How did you get wrapped up in CD collecting?

[Delbert]

Well....being ancient....old....all that stuff, I actually started collecting 45's when I was a teenager back in the 50's and progressed to vinyl LP albums. I can remember the old days of rock n roll with Bill Haley & The Comets "Rock Around The Clock" and then the Elvis and Buddy Holly eras. I was also heavily into "soul" music as well. Played in some bands (Guitar & Bass) and it just got more and more into my system. When CDs appeared, I resisted. Sticking with my vinyl until the very late 80's and early 90's. I was a subscriber to a weekly publication called "GOLDMINE" that was a source of collecting, both buying and selling in the early 90's. During that time, I saw ads from an exotic seller in Indiana called 'DREAMDISC" and they had stuff I had never heard of before. I began ordering an collecting both US indies and imports from Europe and Japan and loved those bands. The music was made to order for my tastes. I began subscribing to publications like FRONTIERS, HARD ROXX, BOULEVARD and AOR. Now, to this day, I am still hooked. Although I don't post a whole lot here on HH, it is a daily stop for me to read what everyone else is saying and even learning some more about collecting each day.

[spectrefate]

My wife told me I had to do something with my time other than masturbating, and here I am!

[Evil Rick]

Great question! It will be interesting to read everyone's responses

 

I started collecting cassette tapes in the mid 80's. I did one of those mail order deals where you actually taped a penny to the postcard and mailed it in for a bunch of hair bands. I had a friend tape Headbangers ball every Saturday night and going by what they were playing I started buying used tapes at the local pawn shops and at the (only) music store in town. I would only pay .50 or $1.00 each and surprisingly almost all of them had no warping or other problems. When cd's came out I (correctly ) thought they would be no more than a fad like 8-tracks. After all, how the hell will they get a cd to play in a car stereo?? So I resisted switching formats at the time. I began buying mags like Metal Edge and was constantly on the lookout for new bands. Before I knew it I had over 600 tapes and was well on my way to what would become a pretty expensive hobby when I switched over to cd's.

[Fat Freddy]

I come from a family of collectors. My parents had a huge record collection and my Dad also collected stamps, sports pennants, and baseball caps.... so it was only natural that as a kid I collected every damn thing... bottle caps, baseball cards, Star Wars crap, etc., etc. My big passion was comic books. So I guess the obsessive collector's gene runs deep in my family, haha. I was 11 years old when MTV first hit the air and that's how I started getting interested in popular music ... I was in sixth grade at the time and AC/DC were all the rage (circa 1981) so I asked for an AC/DC tape for Christmas that year. My Grandma went to K-Mart and got me "LET THERE BE ROCK" (Thanks Grandma!) and that was the first album/cassette I ever owned. From there my cassette collection grew slowly over the next couple of years (being an unemployed kid with a piddly allowance, I never had any $ to buy albums/tapes on my own so I usually only got them on Birthdays or Christmas), till I turned 16 and was old enough to get my first part time job. Every week I'd run right to Crazy Eddies (his prices were IN-SAAAAAAAAANE y'know) and buy a new LP or cassette with part of my pay and keep my comic book collection up to date with the rest. The comic book collecting eventually went by the wayside, but the Music Geekery continues to this very day...Twenty something years and Lord only knows how many CDs/tapes/LPs later, I'm still at it!!

[Geoff]

My wife told me I had to do something with my time other than masturbating, and here I am!

 

Wow, Delbert, I had no idea you were so old!!! Damn, mate, that is ancient;

 

Anyway, I still don't consider what I do "collecting", though I guess technically it is. There was never a moment where I said to myself, 'I am going to start collecting hard rock CDs.' I just bought some tapes in 1994/1995 and I liked them. Got CDs where I could and loved them too - needed to hear more. So I then proceeded to buy every hard rock-looking band with long hair that I could find in any local or not-so-local CD shop I could find. I think it was via Metal Edge I started trading with our very own Taki, about 10 years ago and he hooked me up with some great "rarities", then the internet came and I bought everything of that. And here we are today... still not a "collector", but I have more CDs than anyone I've ever physically met (not counting you freaks ).

[Clutch]

And freaks we are Geoff. I started on records. My Aunt was married to a rocker back in the day (I was about 6 at the time). I dug the album covers artwork (Kiss especially) and bugged them enough until they gave me some. Then I bugged my parents until they bought me some. And hot damn Sam, the music was awesome. When cds came along I jumped in with both feet. For Christmas that year I worked everyone that would give me a present. My parents gave me Alice Cooper (Killer), Ozzy (Speak of the Devil) and Fates Warning (Awaken the Guardian). Many years and cds later (and concerts and beers and chicks and guns and fire trucks).......

[zacharyamelie]

I started collecting cassette tapes in the mid 80's. I did one of those mail order deals where you actually taped a penny to the postcard and mailed it in for a bunch of hair bands.

 

 

I hear ya! Loved getting 12 tapes for a penny, but hated having to pay for the rest of it. I remember buddies telling me to reply to Colombia House with a notice of mortallity and I could probably get out of my contract if I were dead.

 

I started buying or asking my parents to buy me music in the early to mid 80's with a tape here a tape there and a few thousand tapes later I started the 90's. I remember my dad freakin' out when he saw the cover of Poison's Look What The Cat Dragged In and saying "No way you're going to listen to these fags", he said it French and it doesn't sound so crude in French.

 

By 1992/1993, when I moved on to cd's, I had thousands of more tapes added on to my already huge collection. I remember I sold about half of them to a local used music shop, the first of its kind in my town. The Record Works was the name of the place and Rick was his name, gave me between .50 cents and 3$ a piece, I kept coming back every week with trays and boxes full for trade or sale. Most of the time I would take trade since he gave more for trade than cash. No surprise here, but I turned around and bought shit load of cd's from him. The store closed in 2003ish as did many of my local tape or cd buying shops from my youth.

 

I miss finding new music in shops, but the internet let's me do it in my underwear.

[Geoff]

I miss finding new music in shops, but the internet let's me do it in my underwear.

You mean you actually wore clothes when you went into music shops? Freak.

[Delbert]

I miss finding new music in shops, but the internet let's me do it in my underwear.

 

You nailed it there......the shops are dropping off faster than people getting laid off because of the economic downturn!!!!

At one time, the shops were everywhere....now, it's hard to find any listed in the yellow pages of a large city.

 

And Geoff......yeah......I knew you'd realize how old I am when you hear the name Bill Haley & The Comets......LOL!!!

[melodicrockoz]

I recall way back in the early 90's my friends & I would buy all the popular hard rock albums ie bon jovi, motley, mr big etc.. guess the collecting perhaps began when we all started buying metal edge & other mainstream hard rock mags where we were able to read about bands unheard of locally.

 

[Geoff]

I recall way back in the early 90's my friends & I would buy all the popular hard rock albums ie bon jovi, motley, mr big etc.. guess the collecting perhaps began when we all started buying metal edge & other mainstream hard rock mags where we were able to read about bands unheard of locally.

 

I don't think I've seen it anywhere, but how old are you, mate? I'm guessing not much older than me?

[melodicrockoz]

I recall way back in the early 90's my friends & I would buy all the popular hard rock albums ie bon jovi, motley, mr big etc.. guess the collecting perhaps began when we all started buying metal edge & other mainstream hard rock mags where we were able to read about bands unheard of locally.

 

I don't think I've seen it anywhere, but how old are you, mate? I'm guessing not much older than me?

 

I'm still 30 mate, I'm guessing we're around the same age group

[Geoff]

I recall way back in the early 90's my friends & I would buy all the popular hard rock albums ie bon jovi, motley, mr big etc.. guess the collecting perhaps began when we all started buying metal edge & other mainstream hard rock mags where we were able to read about bands unheard of locally.

 

I don't think I've seen it anywhere, but how old are you, mate? I'm guessing not much older than me?

 

I'm still 30 mate, I'm guessing we're around the same age group

Correct. I thought so...

[MButt]

what got me into rock music in the 1st place was hearing my older brother play Led Zeppelin & Deep Purple from his bedroom...when I started buying my own stuff...I started out with 8 tracks / cassettes then moved to LP's for the artwork, in the mid 70's, loved staring at the artwork and reading the inner sleeve's of each LP, in 1988 I bought my 1st cd, and started re-buying my favorites on cd...living in a small town I did not have access to record shops on a regular basis, so I had to do a lot of reading of rock mags to learn of new releases...wow was it a treat to get the new AC/DC, JUDAS PRIEST OR BLACK SABBATH album, they were so hard to get in my small town, I usually had to special order them, or have a family member pick up the new release when they visited the city....there were times I brought back 30 or more LP's on a record buying trip....when I finally go introduced to the internet things really changed for me, my collection/addiction really started to grow...back in 1998 when I first started buying on ebay, alot of the big time rarities we see now go for hundreds of dollars, were going for pennies or just a few dollars since very few knew what they were, or even had interest.....I still love looking through my collection and remember the time in my life I found a particular rarity or picked up a certain release...I can't imagine life without my music...

[Delbert]

I still love looking through my collection and remember the time in my life I found a particular rarity or picked up a certain release...I can't imagine life without my music...

 

A-h-h-h yes......I know exactly what you are talking about......You pull out something, whether it be CD, LP or tape and you recall back when!!!!

 

Hey Mike....you're not the only one showing off your age in your posts though!!!

[MButt]

Hey Del...I figured this post would date me, it is good though to see I am not alone!

 

 

 

I still love looking through my collection and remember the time in my life I found a particular rarity or picked up a certain release...I can't imagine life without my music...

 

A-h-h-h yes......I know exactly what you are talking about......You pull out something, whether it be CD, LP or tape and you recall back when!!!!

 

Hey Mike....you're not the only one showing off your age in your posts though!!!

[sharatan]

I still love looking through my collection and remember the time in my life I found a particular rarity or picked up a certain release...I can't imagine life without my music...

 

A-h-h-h yes......I know exactly what you are talking about......You pull out something, whether it be CD, LP or tape and you recall back when!!!!

 

Hey Mike....you're not the only one showing off your age in your posts though!!!

 

 

my friend,del, tell me please that when you're playing winterhawk on your cd player you're recalling some memories from jordan macarus performing these tunes.....

[aMetalhead1966]

One night, Darth Vader came down from planet Vulcan and told me that if I didn't start collecting CD's/TAPES that he'd melt my brain.

[Fat Freddy]

One night, Darth Vader came down from planet Vulcan and told me that if I didn't start collecting CD's/TAPES that he'd melt my brain.

 

Ohhhh sh*t... what movie is that from?? I know it but I can't place it!!

[sharatan]

One night, Darth Vader came down from planet Vulcan and told me that if I didn't start collecting CD's/TAPES that he'd melt my brain.

 

 

so by following his command, you missed all the great chicago bands...

[cdjunky41]

My music collection started with 8-tracks , after having about 50 in the collection, I got tired of wearing out my B.T.O.-NOT FRAGILE, MONTROSE-MONTROSE, EDGAR WINTER-THEY ONLY COME OUT AT NIGHT(I had to rebuy them every couple of months).

My mom & dad got me a record player at the tender age of 18. I quickly began purchasing anything that came from the U.K. (N.W.O.B.H.M.). I would also spend about $70.00 a week on lps. I got to about 1000 albums, before my friend said to me DUDE! "c.d.'s are like albums , but smaller and a better sound".

That part of my life was really hectic with moving from here and there. The albums became more of a hassel, than a hobby.

I didn't pick up a c.d. player till I was about 25 and quickly became a junky. When I look back at all the great c.d. stores that came and went. Good Times back then!!!

[Delbert]

my friend,del, tell me please that when you're playing winterhawk on your cd player you're recalling some memories from jordan macarus performing these tunes.....

 

You mean when I'm playing "Revival" on my turntable.....right?????

[melodicrockoz]

I still love looking through my collection and remember the time in my life I found a particular rarity or picked up a certain release...I can't imagine life without my music...

 

Amen M

[Doksdad]

I was hooked when my brother played Highway to Hell for me. From then on, I have been a music sponge. I was a jock in high school, but yet hung out with the metal kids. I introduced my school to cd's and Poison. I have had a mullet since the late 80's. I have been hunting new bands and cd's since the cd was introduced. My collecting has been less in the past few years with the kids needing stuff. That is not to say I don't hit the local music store's used selection or pawn shops. I am addicted lke we all are on this board. But I must say, the MUSIC is first an foremost, not so much the original copy. All hail the HH'ers on the board! We're a great family!!!

[sharatan]

my friend,del, tell me please that when you're playing winterhawk on your cd player you're recalling some memories from jordan macarus performing these tunes.....

 

You mean when I'm playing "Revival" on my turntable.....right?????

 

 

wow...my friend....i didn't know that you're still playing vinyls...and that's great!....revival has also been reissued on cd but my favorite-and one of my top 5 ever- is their live "there and back again" which was only issued on cd. i still have 2-3 handwritten letters from jordan...here's a photo from him, hope that it will wake up some memories....i'm spinning ace in the hole now....