When youth and poverty narrowed your record purchases

[arabicadabra]

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[Trane]

(Closed)

why is this thread closed ?

[Sturgeon's Lawyer]

It doesn't appear to be closed.

WTF ... My rekkid purchases are actually far smaller now than they were when I was younger and poorer; I have a lot of what I want, and there isnt' *that* much coming out that I *do* want - or if it does, it's ridiculously overpriced 400-CD box sets that I can't justify to myself.

[ronmac]

My purchases were hindered not by youth or poverty. They were hindered by a lack of quality product. I just don't see a whole lot of albums I need to have. That's partly due to the quality of material and the expense of massive box sets.

On another front, I have been an avid bootleg collector for more than 30 years. I've spent more money on them than I am prepared to tell my wife about. Once the FBI began cracking down on record shows, my quarterly purchasing excursions simply went away. When online downloads became the norm, I actually expanded my collection by a great measure, but with no expense.

On top of all that, my listening habits have changed dramatically. I have little time to listen to my own music, except while driving. (I don't have a man cave.) And, while I work, I listen to streaming music that is mostly pre-War.

[Gruno]

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Last edited by arabicadabra; 2 Days Ago at 05:30 PM.

Huh?

[Zeuhlmate]

I'm not a collector.
Then, my friends and classmates bought some, I bought some others and then we shared them on tape. We also had a public library - thats where I discovered Magma (MDK).

[markwoll]

Once the FBI began cracking down on record shows, my quarterly purchasing excursions simply went away. When online downloads became the norm, I actually expanded my collection by a great measure, but with no expense.

Since I went to very few record shows, why would the FBI crack down? Bootlegs?

As a relative youth I spent a lot of money ( at $3.29 - $5 a pop ) on vinyl. Most of my spare money was spent on music and self medication.
Later I tried my hand at gaming columbia house for cheap-ish cd's and used stuff. A friend was a warehouse manager for a local record shop chain.
He was generous with the demos.
When I had a decent job ( and dropped the self medication expenses )...well the collection of physical cd's has mushroomed. Downloading has always been the last resort. never the peer to peer "sharing".

[ronmac]

Since I went to very few record shows, why would the FBI crack down? Bootlegs?

Yep. The show I usually went to got nailed big-time the one time I missed it. Made national news.

[Gruno]

Yep. The show I usually went to got nailed big-time the one time I missed it. Made national news.

I've seen a couple of FBI raids at music conventions and swap meets. It's pretty intense.

[llanwydd]

Remember when an album cost five bucks? Those were the days. I went through youth and poverty but never really tightened the belt. I was drawn to cut-out bins, though.

[NogbadTheBad]

My record buying was probably 5% of the rate it is currently and I had to make damn sure I wanted the album before I bought it. Of course there was a lot of tape swapping amongst friends. Plus the information available was primarily friends then Sounds & NME.

[arabicadabra]

It's amazing - I posted my thoiughts and experience and a zillion people looked but no one commented. Cool, I thought, so I tried to delete it. But couldn't figure out how. So I did the next best thing, deleted all my comment and wrote closed. Then, to my utter shock, comments!

[Gruno]

<crickets>

Did anyone hear something just now….?

[Trane]

WTF ... My rekkid purchases are actually far smaller now than they were when I was younger and poorer; I have a lot of what I want, and there isnt' *that* much coming out that I *do* want - or if it does, it's ridiculously overpriced 400-CD box sets that I can't justify to myself.

I'd say it's about as equal nowadays as when I was a teen (at least in %age of revenues), but there was a big drop in the 85 to 95 years

Yeah, I'm not a fan of those big boxsets, where there are a few discs in everyone of those that I will struggle to find time (and interest enough) to spin them at least once.

Remember when an album cost five bucks? Those were the days. I went through youth and poverty but never really tightened the belt. I was drawn to cut-out bins, though.

Yeah, but those were often mid-prices with poor vinyl discs and cheap album sleeves (often downsized to single sleeve).

I always had newspaper delivery money (plus grassmowing or driveway shovelling or leaves raking), plus moderate parental allowance (my dad wanted to reward us to work for money, by giving us more of it) and a bit later on, student summer jobs

My record buying was probably 5% of the rate it is currently and I had to make damn sure I wanted the album before I bought it. Of course there was a lot of tape swapping amongst friends. Plus the information available was primarily friends then Sounds & NME.

My answer to that was second-had record store (Vortex Records on Gerrard and Church St), where for 3 or 4.00 a rock album, he took it back for 1.00 less a couple of months later, but there were other places that bought it back at zero loss (minus public transport fees) for what I had paid

I also bought XL-II S tapes to copy (parts of) albums I didn't really want to keep (whether I'd bought them new or second hand or borrowed from buddies)

It's amazing - I posted my thoughts and experience and a zillion people looked but no one commented. Cool, I thought, so I tried to delete it. But couldn't figure out how. So I did the next best thing, deleted all my comment and wrote closed. Then, to my utter shock, comments!

You would've gotten much more response had this been posted in the OT-A&M forum, methinks.

[Vic2012]

I didn't buy a lot of albums as a kid (from about ages 11-14). Usually if I heard a song by a band on the radio that I really liked I'd either buy the 45rpm, or take a chance on the album. I'd say most of the albums we had were my brother's. I remember one time he joined one of those clubs, "get ten albums for one penny" deals. He literally thought they were just selling ten albums for a penny and everything was hunky dory, not knowing he was obligated to buy a record at full price every week/month/whatever. My mom ended up calling them (Columbia Records, or something) and pleading with them to cancel the whole deal. I think we had to send most of the records back (or were allowed to keep a few of them). I'm cracking up just thinking about it right now.

So anyway, as a kid (13-14) I never really took chances on buying albums I wasn't sure about. My auto-buys were always Led Zeppelin and Chicago. I remember seeing the album covers of Yes albums and thinking how cool they were, but I was never brave enough to take a chance on them. Just didn't want to risk spending that little bit of cash I had on something I wasn't sure I'd like. I doubt that back then I was open minded enough to sit through 18-20 minute epics. If you could, well goody for you.......

[tom unbound]

Youth and poverty kept me from buying a butcher cover in Albany many a year ago. The store had two peeled and they wanted $65 each....

[ronmac]

Youth and poverty kept me from buying a butcher cover in Albany many a year ago. The store had two peeled and they wanted $65 each....

I was in NYC in the late 70s. It was in The Village, during one of my bi-annual bootleg excursions that I ALMOST dished out $300.00 for a nice clean one. Still kicking myself over it. I later bought a fake past-over to glue over a regular release and fooled more than one person with it.

15 years later, I almost bought a beautiful unpeeled copy for $700.00 in Philly, which I would have left unpeeled.

[Supersonic Scientist]

I don't think POVERTY entered into my album-buying decisions as much as wanting music that I REALLY REALLY liked over mildly-enjoyed music....let me explain:

In the '70's I never bought a single Tull album because the JT tunes that I did hear on the radio with regular rotation, Loco Breath, Aqua, X-eyed mary, skating away, were enough for me and I didn't need to hear them more-often. Same went for other bands like Cream, ZEP (way over-played on the radio in the '70's)....I was stocking up on Sabbath, Deep Purple, Mountain, TYA, Trower, then later on...YES, RUSH, RTF, Maha Orch. because THESE bands drew me in and I wanted to really explore them more.

However, Once I discovered the joys of flea markets, and garage sales, I filled in my collection fairly well. (and on the cheap too)

[Mr. Toad]

My purchases were hindered not by youth or poverty. They were hindered by a lack of quality product. I just don't see a whole lot of albums I need to have. That's partly due to the quality of material and the expense of massive box sets.

Nailed it!

[Rune Blackwings]

Poverty did not factor into my decisions until I was into my 20's and stopped having a readily available and renewable source of income from pizza delivery...

[Scott Bails]

I was always able to buy records and CDs. Poverty's influence came into effect with concerts. I've missed many a show due to a lack of funds - still do, actually.

When I was a kid and at the stage of discovery, I worked in a mall at a KB Toy Store, and right next door was a Wall-to-Wall Sound (remember those? With the black shag carpeting on the walls? ). So, I'd often cash my check at the store and then walk next door and spend half of it on records. Good times.

[Rune Blackwings]

I was always able to buy records and CDs. Poverty's influence came into effect with concerts. I've missed many a show due to a lack of funds - still do, actually.

When I was a kid and at the stage of discovery, I worked in a mall at a KB Toy Store, and right next door was a Wall-to-Wall Sound (remember those? With the black shag carpeting on the walls? ). So, I'd often cash my check at the store and then walk next door and spend half of it on records. Good times.

Wall to Wall! loved the old record stores-Listening Booth, Coconuts, Camelot...

[moecurlythanu]

Interesting. I really have no fond memories related to the big chain record stores, other than Peaches, and that only early on. Most of my digging was at the small indie shops.

[Tangram]

Didn't start buying until I was in college. Always worked and didn't really slow down until I started having kids as I neared 40. I have most of what I want, my taste leans toward classical at the moment. But yes I miss those days at Tower, Barnes and Noble, HMV, especially around Christmas when the would bring out some of the obscure stuff too. Ah the good old days! I have been saying it for years but I have to start pruning the collection as I am out of space. I recently went thru it starting at 'A' , just finished 'K', and I ran into stuff I hadn't played in years. Some in decades. Some deserved not to be heard and others I truly enjoyed and wondered why I buried them. And my collection is a fraction of some of the folks here. What do the folks with the thousand plus titles do?

[happytheman]

Our local shop sold albums for $4.99 or $2.99 for cutouts (this was mid 70's) so I dropped plenty of $'s in both categories during high school and shortly after that.. The "switch" to CD's came about just as my wife and I started our family so.. that took a bit of budgeting.. fortunately a "used" market flourished shortly after the $14-$16 CD hit the stores and I was able to buy used CD's for $8 or sometimes even less. Used albums became all the vogue at one of our stores and I snagged hundreds of them for less than $2 over the years.. Nowadays like many.. places like Sugarmegs / BigO help me fill out my live recordings collection.. I went to record shows back when they were hitting their stride in the '80's.. never bought a thing.. prices were well beyond my budget..