Thanks to Nashville Cream for letting us know that today is the 60th birthday of the 45-rpm single, a format that debuted with Eddy Arnold’s “Texarkana Baby” b/w “Bouquet Of Roses” on March 31, 1949. They’re having readers delve into their record collections to find their favorite examples of that format, but I figured it would be fun to share our first vinyl-single purchases, and where they occurred. My first crush of 45s—all of which were purchased at Pathmark, back when grocery stores thought music was a viable income stream and back when I thought “b/w” was some weird code for the song on side “b” being in black and white (I was young, I dunno)—after the jump.
I was not allowed to watch the movie, and would not see it until some 20 years after the fact.
See above.
Eddie Rabbitt, “Drivin’ My Life Away”
Not sure where I heard this song first. On the radio? I think the New York-area station that was broadcasting Mets games at the time (WHN) was a country station back then.
[Embedding disabled, because Sony thinks it's ... yeah.]
The a-side was actually “My Life,” but I liked this song better. Plus it used the b-word.
Happy Birthday, 45-RPM Records [Nashville Cream]
[Pic via Collector's Quest]
Glass Tiger: “Don’t Forget Me When I’m Gone.”
My wife’s first 45 was A-Ha’s “Take On Me.” She still owned it when we first met. Then I sat on it. She eventually married anyway, though she still holds it against me.
I’m always happy to answer this question ’cause it makes me look cool: Chaka Khan’s “I Feel For You”.
45rpm…that was the file extension they had before they came up with .mp3, right? I don’t think I downloaded any of those.
According to my mother when I was two I made her buy my the 45 for Maniac by Michael Sembello.
The first one I bought with my own money, though, was Mary Lou Lord’s Martian Saints. Which I feel like I just commented about the other day.
“Pac-Man Fever” and “Eat It”. I guess I had a thing for novelty records in 1982..
oh Geez. I think it was
Cherly Lynn “Got To Be Real” b-side: “Star Love”
or Mi-Sex “Computer Games”
@the rich girls are weeping: It’s torn to shreds but I still have it! I want to release a 7″ single at some point and do a shot-for-shot re-creation of that poster sleeve.
Kung Fu Fighting by Carl Douglas
I played it for my class in 4th Grade. maybe i should have turned out to be a DJ?
Ratt: Round and Round. Bought at Woolworth’s.
I was really into these read-along 45s that came with books chronicling the adventures of the Peanuts gang. Later, when I was 14, I got into the Sub Pop singles club, first edition, during its final six months. I enjoyed that Ween “Skycruiser” single.
I can remember my first three 45s:
Frank Sinatra’s “Theme from ‘New York, New York’”;
Vangelis’s “Chariots of Fire” (I could play the melody on my Casio keyboard!); and
Joey Scarbury’s aforementioned “Theme from ‘The Greatest American Hero’ (Believe It or Not).”
Then I think I graduated to stuff like Duran Duran and Culture Club in junior high.
Either Van Halen “Jump” b/w “House of Pain” or “Every Breath You Take.”
The first cassingle would probably be pretty scary.
I think it was “Reunited” by Peaches & Herb, which I still love.
The first one I bought myself was Hole’s “Retard Girl.” The first one of my parents’ that I played obsessively was Mike Nesmith’s “Joanne,” a song I still listen to quite often.
My first 45 was “Silly Love Songs” by Wings. I don’t care how uncool that sounds. I was something like 10 years old! And I still like that song.
Not the first I got but the 1st I bought was Ratt’s Round and Round
@judois: Me still love, too.
@DocStrange: Dad taught you well. Cheers to him.
I belong to the first generation that didn’t feel entirely obliged to pay for music, which means that I mostly just taped stuff off the radio. By the time I finally really got into music enough to consider spending money on it (or at least asking my parents to buy it for me), I’d already gotten in the habit of just getting stuff from the library — or buying used full-length albums on cassette, which for $3 or $4 was a pretty good deal anyways. I might’ve bought a couple used 45s here and there, too, but nothing momentous enough to lodge itself in my memory.
I do vividly remember the first cassingle I bought, though, when I was in high school: The Pharcyde’s “Passin’ Me By” b/w “Pork”.
I was under the impression that the first generation that didn’t feel entirely obliged to pay for music was born after 1980.
Sandy Nelson’s “Let There Be Drums”. My dad found it in the garbage, and knew his 3 year old son would love it.
My 1st 45 was “Whole Lotta love” All these years later, I still luv that damn song. PEACE!
@KikoJones: I didn’t pay for music in the 70’s or 80’s. My mom did.
Either “Down Under” by Men at Work or “Eye of the Tiger” by Survivor.
My first 45 was “A Fifth of Beethoven” by Walter Murphy and the Big Apple Band.
I grew up just as the record labels were killing off physical singles entirely, but since my dad is a hardcore audiophile, I had access to a bunch of prime early alternative/post-punk singles and other rock singles. When I was 5, I loved the then-new Tom Petty single “You Don’t Know How It Feels” so much, that my dad promised me he’d find the single for me for Christmas. When he did, he didn’t buy it because it was a CD single (my dad finds the idea of CD singles to be stupid) and featured a song called “Girl on LSD” as the second track. He bought me the then two year old “Friday I’m In Love” b/w “Halo” by The Cure instead. Even though I was upset with him at the time, little did he know that this purchase would cause me to start my love of alternative rock music and most notably, my love of the Cure (a band my dad thought was a tremendous singles band, but hadn’t made a decent full length album since “The Head on the Door”).
Rick Dees– “Disco Duck” and Queen– “We Are the Champions” b/w “Another One Bites the Dust.” I was 5 years old, and I still have both. I remember wanting the Queen single because it was the unofficial anthem of the Montreal Canadiens. First cassingle, on the other hand, many years later, was Public Enemy’s “Don’t Believe the Hype.”
@KikoJones: I was born in 1977, and three years later the “home taping is killing music” stickers started showing up on LP covers in the UK, so that’s close enough.
The first 45rpm record that I ever owned was: Tie Me Kangaroo Down Sport. It was 1963 and I was 9 yrs old. I played it SO many times over & over & over, I knew the lyrics fwds & bkwds and my parents threatened to break it and throw it out! lol ;o)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tie_Me_Kangaroo_Down,_Sport