When You First Heard Your Favourite Record...

-back in 1995
-I was 17 yrs old
-at a friend's place playing ping-pong
-with three other friends, one of them the owner of the cd
-"pá, isto é mesmo fixe" or something like that
-I gave up my turn playing to get closer to the stereo

- 1989 (?)
- about 17
- at home
- no one
- I thought Coltrane was either God or Satan, and I didn't know which
- I'm sure at one point, I said, "Goddamn!"

God, I'm old. :-(

-1983.
-11
-At home. After falling in love with the "Let's Dance" single I was browsing through my mom's record collection and found this one, the only Bowie album she had.
-I think my mom may have been in the room when I put the record on the family-turntable.
-"Wat is dít nou?" [What's thís, then?]
-After hearing it I (confusedly) put the record back in its sleeve and left it there for another two years before I listened to it again.

I'll use my very first fave record as the example,
-summer 1989
-15
-at home
-alone
-this is amazing, it made me feel like I was in a dream, oddly sexual too
-I laid down on the floor, listened and gazed at the ceiling

...when was it? 21st March 1986, bunked off school early because I knew a package of records had arrived from Gema Records and I wanted to hear them before everyone else got to the stereo. I'd spent the last two school lessons staring at the girl I had a huge crush on and it was like the first day of spring, blue skied and clear etc, and I just wanted to hear some new Durutti music to calm my fevered soul.

...how old were you? 16

...where were you? My parent's music room, Cherry Close, Penarth, South Wales.

...who were you with? Nobody, I wanted to hear it in perfect silence
without my brother screaming "Can't I put the Clash on now?"

...what did you think? Holy fuck! That heart stopping chord sequence! The way that synth voice comes in during the middle section! Why am I suddenly crying? Doesn't the sky look impossibly blue? I wish I was on speaking terms with (name deleted). This is the most impossibly lovelorn music ever made! Can I play it again, now?

...what did you do or say? Nothing, I just played it over and over until someone else came home. I played the a-side a few more times too. I also taped it for my mate Nigel who adored it completely too.

oh yeah! Beatles - Abbey Road

and, umm, let me guess, "Come Together" made you feel oddly sexual? Or do you fancy big girls? ;-)

...when was it? summer 1976

...how old were you? 14

...where were you? on a grass embankment waiting my turn at an athletics carnival (of which i was the undisputed male *star* winning everything i entered.

...who were you with? me mates

...what did you think? jeesus i feel on top of the world

...what did you do or say? i looked closely at the handwriting on the dubbed tape for clues. i lay in the sun. i stretched.

NO! Actually, I didn't really even like that song until years later. I don't know how to describe it. Stuff like "Sun King" just made me feel all warm inside, like when you get a big crush on someone. Basically, this is my criteria for great records - does it make me want to grab a girl and kiss her. ;)

1990, late in the year
19
KLA radio station, UCLA campus
Nobody, just doing my show
I couldn't and didn't think, I just stood there, jaw agape, amazed
I resolved to find out more

- 2000, end of the year
- 27
- In Isabel's car, driving back from a trip to the supermarket near my Oxford place
- With Isabel
- I thought it sounded good, then I thought the extended break was really funny and cool, and I thought I should try and tape it off the radio.
- "Oh this is the new Daft Punk single, I haven't heard this" ... "Well I like it" ... "Are they ever going back into the tune?" ... (from memory!)

-1997
-16 yrs
-On the road to Virginia coming from Chapel Hill
-Friend Andy
-Damn.
-I dig.

How does this account for your Ruins fandom?

...when was it?
Sometime in the summer of 1984.
...how old were you?
Seventeen, I suppose.
...where were you?
At a friend's place on Cornelia Street in the West Village in NYC, seeing the video on some cable channel.
...who were you with?
My ex-friend Walt. Ex-friend now as we fell out of touch for a while once we both went to college, and when we met up again years later, we no longer had anything really in common apart from nostalgia.
...what did you think?
It instantly grabbed me....it was really like being struck by lighting. It made me deeply ashamed of the Motley Crue shirt I was wearing at the time (yes, I remember it that vividly). It was everything I've ever wanted out of music in one glorious span of three minutes and forty-nine seconds.
...what did you do or say?
I think I left the apartment without a word and literally ran across the street to Record Runner (now called Subeterrenean Records) and bought the 12".

...when was it? about 1992/2002/Whenever it came out/ditto
...how old were you? 14 years old/24 years old/about 15/about 18
...where were you? At home/On the London Underground/At school/New York City
...who were you with? On my own/On my own/on my own?With ILX poster Chuck tatum, and some friends
...what did you think? Perfect/Stunning/Beautiful and glorious/insane (in a good way_
...what did you do or say? Just sat there/Bought TWO copies/Took more acid/Felt like turning it up to 11

haha, my favorite album wasn't my favorite the second I bought it.

- 1997
- 19
- my parents car
- my parents
- i was nodding off in the backseat, listening to substance on headphones on the way back to my parents house for the weekend. when it got to the stereo-panning freestyle breakdown in the middle i knew this was the best record i would probably ever hear.
- grinned (until "state of the nation" came on)

...when was it?
July 1993
...how old were you?
21
...where were you?
in my brother's room
...who were you with?
my brother
...what did you think?
it was heavier and much more funky than I had expected...and I thought it may take some time to fully appreciate the collaboration as a whole
...what did you do or say?
I played it again

...when was it? - 1990
...how old were you? - 15
...where were you? - High School
...who were you with? - Friends
...what did you think? - Wow, I like side 2.
...what did you do or say? - Say to a friend, 'Have you heard this?'

I'll go with Built to Spill's "There's Nothing Wrong With Love."

when was it? -- First heard it in January 2000.

How old were you? 24

Where were you? Home at my apartment.

WWho were you with? My roommate.

What did you think? Wow, these are really good songs.

What did you say? Something along the lines of, this is way different than There's Nothing Wrong With Love.

...when was it? May 1997, a Sunday, just after Sunday lunch.
...how old were you? It was a few days before I turned 18.
...where were you? In my bedroom, lying on the floor.
...who were you with? No one. My parents were downstairs and my brothers, who'd been over for lunch (one of them had given me the CD, it was the day before it came out and he worked for the distribution company).
...what did you think? WOW.
...what did you do or say? I'd arranged to play football with some friends at 3pm, and after the record finished I went along as promised and played, but I didn't say anything to anyone for the whole game. After the match my friend Steve said to me "Nick, are you alright, you've not said anything for two hours?!" and all I could reply was "Spiritualized!"

when was it? 3/93
how old were you? 19
where were you? camelot music store
what did you think? Sting may be pompous and pretentious, but I guess he can afford to be. And Vinnie kicks ass...I must own this.
what did you do? I purchased it

when was it? - Probably March 1993
how old were you? - 23
where were you? - Gleason Hall, University of Rochester (NY)
who were you with? - nobody. Just me, a discman and a pair of headphones in a cubbyhole studying.
what did you think? - This album has potential ... the final song is incredible. It would take about a year before I would admit this passed The Dreaming for #1 on my list.
what did you do or say? - Wrote a quick review for WRUR as I did for all the other discs I was reviewing that day, put it in the case, and continued onto another disc.

...when was it?

May 1994

...how old were you?

23

...where were you?

I think I was on a bus on my way home from the city. :-)

...who were you with?

Other than 40 busy rush hour passengers, nobody in particular.

...what did you think?

I was really amazed already at the time, and thought it was a shame I didn't check out this band's back catalogue earlier on.

...what did you do or say?

Nothing in particular, really. Makes you appear a loony if you say a lot about music that you are listening too, all alone, using headphones.

One of many favorites: Bjork - Homogenic

...where were you? In front of the computer
...who were you with? Nobody/my roommate had his headphones on at his desk
...what did you think? "I wish Soulseek had more of their earlier stuff"
...what did you do or say? Download more/"Hey Will, come listen to this"

when? around 1980
age? 17
where? on my loudspeakers at home
who with? me and keith jarrett's groaning
what did you think? how can one guy on a piano make such intense life-transcending music?
what did you do or say? i turned the record, put on the next, turned it, put on the next... etc. (there are ten records altogether though i don't think i ever listened to all of them in one sitting)

by the way mr hongro, selling england by the pound was my fave at 15/16. and then it was five leaves left for a short period. before i found my life time(?) favourite.

...how old were you? 17

...where were you? In my parents sitting room where I usually listened to records while they watched TV in the kitchen

...who were you with? on my own

...what did you think? I hadn't heard Pavement before I got the record and I didn't really have an idea what they would sound like. They weren't as avant and noisy like Sonic Youth and they were scuzzier than Nirvana and they had neat things like that hi-hat in "Summer babe" and a real way with melodies. The lyrics were strange yet wistful too.

...what did you do or say? I wen't down to get some curry chips with "Summer babe" ringing in my head

...when was it? 1990

...how old were you? 14

...where were you? walking around some beach suburb of L.A (Redondo) with my walkman

...who were you with? My parents and my Norwegian grandmother visiting

...what did you think? How can it be so good, are they really just playing the same song over and over?

...what did you do or say? Nothing continued listening silently to the tape, fastforwarding whatever was on the other side of it (Simple Minds maybe?)

The album was The Cure's Disintegration