Friday, October 05, 2012

The Compact Disc Turns 30


As we mark the 30th birthday of the seemingly irreplaceable compact disc, thought I would ask everyone what their first CD purchase was. As I noted in this July 2008 blog post, my first were Blondie's "AutoAmerican" and Thomas Newman's soundtrack to "Desperately Seeking Susan"/"Making Mr. Right." Although I have slowly been going digital in the last year or so, I still pick up discs by my top tier acts  ...  although I'm beginning to wonder why.

Please put your first CD in the comments (you don't even have to enter one of those annoying CAPTCHA codes!

WEDNESDAY, JULY 09, 2008



A week or two ago I ran into Andy Towle on Seventh Avenue around the corner from my apartment. He was on his afternoon gym break and I was heading home from lunch with Michael and a quick trip to Best Buy where I'd just picked up the new Aimee Mann CD. I was almost embarrassed to be holding it -- Andy went all-digital a few years ago when he moved back to New York, selling his entire CD collection in an all-or-nothing eBay auction in Los Angeles -- yet I still couldn't even fathom giving up my hard copies. As many of you know, I don't do well with change. Any change. The whole iTunes revolution has me reliving the nightmare of the last time something like this happened -- when they first tried to take away my precious record collection. I think some of the music shops where I grew up were selling compact discs by the early '80s, but the selection was always minimal and every time I'd walk past the section I'd giggle and think about how foolish people were going to feel someday for making the "switch," just like the Laserdisc crowd eventually did. (I'm so glad I never bought that "Eat to the Beat" laser disc, you know, "just in case"!) And even though CDs were clearly the way the industry was going by the mid-'80s, I can still remember being in denial well into 1988 when I bought what turned out to be my last two albums: Everything But the Girl's "Idlewild" and Jane Wiedlin's "Fur." I spent 1989 in mourning (how can I have music in different formats by my favorite groups????) then reached a compromise with myself by buying cassettes into the beginning of the new decade (at least I can play them in my car, I reasoned). And then shortly before moving to Southern California in May 1990, I finally cracked and bought my first CD, which I can still remember like it was yesterday.

I was at the Tower Records in the Poca Fiesta Shopping Center in my hometown of Mesa, Arizona, and I only had enough money to buy two (I think they were like $16.99 back then too, another reason I was beside myself!). When you're replacing hundreds of albums, how on earth do you pick just two? (It was very Sophia's Choice.) After giving it much thought -- and carrying Debbie Harry's "Def, Dumb and Blonde" all the way to the register twice, I finally bought Blondie's "AutoAmerican" (my not-so-secret favorite album of theirs) and the (hitherto unavailable) "Desperately Seeking Susan" instrumental soundtrack (I'm a huge Thomas Newman fan). A classic and something new seemed like a good beginning. And from there I never looked back, re-buying my entire 500-album collection and adding new stuff year and year. (I lugged my album collection from coast to coast until I finally got rid of the bulk of it before moving to New York in 1998. I held onto my LPs that never made it into the digital age and in the past couple of years I worked with a DJ friend to convert those albums into CDs, including Slow Children, Jimmy Destri, the Vels, Marilyn, Buckingham Nicks, Haircut 100, Annabella Lwin, some Waitresses, some Romeo Void. )

No sooner did I feel like my CD collection was finally "complete" and now here we go again. (OK, maybe there was a good 18 years building up to this point, but like I said about change -- can't stand it!) These days, I do use iTunes and Amazon's MP3 store from time to time. But it's kind of replaced my need for buying singles. Whether or not I ever make the official leap into the 21st century remains a mystery to me, but given the fact that you can do everything digital with the CD you bought -- plus you get to touch it and read it and love it -- I somehow doubt it. Now whatever you do, don't get me started on this vinyl resurgence ...

17 comments:

J said...

First CD single was Madonna- Frozen and album was Savage Garden- Savage Garden. Both still listened to now albeit digital copies.

Joe said...

First CD was ???? I remember the day, I bought a Sony DiscMan for my 16th birthday....but for the life of me I don't remember the CD I bought to go with it. Most likely Prince, Madonna, or George Michael since it was at Kmart I'm pretty sure there were no Depeche Mode, Cure, or B-52s CDs available....

Anonymous said...

Seal's 1st album in 1991. I was/am a little resistant to technology, but Trevor Horn's production pulled me over the edge.

Gary said...

First CD: Barbra Streisand's "Guilty" in mid 1980s.

Anonymous said...

the worst part of digital albums is not being able to glance across the room and be able to identify the album/cassette/cd on the shelf by it's binder art (except when columbia/epic/chrysalis did every cd side-cover in that orange font). out of shame i'd probably not put my music collection out on display these days anyway. nice site, by the way.

Tommy said...

I was somewhat late to getting a stereo with CD capabilities. First three CDs were Christmas presents in 1994: All 4 One's self-titled, Boyz II Men's II, and Counting Crows' August and Everything After.

Anonymous said...

1st CD - Queen - News of the World

Taffy said...

Funny - my LAST vinyl purchase was Debbie's Def Dumb & Blonde, bought in late '89. In early '90 I finally broke down, bought a CD player, and my initial purchases were the Sundays Reading, Writing and Arithmetic and Jimmy Somerville's Read My Lips. But I quickly went back to re-buy every Blondie album on CD. And practically everything else in my (rather large) vinyl collection. Including Def, Dumb & Blonde!

nojarama said...

I was a late bloomer to CD's as I adored vinyl too much to adapt. It wasn't until 1988 and Dead Or Alive released "Nude" in Japan (and nowhere else at the time), that I bit the bullet. Of course, not having a CD player, I had to have a friend of mine make me a few cassette copies of it for me to enjoy! looking at my bookcase full of them now (and another bookcase full of vinyl), I find it sad that everything's gone digital (including me & my terabyte filled hard drive full of tunes).

Christopher Mason said...

First CD purchase was the CD remix single of Prince's "Thieves in the Temple".

MelbourneMandyFan said...

My first CD was Kylie's Hand on Your Heart CD single (Oz edition). I didn't even have a CD player, I had to wait until Christmas for that. I think my first album was Kylie's Enjoy Yourself.

Anonymous said...

My first CD player was a $500 Yamaha component and the first CD I bought to make use of it was Jessye Norman singing Strauss's Four Last Songs on Philips. And with that purchase the floodgates opened!

Thomas said...

Do you remember those cardboard boxes that CDs used to come in? They were sold that way because they needed to fit CDs into LP display tables. I used to collect them like I would collect vinyl. Anyway, I haven't thought about that in years... First CD: What's New from Linda Rondstadt

Ron in California said...

First album was Blondie - Parallel Lines... First CD was The Pet Shop Boys - Please. I still stand by both of those choices!!!

James Greenlee said...

My first CD was George Michael's "Faith," when it was brand new. The last vinyl record is difficult to peg, because I had a coin-op jukebox for several years, and kept it well stocked. But the last 12" single was probably Dead or Alive "You Spin Me 'Round (Like a Record)." Last album, probably Michael Jackson's "Bad."

Richard said...

Stevie Nicks Bella Donna was the first CD I got.Still have that CD. I have that album in every form ever put out. Oh and it was two years later that I bought a CD player to finally listen to it with

Richard said...

Stevie Nicks Bella Donna was the first CD I got.Still have that CD. I have that album in every form ever put out. Oh and it was two years later that I bought a CD player to finally listen to it with