As music lovers - we may have all started to 'feel' music earlier than others. I am always curious about when people started to buy their own music. What age were you? ...And have you now gone back to establish a library of respected artists who were doing it before you became a consumer?

My aunt gave me a few albums to get me started..


But I started to save my lunch money to buy my own..


I was hungry than a mug tho'

I started buying music when I was about 12 or 13, I think... saving up pocket money lol. then when I was 15 and had my first job it was on lol

11 - I bought Flashdance with my own money (about 10 years worth of pocket money), that cassette cost me $11.99 and I still have it and listen to it!

19 or so

I was 11. The first 45 I bought was I Can See Clearly Now by Johnny Nash.

I think I 12 when I bought my first album. It was Rhymes and Reasons by Carole King. I still have that album and the first album I ever owned -- Simon and Garfunkel Bridge Over Troubled Water. I got that for Christmas when I was 10.

Before that, all my records were hand-me-downs from my mom -- mostly soundtracks and classical. Mary Poppins, The King and I, The Sound of Music, South Pacific, Beethoven's Emperor Concerto, Bizet's Carmen Suite, etc.

11. I bought Zeppelin's Physical Graffiti with my allowance money.

Before that though I was a huge MJ fan and was also into Prince, although I never bought those albums myself. My sister did, so that doesn't count I suppose. I had that "whatever is hers is mine" mentality.

I had a regular allowance by age 7 or 8 (1988) that allowed me to start making my own purchases. I remember one summer, my family was on holiday out at the lake, no where near a store, and I realized I could buy music for myself and I surveyed some older kids how much cassettes cost.

After that I spent basically all my money on music.

I think the first cassette I bought was Paula Abdul Forever Your Girl because "Straight Up" was my cut but I don't recall the single being available. She went on to have more hits which was positive enforcement of my purchase.

For some reason I feel like "Straight Up" came out in 1987... but my memory isn't clear.

Forever Your Girl the album hit stores June 1988, so that makes perfect sense... that would have been the summer when I was curious about buying it.
[Edited 12/1/06 6:15am]

minneapolisgenius said:

I had the same mentality... I think it was encouraged by mom like "don't buy that if WE already own a copy" which is good, because my family all shared music.

In a way, through mp3s and mix cds, we still do.

I was 9. Cassingles were my shit!

CinisterCee said:

Yep. My sister didn't like it though. I'd steal her Zeppelin cassettes. Other than that, our taste in music was miles apart.

Nowdays, I get away with not having to buy a lot of stuff. In fact, even as a teenager, I'd just buy blank cassettes and tape from my friends. I'm such a freeloader! Then when I ran out of those, I'd take old "official" cassettes and put a piece of tape over the square holes and tape over those, take White-Out and paint over the original titles, and write the new info on there w/ black marker. I was broke.


[Edited 12/1/06 6:43am]

Probably around 10 or 11. I was in the sixth grade, so whatever age that would be.

Moonbeam said:

First one(s)?

i'd say 7. By then I was well aware of who Prince was, and I would always record his songs off of the radio.

vainandy said:

By grade 6 I had enough used cassettes for a table at a garage sale.

(I regret getting rid of some of those!)

when i was about 10 or 11, i bought a copy of this on tape. i lost it soon after, though. i was mad, too, i loved-ded that album.

Handclapsfingasnapz said:

...



Not till I was about 14, and had an after-school job-- Like Natisse said, then it was on ... Up 'til then, I had to rely on birthdays, Christmas, and the ocassional beg and plead to the parents, Lol!!

I think the first ones I bought with my own money were these:








...
[Edited 12/1/06 7:02am]

About 10 or so.

Graycap23 said:

Did you buy a scroll of sheet music?

Not until my late teens. My mom bought my brothers all kinda albums, but that bitch never bought me shit. These were the first three albums I bought on my own (on the same day with my first paycheck from Arby's!):

^ Is that the one with "Wicked Game" on it (sexiest video EVAR)?

Moonbeam said:

And they were cheap too


Had stacks of em'

TommyRoss said:

CinisterCee said:

That's the one, and I agree!

TommyRoss said:

Was that a Herb Ritts video? Seems like something sensual he would have been capable of.

It's a bit like 60s beefcake.

5 - first album bought for me.
6 - bought my own tape.. linda ronstadt The guy looked at me like...forget the shop that was on 68st and 2ve in NewYork in the 80's.."King Something"


My uncle had the bomb collection though....
[Edited 12/1/06 7:20am]

CinisterCee said:

Yes, he directed it. All his videos were good, but they all kinda looked the same. I remember his videos won both male and female VMA that year - Chris Isaak, Wicked Game and Janet, Love Will Never Do.

But yeah...that Wicked Game video. I was prayin' and a prayin' that I would make up with a messy head full of hair and sand so Chris Isaak would roll around with me and tell me how sexy I looked when I pout.

I never bought cassettes until the late 1980s/early 1990s when vinyl became scarce and CD players were too expensive to afford. I never had a CD player until 1994.

Growing up, I was constantly making tapes so I just couldn't see myself spending money on something I could make myself.