What is the first record you ever bought for yourself with your own money?

Gifts don't count nor do records you talked someone else (like a parent) into buying for you. This is the first record you gathered together your own pennies to buy.

"Record" means any format: 45, LP, EP, 8-track, cassette, or CD.

"Tears of a Clown" by Smokey Robinson and the Miracles on 45, which cost me 99 cents, is mine. My cool teenage cousin played it at her house when I was 10 and I fell in love. Once I bought my own copy, I played it over and over on a little phonograph in my room until I memorized every word.

Get-up-and-move music combined with lyrics about loneliness and heartbreak. I still love this song -- and I still know all the words.

I think that the first cassette I ever bought was probably a Tour of Duty (that tv show about the Vietnam war) compilation with all those 60's and 70's songs.

And after that it was Grave Dancers Union. I didn't buy it on CD because I didn't have my own cd player yet and I didn't want to only get the chance to listen to it in the livingroom on my parents stereo.

The first CD I ever bought was Hang Time, because they didn't have it on cassette in the store, so I had to buy it on CD... and what a first CD to buy...

I _think_ it was Belinda Carlisle's self-titled cassette.

My music collection really didn't get out of the top 40 until I found out about SA and alternative rock. Heh.

My first LP with my own money was either The Rolling Stones Tattoo You or something by Adam and the Ants.

I clearly remember being 8 or 9 and throwing a fit in the sears record dept until my Mom bought me Rock & Roll Over by KISS.

I wish I could say it was something cooler, but it was Rick Springfield, who to me still has that retro cool thing going on. Who doesn't love Jessie's Girl and a guy who would put his dog on his album covers? Also was my first concert in 1983 when I was in 8th grade. True story. 2 years later would be my first Soul Asylum show and the Dead Kennedys shortly thereafter so my musical taste progressed from there!

Well, I guess it was "Dookie" of Green Day when I was 11!!!
I'm really happy of that...It has just passed my 11 birthday and I took some of the money that my parents gave me and I bought that cd and I have discovered music, punk rock, but most important of all, I discovered Rock n' Roll!!!

lucy wrote:I wish I could say it was something cooler, but it was Rick Springfield, who to me still has that retro cool thing going on. Who doesn't love Jessie's Girl and a guy who would put his dog on his album covers? Also was my first concert in 1983 when I was in 8th grade. True story. 2 years later would be my first Soul Asylum show and the Dead Kennedys shortly thereafter so my musical taste progressed from there!

"Jessie's Girl" is great "guilty pleasures" listening. In high school, my friends and I were all crushing on Rick Springfield as Noah on General Hospital. On weekends, we'd all go cruising in my best friend's car and belt along to "Jessie's Girl" on the radio.

mystic_spiral_3 wrote:I think it was Belinda Carlisle's self-titled cassette.

Beauty and the Beat by the Go-Gos is still one of my all-time favorite albums. It's my instant "pick-me-up" record. I know all the words to all the songs. Wore out my cassette and had to replace it with a CD.

Thanks to everybody who has answered this question. This is my favorite question to ask in social settings because:
1. It's personal but not excessively revealing
2. The answers are always interesting
3. It usually brings up a pleasant memory for the person who is answering
4. The answer usually comes with a little story, like RadioGuy's story about throwing a fit in the record department at Sears, or Closer's story about choosing a cassette over a CD.
5. Sometimes people sing or hum or recite the "tiny little moment" that made them buy the record, which is always fun.

There's no need to be embarrassed about your first record. (Mine could so easily have been Merry Christmas from Alvin and the Chipmunks or a Partridge Family album, but my dad bought those for me.) I ask this question a lot and at least 50% of the time the first record someone bought bears NO resemblance to their adult taste in music. The contrast is so striking that the next question is usually "Do you remember what it was about this record that made you want to buy it?" Unfortunately, they usually can't remember. (And I don't think they're lying. I interrogated my own little brother about this and he couldn't remember.) It always makes me wish we could go back and ask their younger self to find out what caught their fancy back then.

So what was it about that first record that made you buy it?

For me, it was that circus sound that starts off the song and accompanies the first line of the chorus each time. And it mentions clowns. My favorite toy as a child was my stuffed clown doll.

My best friend in 5th grade played Belinda's "Heaven on Earth" tape at her birthday party. I really liked it so my grandma bought it for me. Then, when I had enough of my own money saved up, I decided to buy the self-titled cassette so I could have both available tapes in my collection.

Candy from a Stranger. When it came to buying cds, I was one of those latecomers. We never had much money growing up since my dad was still a grad student. At that time, I'd just started college with every penny of my money going toward tuition. I still managed to set enough aside to buy it.