I'll Still Be Thinking of You...and the Times We Had
Sunday, July 20, 2008 at 12:01AM The other day I asked you about your favorite bands and first albums. Of course, I failed to ask how your paid for those first albums when you were young.
Some people, like my dear Christian, provided the answer. His way of paying was apparently "shoplifting." Having just spent several days with Christian at Rocklahoma, I can safely say he's been making amends for that ever since. I mean, I've never seen anyone buy more band merch in my life!
Like most teenagers, I had a job - but it wasn't very strenuous. I did some light filing for my dad at his place of employment. No, I didn't work everyday. No, I didn't sling French fries, or bag groceries like my husband. See, my Eric had a pretty taxing job. He swears up and down he worked 40 hours a week during high school bagging groceries and pushing carts at the local Kroger. I remember going into Kroger and seeing him bag on occasion, but I don't know if his parents would have allowed a full time job during school. I digress.
My job paid just enough to keep me in new music. I can't remember buying many clothes, makeup or things like that - nope, it was always music. Back then (and we're talking about the 90s here) you could get good, unedited discs at Kmart. At that time, my one-horse hometown also had an independent music store, but the albums were more expensive there. Still, they had cool stuff like box sets, vinyl, CDs, rare cassettes, T-shirts, posters and more.
By the time I graduated high school I had a sizable music collection - it was the envy of my friends! During college, my music purchases plummeted to the lowest of my life. I didn't really have the money to buy music or go to shows, even though I had jobs then, too. I suppose I was responsible and chose food over entertainment. Now that I'm a full fledged adult, I've realized it's more important to be completely immature. As I write this, I have a case of Diet Coke and expired milk in my refrigerator. No, I'm not exaggerating. It's all about what is important in life.
So, how did you afford your music as a kid and teen? Did you beg, borrow, steal...or buy?
Reader Comments (17)
I had a huge music collection. During my fourth year of college, I flew to New Orleans for spring break. On the flight home I stupidly left my 50 most coveted CD's on the plane. This was years before I even knew what an MP3 player was. I cried for months after, for I was waaaaay to poor to replace everything. Sometimes, I still get sad and upset when I think of the good tunes I lost, but on the bright side, some other kid may have picked up that little black CD case and discovered the mind blowing awesomeness that was my CD collection.
That is the most beautiful sentence I've ever seen in my life, and more full of truth.
Anyway, to answer your question, I had a few jobs. My first job was at Riverfront Stadium carrying around heavy concessions begging for people to buy them, and tip me at the same time. That lasted for 10 games, and I decided I wasn't cut out for it. Then on to Kmart, where I stayed until college.
And I usually purchased used because of the great price. Occasionally I would buy stuff at Kmart and take advantage of that great 10% employee discount.
I spent a little during high school for music, although I was able to buy quite a bit more after I graduated and worked in a factory. However, now I wish I had less music and went to college and would have skipped the factory work entirely.
As a kid, I used my allowance to buy music. I also kept joining those music clubs.....10 albums for a penny! I would pay the first payment that was just shipping, order all the albums to complete the agreement and give the bill to my parents. I got in trouble but they paid it as long as they cancelled the membership. I'd wait a few months and do it again.....and the cycle repeated at least 3 times a year for a couple years until they refused to pay and stopped my allowance.
In high school, I had a job and I spent half my check a week on new music. When I got to college, I started working full-time and I spent only $50 a week on music. Somewhere around '96, I started what is now my career and I make decent money so I would spend anywhere from $50-$100 a week on CDs but it would all be bargain hunting (used bins, mom & pop stores, sales, etc.), I always shopped around. Tuesday and Saturday were my record store hunting days and I always found great stuff.....before all the stores started closing.
Now I have a wife, 2 kids, dog, and a house so the money spent is a little less. Some weeks I buy one disc, sometimes none. I make up for the lean times with a major spree once and a while. I figure by this time next year, my financial situation will be a lot better and I can go buy more
thank the old man for every cassette and cd i have bought,
we get all pirated stuff here, costs less than 100 rupees, (2 dollars) for an album, an mp3 cd with the entire discography of a bad would be 30 rupees (50 cents), a cassette used to cost 80 bycks (one dollar)
I had a decent collection going until everything started to become free with the internet...
Ok, not really. When I was a kid (ages 8-18) I bought all my albums, (Yes, I said albums), 8-Tracks, (Yes, I said 8-tracks), and cassettes (You know the drill), at my local music store in the mall... Bought my first album "The Jackson Five" at Ben Franklin for God's sake... But the second album was Bowie's "Young Americans"...
When I was in my "formative years" as a wild and fired up rocker in the bay area of California, I discovered the joys of used record and book stores... It was awesome; you could buy a handful of discs for $20, save them until you were sick of them, and then sell them back and buy more... I got tired of lugging albums in milk crates all over the country and finally sold them all off.
Never stole music. Well, then again, the 80's in the SF bay area was a hotbed for tape trading so I had at one time or another demos and debuts from a lot of up and coming new bands... Still remember when some kid gave me a copy of this tape by a band called Metalica.. Wish I still had the Vain demo that we "liberated" a copy of from Banquet Studios in Santa Rosa when we were recording there... It was the demo that would get them signed to Island a year later... I still say that demo kicked ass over the "No Respect" release.
I buy very little music now though. I'm too busy remixing the Tonight You Rock tracks for release later this summer...
Nowadays, I have a good job - married, with kids and when I want the tunes, I just go get em!
Joo!
Heath I Will Love You Forever!!
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