And no, it’s Isolation….. ;)

Hello Simon and welcome to you too. I have a lot of respect for anyone who has fond memories of the B52s, the Stuffies AND David Lee Roth. I got a copy of Hup first year away from home too, but I think my purchase was inspired by the recent release of Never Loved Elvis – which I think I actually prefer.

BLTP, yes, track ‘em down and I’m hoping that this WAS actually in Hull.

The Wonder Stuff – Hup. First album I bought when away from home at College. I then received a copy of it in the post the next day from my brother who assumed I wouldn’t be able to afford music on my grant.

David Lee Roth – Just Like Paradise (single) – first CD I ever bought.

Eric Clapton – Unplugged. First album I bought for the lady who is now MrsB.

Do you really have all of the Monkees albums?! Do you have ‘Instant Replay’? If so, is it as bad as ‘people’ say? (I feel a bit false now naming a blog post after a record I haven’t actually heard…but it seemed apt)

Ill Man, Holy Bible is a top record, one that I still play regularly (well, when I’m in the mood for some angst anyway). I rarely listen to Joy Division these days. It’s not something you just feel like slapping on when you’re doing the washing up of an evening is it? And nothing wrong with a bit (or even a lot of) the Beach Boys. It’s probably healthier than too much Nirvana and Manics misery.

In Utero & Holy Bible were college, & then I was kidnapped by aliens and started buying Beach Boys albums. Nothing wrong with that as such, but it became a tad obsessive…….

I could soundtrack my life very easily, but pinning music down to specific events or times is a harder task.

Isn’t it funny the nostalgia we have for buying music isn’t it? I have a (too) large music collection, and you can pretty much plot my life by it. Even now I can remember when I bought most of them, and have vivid memories of playing many of them over and over again… Sneaking in NMTB is also a memory of mine, but not half as bad as sneaking in the 7″ Somethin Else by the Pistols with the notorious ‘Friggin in the Riggin’ on the B-Side…

How about the early copies of Kings of the Wild Frontier album with the A4 booklet inside… man that was cool!

P

PM, there is nothing better than blowing all your wages on records when you’re young is there? I had quite a few splurges… my parents were so tut-tutting about it all I had to get my friend to buy them for me on the side too.

Hello Jonathan and welcome. I think you’ve confirmed that the Wedding Present (George Best was it?) must have co-incided with ‘the big storm’. Funnily enough I was in the UK at that very time visiting my grandparents. I associate it though with [cough..] Rick Astley. One of the best things about music is how it is so wrapped in moments and memories and can just take you *instantly* to other places – it’s a bit of a recurring theme round here…

Coincidentally Radio 2 has just this moment started playing The Pretenders ‘Stop Your Sobbing’ which I spent the last of my grant money on at Dudley market, certainly in the same term and possibly in the same week.

And yes replacing vinyl with both The Damned and Roxy albums.

Another one is my parents used to have a newsagents in Billericay (ISBW probably drove past it tons of times as it was on the Brentwood Rd). When I first ran the shop while they were away (aged 17) had a mad spend up with the wages, bought Revolver (better than expected), Sgt Pepper (not as good as expected), Iggy Pop Lust For Life and Grace Jones Nightclubbing

It’s very nice of you, PM, to compare the impact of Culture Club to that of the Sex Pistols. I can just imagine the reaction if I’d bought that one home at such a young and tender age… Were you buying Machine Gun Etiquette for the first time or replacing vinyl?

And I’m not suprised in the least that you like Kraftwerk ISBW. They have a song called Tour de France, do they not?

My first CD was an Australian pop throwaway item by Kate Cebrano from the late 80s. F-C would probably like it.

My first purchase, when I too got a record player in my room, was ‘New Boots and Panties’ which I alternately turned up, to annoy my Mum, or turned down, to spare her if I was feeling merciful.(1978)

I had ‘New Gold Dream’ when I got to Uni and played it constantly at night, on my huge headphones, when I was homesick.(1982)

I bought ‘Let’s Dance’ by David Bowie the day after NC chucked me, and played ‘Modern Love’ very defiantly to make myself feel better.(1983)

A friend bought me ‘Neither Washington nor Moscow’ by the Redskins as a graduation present. Very apt for the times.(1985)

I bought a dodgy cassette of ‘In Utero’ in Bangkok on my first trip to the Far East, and listened to it all over Thailand until it snapped.(1994)

The first CD I succumbed to (having resisted the format for years) was Kraftwerk’s ‘The Mix’ (held out until 1998!)

And others too numerous to mention…

Having a record player in my bedroom – bought two singles The Stranglers Nuclear Device and The Damned – Just Can’t Be Happy Today

On getting my first CD player the first ‘Compact Discs’ bought were The Damned Machine Gun Etiquette and Roxy Music’s first album

During an art college trip to the V and A, I bolted off to Kensington High St and bought Iggy and The Stooges Raw Power

And I’ve just grabbed Head Hands And Feet’s fab single Warming Up The Band for a snip (£5! List price is £25)on the bay in celebration of my portable turntable..

PS thanks for the linky