap tapes were gone from all the various department stores.

@bigscarysteve

Жыл бұрын

To the best of my knowledge, in the 1960's up through the mid 1970's, the only place you could buy records in my town was at two of our three 5 & 10 stores--namely G. C. Murphy and F. W. Woolworth. Then in 1976, my town's first mall opened up, and the downtown area fell on hard times. Besides being able to buy records in the mall, our downtown got its first two actual record stores at that time. That killed the record departments in the 5 & 10's pretty quickly.

I walked into a record store and the prettiest girl I ever saw was behind the counter. She told me I should buy this new album from a band named Genesis. (Selling England) Never heard of them but you have to impress a pretty girl. I’ll forever be grateful to her for introducing me to my favorite band of all time.

…also remember when the record stores had listening booths where you could listen to the record before buying, good times indeed ❤

My Mum picked up my first record, "Rock and Roll Over." I look at 2000 records on my shelf and remember everything about acquiring them. Yay vinyl.

I will never forget when I was 15 1977 taking my bike out on a cold sleety night because I just had to go into downtown to get a Kiss album, didn't know which one I would get, didn't care, just couldn't wait to get an album and that's when I bought Kiss Alive. It was a pharmacy that sold a few records, I remember buying there over the years Styx Grand Illusion, Bad Company Straight Shooter, Kansas Point of No Return. I miss those days.

These were incredible memories guys, living in a small town in the west of Scotland in the 70s /80s all that was really available to us was top 40 type shops, then I discovered Listen records in Glasgow and it changed my life, bought so many rock / metal albums from there purely from looking at the covers, and the amount of Kiss merch that was for sale in the basement, I basically clothed myself and decorated my room from that one shop, sadly missed. A little later we got a massive tower records which was great for imports that we didn’t know existed, but sadly it’s closed now, great times though.

@paulgregor649

Жыл бұрын

A trip to Listen in Glasgow was always worthwhile. Picked up loads of great 2nd hand albums in the downstairs section.

@arejaycee5484

Жыл бұрын

We were lucky in Kirkcaldy we had Sleeves A brilliant record shop that could find you anything you were looking for One of the best independent record shops there was Badly missed.

I can’t even count the endless hours I spent at Tower Records or the Record Factory on Bascom Avenue in SanJose. Scanning the record bins was like looking through family photo albums

@ScottBerry-yn8rw

Жыл бұрын

I miss Tower. There was one near the University of Texas in Austin in the 90's and early 2000's. I bought so many jazz albums there.

@stevecrescini2081

Жыл бұрын

@@ScottBerry-yn8rw I was stationed in Dallas in the early 90’s and they had several Tower Records as well as several Warehouse Record stores. Easy to buy records and concert tickets. A lot of good memories from Texas

@ScottBerry-yn8rw

Жыл бұрын

@@stevecrescini2081 I lived in Arlington from 1982-86. I frequented Fantasia Records near the UTA campus, as well as Sound Warehouse and Hastings.

@Drforrester31

Жыл бұрын

Being from San Jose I remember that Tower well, but only went a couple times as a kid before it closed. Rasputin and Streetlight are still holding it down though!

So many great memories! There was a record department in the basement of some department store in Hempstead, NY, might have been JC Penney. One time they had a promotional 3-D display of Be Bop Deluxe's "Modern Music" album hanging from the ceiling. I begged the guy to sell it to me but he wouldn't, I really should have just grabbed it and ran when he wasn't looking! Another time I scored the Chicago at Carnegie Hall 4-LP set for $9.99 because it had the label for a single LP. It was selling for $16.99 everywhere else.

Spent a lot of hard earned paper route money at tower records in California in the late seventies ,early eighties . Loved hanging out in the record store ( good times ) .

About 6 years ago my dad and I were going to a music store called CD Cellar in Falls Church, Virginia, and on the way we stopped for lunch and found this random little pawn shop nearby. We went in, and they had a Dean Dave Mustaine signature Flying V on sale for $75 (a quick Google search tells me that they go for about $2,800 now). I plugged it into a nearby amp, thinking that the electronics must be ruined because other than two or three tiny scuffs on the bridge the guitar looked brand new. Much to our amazement it sounded perfect, so we bought it, and to this day it's my main axe.

I have similar stories of J&R Music World. My father worked at Verizon on Pearl St, a 5 minute or so walk to Park Row. He'd walk by this store twice a day going to WTC for the PATH to Hoboken. When asked, he'd bring home an album or two I had asked for. come Christmas I'd go into his office to take part in his holiday office party. On the way to the PATH, we'd stop off at J&R, and he let me have what ever albums I wanted for Christmas. When I was in college (NJIT), I'd go into the city via the PATH and pickup many new releases. When my brother and I were old enough to drive, we would go to EJ Korvettes about 25 minutes away. The Sunday paper would always have their weekly sales, so that's how we planned our purchases. On sale, a single album for the longest time was $2.99, a double was just that $5.99. The sale price was usually half the regular price there, plus they had a gigantic selection, and all genres. The first Van Halen album went for $2.99. Ah, those were the days.

I remember the big department stores ( Zellers, Woolco, Woolworth, K Mart, Sears, etc) having a music department. I always loved Sam the Record Man and A&A music, it’s too bad they are gone now but I still have my local record store called Fred’s ( they turned 50 last year) that I visit every week. I remember once at A&A buying a copy of Anthrax’s Armed and Dangerous ep and not having enough money to cover the cost, the guy behind the counter said that whatever I had was good enough and gave me the tape anyway

I had a alarm installation job in the eighties and my partner wound many times drop me off at a local mall and go home instead of taking me back to the hub on Friday ( only if a bus traveled between the mall and Newark Grand Central Station ). It was like a weekly Me Christmas, walking into one record shop and checking everything out and than going to the second level and checking out that shop before focusing on what I was going to purchase. In the beginning it was for cassettes, because I liked to listen to music on my walk man or boom box and a few years later CD’s ( I would play at home and make cassette mixed tapes for travel ) . Fast forward to early 2000 and I would take the train to the city and go to the two Virgin Record shops. I really liked there huge inventory and ability to hear a CD at a listening station; when the last store closed so did my want for traveling to buy music and Amazon was my buying place for ten years and than I stopped and switched to streaming ( my music was always for traveling and I prefer big mixed playlist more than playing a single CD or album front to back ).

Scotland in the ‘80s it was always John Menzies - all albums £3.99 First visit to the States was to San Francisco in the mid ‘90s and remember being blown away by Tower Records. Went home with the entire Savatage back catalogue on CD🤘🏻

The 80's were the best time for hard-rock and heavy-metal.I was Lucky to be part of that Era.GREAT TIME.😀👍

Still remember when I headed for Hamburg City to spend my hard-earned paper round money in my favourite record store (Michelle Records, for those SoT followers from Northern Germany). 50 Deutschmarks went a long way in 1987, so I purchased "Peace Sells", "Abigail" and the "Reign In Blood" picture disc in one fell swoop. Boy, what an adrenaline rush at the cash counter! Back home, I hadn't had my own stereo yet, so I had to use Dad's Hifi tower (with a tinted glass door and all) for the listening session. First album on the turntable was "Reign" - I cranked up the volume inch by inch (Dad was sitting 10 ft away from me, watching soccer on TV) when "Angel Of Death" blasted through the speakers. Holy shit! Dad rolled his eyes, mumbling something like "Is this music or just noise?" while I felt my brain melting away. I never heard something that fast before, even "Battery" paled compared to this frenzied madness! (I later found out that my Dad's turntable had a slight malfunction, it ran with approx. 38 instead of 33 rpm). Good times.

Really cool episode... my friends and I made weekly trips to blow our meager salaries at house of guitars, record archive, strawberries, anywhere we could find CDs. Pete, I used to trek an hour and a half to that Tower records in Paramus NJ in the late 90s when I graduated college all the time until they closed down.

I can remember riding my BMX bike down to the record store and buying my first 3 records in 4th grade 1976 with paper route $$$. Zeppelin IV (because of Stairway to Heaven), Physical Graffiti (after just hearing Kashmir) and Boston's debut because the album cover with the spaceship was intriguing. All 3 records which I still have were under $20 which at time seemed like a lot with $$$ left over to buy food at the Fosters Freeze down the street. Those days are long over..

As soon as Pete said downtown by City Hall, I knew J & R Music World was the store. Worked downtown in the early 90s and that was definitely a cool spot. Grew up in North Jersey and my favorite record store was Mickey's Music in Passaic NJ - my first purchase ever, by myself with my own money - Dio - The Last in Line. Great stories!

PETE/ Martin. You guys nailed” my childhood. Those were the greatest times. My kids / unfortunately never got to experience my type of musical youth. Thx guys. Tremendous stuff 👍💯

@ScottBerry-yn8rw

Жыл бұрын

Gary, I saw in the chat that you mentioned Two Guys. I bought my first records there in Hagerstown, MD in the mid 70's. Where was yours?

@garyjoyce2160

Жыл бұрын

@@ScottBerry-yn8rw /. Hello. Two guys. KEARNY, New JERSEY. At the time , 3-4 miles from my then childhood home. 👍💯

@garyjoyce2160

Жыл бұрын

Excuse me. To be honest. Is was borderline of Kearny and HARRISON. NJ. Think it was HARRISON, I’m talking circa. 7️⃣0️⃣ or 7️⃣1️⃣ when my mom drove us. Maybe 1972

@ScottBerry-yn8rw

Жыл бұрын

@@garyjoyce2160 I started buying 45's around 1975 when I was 9.

@garyjoyce2160

Жыл бұрын

@@ScottBerry-yn8rw / I was born in 1962. Probably started buying 45s. Like age 11. ? Maybe 1️⃣9️⃣7️⃣3️⃣. Ish 👍💯

I’m a storyteller so I can’t pass this up. Pete might find this interesting. A Grand Funk Railroad story. This is ’72 maybe. My family just got a good cassette tape recover. One, I think Saturday, morning I woke up and my brother told me there was a Rock show on after I went to bed. I didn’t know about the show, it was called In Concert. Grand Funk Railroad was on it and he recorded the audio on the tape recorder. I think I had heard “Closer to Home,” which occasionally played on the radio, but the band was mostly unknown to me. I listened to the recording and was impressed. This was before they had their first real hit on the radio, “We’re an American Band.” I think there was only one song on the tape, “Closer to Home” live with a charity blurb in the middle of it. I remember the music fades out and there’s this documentary-like segment, I think narrated by Mark telling how the band supported some organization that helped drug addicts. Then the music comes back on, the end part of the song. Soon after hearing that I went across the river to Zellers, In Winnipeg, Canada, and checked out Grand Funk records. I bought Live Album, which influenced me a lot. I just checked KZread for that video and it's here. Grand Funk ABC In Concert '72, something like that. Actually the show is almost an hour long. I went to "Closer to Home." Video is lousy, but it's the first time I have seen it. The audio is amazing. Exactly as I remember it, every guitar chord. And the drug segment is there too. Not a record but it's part of the story that led me to buy that first GFR record.

I think every high school senior has decided to take an unofficial day off. We used to go to homeroom and check in, and then sneak out and go partying. We always succeeded, except for the time my best friend had to stave off a nosy janitor who took issue with our little escape.

At 45:15 your dog Tala(spelling?) was browsing your CD collection as you were talking about large CD boxes taking over and she knocked one of the shelf! So funny!

@seaoftranquilityprog

Жыл бұрын

She was looking for a specific Clutch CD!

Great episode! I'm probably ten years behind starting my music collection, but as a Canadian I definitely remember Sam the Record Man, A&A's, Records on Wheels, etc.

The “sacred store” as sung about by Don McLean in American Pie. Wonderful memories of spending hours at my local record store Stereo and Sound. Sadly it’s a Domino’s Pizza now miss those carefree days of yore. Cheers from The Captain!

Not as aggressive of a buyer as you two, but while in New Zealand got to see a reunion concert for Split Enz and joined the Frenz of the Enz, the fan club for Split Enz, Crowded House and other connected artists. Through the years of the club, I was able to purchase 13 live CDs, 4 compilation CDs and 13 DVDs (a mix of live stuff, interviews and TV appearances. Very little of this ever made it to the Internet. So sweet to have all this stuff from 2 of my favorite bands ever. Have s great day everyone!

Thank you for these nice stories which brings me back to my childhood / youth in Germany: By 1979 atz the age of 13 only I was pretty much a total STATUS QUO fan always looking for all their stuff, not knowing about their back catalogue... I do definately remember walking into a record store and the ( alternative) dude behind the counter knowing me, always looking at "S" (and maybe even asking him a couple of times) already without greeting me saying very annoyed "NO! There is NO new STATUS QUO album!" So by the time the "Whatever you want" album was released a friend and I pretty much asking at another place so long and hard, so we knew for sure, when the album would finally be in stores: That must have been October 12, 1979, to be precise! Remember very well we were there when the shop opened, even before! Probably even skipped school just to be there that morning!! Had to wait when they opened the packages from the label/distributer and almost ripping the vinyl off from them! Just looking at the cover, the back cover, the inlay with all the lyrics, I was freaking out. Of course we both bought the album. Remember nervously going/racing home and listening to the album the very first time!!! Those were the days I will never forget! (In related news: Hey Pete Pardo: Please check out "Breaking away" from that album just to correct your opinion about Status Quo, thank you! :-)

I had a friend that worked at wherehouse records here in LA back in high school. At the time he was working along side Stephen Pearcy from Ratt. Tower records which wasn't far away is where I'd go listen to cd's. It was a big LA Lakers hang out. I remember attending an off campus party back in college. My friends attended loyola college. A mutual friend ran up to me and said you have to hear this band (8 track). Turned out it was van halen's first album. I bought it the next day played it in my car everyday for about a month.

In the mid 70’s, I rode my bike to the local record store to see what was new. I walked in and the owner said the new Black Sabbath album was out which was Sabotage. I had Vol 4 and played it all the time. I bought the album, went home, and went straight to my room to play it. My Mother got home and began to make dinner. My Dad came home and I was called to dinner. My mom says “is that a new Black Sabbath album ? The voice sounds like that Ozzie guy.” When I got Bat out of Hell, my mom asked if Todd Rundgren was playing guitar. She had an ear and took an interest in what l was into. Miss you mom !

@seaoftranquilityprog

Жыл бұрын

GREAT to hear stories like that!

Martin, I was working at the flagship A&A's on Yonge when we pulled all the vinyl out of the racks and bins to make way for CDs. We were told just to fire it all into shipping boxes haphazardly. Couldn't believe it was really happening.

@MartinPopoff

Жыл бұрын

Wow, crazy story. I didn't get to my story about being allowed upstairs into Sam's to buy vinyl cheap.

Always a fun topic.... growing up there were two main stores in our area (NJ) that we hit: Jack's in Red Bank, NJ and Platter Puss in Matawan, NJ. Jack's is still alive and kicking and great as ever. Platter Puss went under sometime in the 90s. Recently I found an image of Platter Puss' logo and was able to get a shirt made of it. Once into high school I remember going into NYC on a field trip and we walked into Tower at 4th & Bway. It was like nothing I'd ever seen before. Mecca. Can clearly still remember that first visit and just being overwhelmed. Not far away was Second Coming Records on Sullivan just south of Washington Square park. This is where I amassed most of my Van Halen imports, bootlegs and promos. They got busted for bootlegs in 90s and shut down. Like Platter Puss I had a shirt made from their logo. Those places meant so much to me I wanted to be able to wear the shirts in their memory.

There’s still a Peaches Records in New Orleans.

Martin’s story of Toronto and Vancouver are in my wheel house. I spent the first 47 years living close to Hamilton … so trips to Toronto for Sam the Record Man and A&As were awesome. I have been in Victoria for the past 9 years, so Lyle’s Place was a neat place (sadly closed), and another great one in Victoria is the Turntable, an awesome place in Fan Tan Alley. I was just in Vancouver over this past week, and I went to Zulu, which I love for used music. I just found a couple of rare gems. I also love Neptoon in Vancouver which has been around since the 80s. I love that memory lane … and especially tying it into the present! Nice job gentlemen!

@MorryB

Жыл бұрын

Sad to hear that Lyle's closed. Always used to look forward to trips to Victoria (I'm from Calgary) to check it out, although I rarely found something I wanted, lol. Loved browsing the little shop in Fan Tan Alley too!

@jonfargo7321

Жыл бұрын

Those music stores at Yonge & Dundas in Toronto was a music fan’s wet dream. I would hit them all and price everything I wanted to buy and purchase where it was cheapest. I remember the first time walking into HMV and thought I walked into the future. Music everywhere, listening stations, it had it all. If you wanted a bit of nostalgia you walked down the street to Sam the Record Man. You’re right Martin about Sonic Boom. I’m always a bit disappointed when I check it out. Great episode.

Great show Martin and Pete! I'm glad I got experience the tail end of the record store days in the early 90's. Growing up in SoCal I remember going to Tower Records in Costa Mesa and the Mega Store location in Long Beach. Tower was the place for import CDs and CD singles. We also had various Moby Disc, The Wharehouse, and Virgin locations. I'd also go out to Vegas to visit my grandparents, and shop out there too. They had a local chain call Record City, and they also had a Mega Store , and Wharehouse locations too. Fun times!

Just a little insight into why modern record store may be a little disappointing to old heads…. Back in the day, not only was everything in pressing nearly all of the time, but stores could send over stock back, so there was MUCH less risk. If the new Atrophy record didn’t sell, send it back to the distributor! Today…nope. We have to pay outright for records, and if they don’t sell, we’re just sh*t out of luck. Add to that the fact that a $30 record retail costs the shop at least $22…recipe for disaster. Each week you’re putting up thousands of dollars for new records that you may not sell any time soon or ever. Modern shops rely on whatever used stuff they can get for less money to stay afloat. We make very little off of new releases. Definitely not enough to stay afloat on alone. And stuff is just not in pressing all the time. You would think…hey Slayer is a popular band…I should be able to walk into a shop and get a copy of Seasons in the Abyss. Nope. Not always. It may get pressed once every 5 to 10 years and when it’s gone it’s gone.

I used to love going to Tower Records back in the day. I had to go a little bit out of my way on the way home from work but it was worth it. They always had unusual stuff of every genre you could think of. I picked up some cool jazz albums by people like Weather Report among others, as well as unusual stuff from all parts of the world. If your ears were open that was the place to go. I miss Tower Records. In fact I just remembered that on my one and only visit to New York City (so far), where did I go? Tower Records of course. I bought a Bob Mould cd which I think, at the time, wasn't out in the UK yet. Good times.

You can tell music means something to us. I have a difficult time remembering what I had for lunch yesterday but when it comes to hearing certain bands or buying music , there are many memories that I have that I can remember in detail. Loving these stories and I hope you guys do it again. I remember how Kiss became the beginning of my love for hard rock and metal. 9 years old in 1976 at a skating rink in Winston Salem NC. The dj played calling Dr Love and it changed everything for me. I took my allowance money and bought Rock and Roll Over. My dad saw it and he flipped out. He said he didn't want me to ever ask for another record by them. Fast forward a year later, my parents have split up, living with my mom and I'm visiting my dad on the weekend. We went to Sky City and he takes me to the record sectional. He's flipping through the Kiss albums asking me if I have them. He finally comes to one that I didn't have and walks to the register to buy it for me. I'll never forget that. He passed away 8 years ago. Oh ..the album was Destroyer. I wish I still had the copy he bought me.

I spent most of my time in a local independent record store called Checkered Records and became good friends with the owner. He recommended tons of stuff over the years. I would literally spend hours and sometimes entire days there hanging out, talking music and buying records and cd's. Sadly he passed away in 2015 but I was glad that he was able to see the record revival that has happened. I wish he was still around. One memory that I always think of from about 1987 was in the dollar bin there was a white album with a yellow sun on the cover that looked intriguing...it was King Crimson Lark's Tongues and he said "let me put it on for you" so I'm looking around some more and said "I thought you where putting that on" he said "I did"....as you know there is such a long slow build up on the first cut but when that molten riff came in my head blew off! Loved that band ever since! Great show guys!

@bigscarysteve

Жыл бұрын

"Checkered Records"? Man, what a great name for a store! Love it!

I remember when Eagles released "Long Road Out of the Eden"in Denmark , people was standing in line to buy the album and when the FONA store opened they just started handing out the album from the shipping boxes. A friend of mine waited to go there until his lunch break and it was sold out. He was told that they only got 1000 copies and they were gone within 2 hours

It sucks that I never got to experience these times. I'm too young to have. Funnily enough, I actually do what you guys did where I would find a CD that I wanted and if I didn't have the money, I would hide it in the very back of the CD racks! I'm not kidding. Always thinking it would be there next time. Sometimes I forgot but usually it worked! I don't do it that much anymore, but I still attempt it, hahaha! Great stories

@jimquinn5316

Жыл бұрын

I think quite a few of us did that Spencer , I certainly did ....

Pete and Martin : Very much enjoyed this special show going down memory lane! So many happy music buying experiences... I have 2 in particular: I had this really cool job working in the exhibits shop of the Bronx Zoo (1989-90) where we would create artistically fashioned vines, bamboo, animal skulls and install these throughout the exhibits. On Thursday night was payday... So I'd take the subway to downtown Manhattan - first getting an organic salad at Whole Foods on Prince Street, sitting on a stoop on a warm sunny summer evening and then proceed to hit all my favorite record stores (books too! for books on modern art)... the stores were: Rocks in Your Head, Spring Street Books, Jaap Rietman Fine Art Editions, Lunch For Your Ears, Bleecker Bob's, Thompson St Records, Grand St Records, Mercer St Records, Academy Books + Records, Mothers Music, The Strand, St Mark's Books etc... of course Tower Records - so happy when Pete mentioned J&R Music @ City Hall! From 1994-2006... I worked @ Tower Nanuet and later Tower Paramus as a 'Classical Buyer/ Product Specialist' (also Jazz)... I had such great fun interacting with my fellow coworkers and customers... each day I experienced so many thrills and excitement all centered on every kind of music that was right at my fingertips! Now, these days when I am visiting my sister in New Jersey... my great annual thrill is to take that Christmas Holiday buying trip to the Princeton Records Exchange... where you can find virtually anything and everything - often in gently used condition and at least 50% Off! After, spending a few hours shopping and smiling to myself remembering funny record buying memories - I would happily drive back to the house with my music haul! Thank you and please keep up your good work!

The Ohio State University in the early eighties on and off High Street was mind-blowing for buying records when I started buying vinyl. I am counting seven great record stores within a twenty minute walk, if that. Singing Dog, Moles, Used Kids, Mangolia Thunderpussy... And a drug store chain that sold new releases cheaper than anyone else to get you to buy your shaving cream and other items there. How about Gary Moore's Back on the Street used for a quarter? A Whitesnake Ready An' Willing used American promo for a couple bucks? (Yes, Pete, there was American pressings of early Whitesnake albums.) There were huge diverse sections of used records for a dollar, 75, fifty and 25 cents. Of course there were other records for just a few bucks. One thing I still own is Lynyrd Skynyrd's Live 'One More From The Road' on cassette for a buck. Coming back to Cleveland I had two great stores for imports and domestic metal and punk. With the latest Kerrang! imported magazine to tell you what the new stuff sounded like. One of those stores, Chris' Warped Records, also had the coolest patches. Not only was I buying Whitesnake and Gillan records in 1980-2, I still have the patches. We still have cool stores here in Cleveland. Like My Mind's Eye in Lakewood for example. Others are opening, specializing in vinyl. It is not the same, but I still get to enjoy that store experience. Life is good.

I started buying music in the early 60's and a lot of record shops where I live, in Liverpool UK, used to have booths where you could ask to listen to the latest albums and they would put it on for you . I remember listening to the first Black Sabbath album and of course loving it. Happy days.

@bigscarysteve

Жыл бұрын

I remember reading somewhere that Liverpool was a bit unusual in its musical tastes because sailors would bring records from all over the world there. That fact was used to credit the influence on the Beatles. My question is, although there may have been a global influence in people's private record collections, was this stuff available in record shops so that the general public got in on it? Or was it more just the hardcore people from the music scene who were exposed to that?

I also blew some serious cash at NEARfest. I was lucky that I lived nearby and could just stay at home and have friends stay over. We had a great time all those years, much thanks to Rob and Chad.

I forgot all about GEM. I got some cool stuff on there. Thanks for bringing that up!

I love to listen to the storys. I remember a lot of these as well. Thank you for great entertainment. :)

Wonderful episode! Brought back so many memories for my childhood and youth☺️

Plan 9 in Richmond Virginia was the place I basically lived in during the 80s and 90s. Loved that high of browsing the new releases and digging through the used vinyl and finding that album you had been searching for years but never saw. You’d excitedly put it in your stack of albums under your arm and then get to the car and look at it again just to make sure you really did get it. Great times.

The anticipation of waiting for that new album to arrive at the shop or finding that rare picture disc in the bargain bin for pennies, happy days that are sadly long gone, great show guys.

I enjoyed hearing this and bringing back my own memories. I live in Europe where record stores still exist, but they are slowly fading.

Record store shopping was one of my favorite pastimes back in the day. Tower and Aaron's records in Hollywood, Middle Earth in Downey, CA, Wild Rags in Montebello and Poobah's in Pasadena. Those were the days!💕

My collection in the late 70’s was mainly built on Caldor and Lechmere in MA. I vividly remember the night I picked up Beggar’s Banquet from Caldor and Goats Head Soup at Lechmere. I eventually graduated to Main Street records in downtown Springfield MA where I discovered used and bootlegs records.

First half of the 80's a buddy and I would make the 3 hour drive to the east San Francisco Bay area with a wallet full of cash and an empty box. We'd hit Warped Records in San Lorenzo where Tony always had good stuff, second stop was Fly's Records in Hayward where they got tons of promos and we'd get 15-30 albums for like $60. Tim would put on something we'd didn't know about for 20 seconds and we'd say "I need that one". When he'd total us out, he rounded down all the prices. Last stop would be Berkeley where there were 3 great stores down by the college. We'd get slices of pizza from Blondies and hit the final three stores, finding good imports & bootlegs there. The drive home, with empty wallets, would be non-stop talking about our purchases and the 3 hours would go by so fast. We'd do that about 3-4 times a year. All the NWOBHM stuff was being released at that time. Good Memories. Great show guys!

Awesome episode guys! I was born in 89 and I envy your record store and music buying experiences. I got a little bit of it when I was a kid/early teenager going to Strawberries (if anyone remembers that store lol). I live in Florida now and have a record store a town over that is great and has been there since the 80s, I spend hours in there haha thanks guys great convo!

Hi 👋 I only just discovered your channel in the new year. But I am really loving watching your videos and your music knowledge is top notch. Keep it up.

One night late at night as I was falling a sleep on my guitar players couch he suddenly woke me up to check out this band. They were a cross between a Judas Priest and a Iron Maiden. with a touch of Accept but with this killer vocalist. We were both in agreement that this was the sound we were after. At the end of the video we barely caught the name of the band Queen something and they used the cool little Lowenbrau things to spell it. About a week later maybe more I was in a record store shuffling thru the bins. As I passed the "Q" bin I saw the big stack of Quiet Riot Metal Health records sitting there. I already had my copy so I was just moving passed, when I noticed towards the back was a different color record. Maybe 4-5 copies of what I immediately thought was a import of QR1 or QR2. Well it wasn't it was the Queensryche EP, It wasn't until I turned it over and saw The Queen of the Ryche listed as a song tittle that it all came flashing back. Grabbed a copy of that EP right then and there.

Such cool stories. I have alot of memories back in the day. One of my favorite memories was going to the local record store which was called Lou's Records. The cool thing about his store was he carried everything and I mean everything. Imports, boot legs and other oddities. I loved that store. A huge Scorpions fan. I remember finding rare singles and imports. Fun times. I miss those times. The rocord store is still there. They just can't carry the overhead like they did back in the day. Thank you Pete and Martin for all these great stories. Love it. A part of me feels we will never get that excitement back.

That brought back great memories of my record buying trips to Toronto from the mid 70s to the mid 80s. Like Pete I would usually buy 5 to 10 albums each trip. There must have been a dozen or more record stores between Bloor Street and King Street on Yonge. It seemed every store had a different album that I wanted on sale, 2.99, 4.99. Thanks for the trip back to those fun times.

Pete sounds like your mom and dad were really cool about you going in to buy music. The story you told about your dad picking up the album for you that is just so cool. And yes, I had a lot of stuff when I went into record stores. I remembered where I hid them when I came back and bought them.

❤️ the channel. I remember since childhood making trips from CT over the border, no toll 🤪, to the Wappingers Falls, Poughkeepsie, NY area most notably the South Hills Mall hitting up various stores over the years. Lechmere in the Galleria was always a favorite in the 90s with tons of imports. When they went out there were some great deals to be had. (CDs)

Awesome to hear your guys stories loved this!! Sadly im only 18 so i didn’t experience this but glad im hear to appreciate it

Great show guys! Being Canadian and hearing Martin talk about those old Canadian record chains really brought back a lot of memories. I am so glad to have been brought up when I was...record stores and arcades. Kids are really missing out these days. Hope that you guys revisit this topic. Thanks!

Hope to see you back in Worcester!

Great memories Pete. I lived in Jersey but my dad was a recording engineer so I would take advantage of any days off from school and the summer vacation and go to work with him. As I got older I was allowed to walk around, and spent so much time and money at J&R, Colony in Times Square. The good old days.

Awesome video! I remember back in the late 7Os only going to places like Kmart and JCPenny to pick up albums. Then, I stumbled across a store called “Warehouse Records” and thought, “Oh $#|+, a store that just sells records?! This awesome!” Then, I suddenly found places like Licorice Pizza, Music Plus and the best..Tower Records.

Great stories,guys.Me and my collecting friend would hit pawn shops for used cds in the 90s and early 2000s.I live in NC,so there are military bases.We racked up on metal,coming home with stacks.Good times 😀

This is a great episode. It brings back so many memories of my teenage years going to record stores and head shops flipping through all the albums. The great thing about most head shops was that they were playing albums from the time they opened until they closed. They would put something on and a song or two into it you would think…WHAT is that?😂 Also, Martin bringing out the Peaches crate was great!!! I used to hit Peaches Records every time I was in Memphis. Can not tell you how many cutouts I bought at Peaches for 99 cents!!!

Record Row in Vancouver B.C. on Seymour Street was so much fun; Martin mentioned A&B Sound as well as A & A, was also Track Records, Odyssey Imports, Sam the Record Man and Collector's RPM with a mini Kiss and Beatles museum section. Scratch Records, Zulu in Kitsilano, Scrape for all your metal needs later on. Of course Kelly's was where alot of us Western Canadians bought our early stuff, as well as through department stores like Woodward's (Transonic) etc. Great times and great topic fellas!

One of my favorite episodes. Thanks gents & here's to the music.

Hearing about all these stories is really cool. Makes me a little sad I probably won't experience stuff like that (being born in 2004), but I also think about the fact that I'm born into a time where I can find basically any music I want when I want it. I only ever got into this stuff because of the internet. I have started buying CDs of albums I like even if most of my listening happens on streaming services. Really enjoy looking through the little booklets and info about the album/band

Popoff and Pardo are at it again with tales of their earlier days and how and when they bought music. Some great stories told. When I was a kid back in the 60s, department stores were the primary places where you bought records. The only shopping center was about 5 blocks from the house and can remember browsing through the Grant's and Neisner's record racks and when the local J.M. Fields opened up, they had more records and some cutouts. When the first mall opened in 1969, it had a record store and records started showing up everywhere - even in the Singer's [the sewing machine store] in the mall. The prices in the record store were outrageous. Soon thereafter, the local head shop known as the Subterranean Circus opened up a record area in the back of the store and as a younger teenager, spent a lot of time there. Racks of records on the wall and a room dedicated to record bins. Bought a lot there. Then local record stores began opening and you could spend the day browsing various stores. Then remember a first visit to the Tower Records in the Village on an early visit to Manhattan. Like Pete, a place I could spend hours and always dedicated time to go to that store on any subsequent trip. Just great fun. Sort of miss the days of going just to browse the physical albums with the only goal of picking something completely new to try out. Enough rambling here. Thanks for the fun show, gents. There ya go!

Nice stories, guys; fun conversation overall; this one could have go on for at least an hour more. Thanks for the show! 🍺🤘

Growing up in Montreal, Canada I had amazing memories at a record store on Crescent street called Rock En Stock (they also owned the Banzai record label) during the 80’s and early 90’s. The entire downstairs was dedicated to metal and you could find vinyl / cassettes (CD’s later) of Metal from every label including all international imports. I went every Friday and spent the cash I earned through the week. Staff were great and very knowledgeable.

Great episode! It brought back alot of memories. I used to get the J&R catalog in the mail all the time. I remember Peaches, Strawberries, etc. Also stores such as Caldor, Bradlees, Sears, and Macy's sold albums. But the best local stores were Cutlers and Festoons in New Haven, Merles in Milford and Music Box in Hamden, all in CT!

Great episode guys , brings back lots of amazing memories! Even though im 7 years older and live across the pond our lives are so similar! We had the famouse Shades records off wardour street london where id do exactly the same thing but with American imports , first bon jovi , aldo nova , ratt ep , to name just a few , all nicely shrinkwrapped with the plastic inner sleeve instead of the UK paper..shame those times have gone , but still get excited buying cds now from HMV..

Great episode! I felt like I was in a bar with you guys! Well done.

Man, I remember so many great record stores. My dad spent 26 yrs in the Army and retired at Ft Polk, LA. The post exchange on base had such a great music selection in the 70's and 80's. I had great stores such as Radio America and Head South Records in Leesville, LA. Bookworm's Apple and Harvest Records in Lake Charles, LA, Stan's Records in Shreveport, LA and Cactus Music in Houston, TX were my favorites within my region. Of course, the mall locations of Camelot, Music Land and Sound Warehouse were must visits as well. Man, I miss those days!

Great chat... its amazing to think that we learned about bands by browsing and reading music magazines...so much trial and error but great times. I was 12 when I made my first trip into Glasgow to visit Listen records in1980...how I wanted to buy a bullet belt..it never happened..

Good episode

A really great "talk story" episode. I started late in asking for, then buying my own music, at age 13 in 1981 with Eric Clapton's Another Ticket. The only thing I had before that was a 45rpm single of Love Will Find a Way by Pablo Cruise. I remember getting that right before we went to a drive-in movie and I was holding it happily in my hands the whole double feature. I was born and raised on Oahu before moving to Hawai'i Island and the record stores I remembered going to was Jelly's, one I believe was called Bullfrogs, Tower Records and the two I would later work for, Hungry Ear Records in Kailua and when I moved to near Hilo, JR's Music Shop.

Great memories! I would skip out of school, head into downtown and hit the main record chains (Kelly’s, A&B Sound, Phantasmagoria, and Odyssey Imports). This was between 1981-84. Would buy what I could and had a way that I could sneak the vinyl into my house (and eventually my room). Loved flipping through that vinyl!

We had a Peaches record store in Toledo, Ohio back in the late 70’s and early 80’s. Such great memories of spending hours digging through the albums and tapes. I can still vividly picture there “wall of 8 tracks”.

Love hearing about the Victoria stores, I went to visit family from the UK in the mid 90s, I spent so much money in Lyle's Place and A+B because it was so cheap. Like an oasis of cheap music!!

I've been fortunate to travel to many countries and checking out the local record shops is always high on my list. Pete's story about the basement store in the mall reminds me of visiting some kind of run down shopping centers in Asia (Singapore, Kuala Lampur) a few years ago and surprisingly, record shops were alive and well there. Some even focused entirely on metal.

Great episode. Brings back some great memories Kiss alive. My first album. And can completely remember the first time I was ever completely lost is a song. Let me Go Rock n Roll. Still one of my fav Kiss songs. Even though I saw kiss in 79 and Judas Priest opened for kiss and I was off into metal land and kinda left kiss in the dust

Remember getting the bus to Our Price in London to buy Holy Diver was so excited.

In the late 70's for new releases there was K-Mart or Camelot Records at the mall. But not mentioned was used record stores. I didn't have much money as a kid and bought a lot of used records. Also, bands like Zeppelin were easy to find new, but Mountain was not reprinted, and used was where I built my collection. Most of those stores only lasted a few years and were gone. I don't even remember their names anymore.

Yeah. I used to hide albums all the time in a world music section usually or classical section but I always remembered where I left them and they were always there. I usually came back the next day or a couple days later.

Being born in '87 my experience with record shops doesn't go back too long, but when I moved to Seattle in 2016 I decided ro really start collecting. Went to Zion's Gate on Pike and immediately found a reissue of Bergtatt by Ulver and it was all downhill from there. Started going to Everyday Music and Spin Cycle every weekend, and now after moving back to SF I've got Originals, Tunnel Music, Groove Merchant and Amoeba to visit (to say nothing of the many places in San Jose, Oakland and Berkeley)

Man this is awesome 👍. Brings back those memories of going to the record shop on Saturdays. The shop was Round Records near Loyola University in Chicago. They had Kerrang, Metal Forces zines, Metal t- shirts that were imported, most metal albums were "imported" Bought my first Anvil, Diamond Head, Maiden, Metallica, Megadeth albums. They had buttons/ badges behind the counter, posters. The dude who ran the shop turned me on to Zappa, Vanilla Fudge and he would open the album we wanted to check out after we bought it. I remember when he dropped the neddle on the first Mercyful Fate ep. Priceless. We also had "It's Here" records and the big trip was Rolling Stone records,Coconuts,Wax Trax for underground punk, metal and Tower records for anything. All cool stuff. Thanks. I use to pick up the Illinois Entertainer and The Reader. Fun times.

In central Massachusetts we had a used store called Al Bums that I got to find alto of stuff from imports to stuff dj's played at radio stations only. The other place who had a large import section from Europe to Australia and many other areas was mediaplay which only lasted few years

Cavages and National Record Mart, Eastern Hills Mall Williamsville, NY…Late 70’s. Besides records I bought belt buckles at National Record Mart. Doobie Brothers, ELO, Boston and Aerosmith. Great show guys!

Pete, not sure if you already did this: a good topic with Martin or Hudson Valley Squares would be concerts you never got to see though had the chance.

Said to my brother the other day, I remember in '72 following him and a school friend of his going to the shopping mall and buying led zep 4 symbols. Battle of evermore to this day reminds me of this split few seconds in time. Brings memories and tears to my eyes. My intro to led zep to be sure

When someone told me Pete's birthday is January 5th 1966 the same as mine I thought wow that's weird I knew there had to be a reason I like this guy. Great show.

in the 90's i used to drive an hour to hollywood on saturday and i had a route were i would hit all the music stores (amoeba wasn't around yet) at the same time i worked at a music store were the manager also worked for a drum company as the artist relations manager. i got to go to alot of cool shows, got some cool swag & memorabilia and i delivered drums to some of the bands he worked with (depending who it was) when he closed up shop i got some cool stuff like road cases and bass drum heads used on tours that i still have.

Great show guys...Martin I practically lived on Yonge street at my homes away from home, Sam's & A&A records on Yonge St. I must have spent 6 hours or more filtering through the albums A to Z between the two. This habit got even worse when HMV opened and I roamed the 3rd floor Heavy Metal/Hard Rock paradise! LOL! Thank Tim for me, he ran an excellent department! Do you remember Cheapies Records! We used to get all of our Imports at their place on College St. (then later at Yonge & Wellesley)... oh the memories! Thanks guys! Keep Rockin'!