First, Last, Favourite And Most Embarrasing Record / Cd / Album

For me I still like the shiney silver disks, even if I do rip them to NAS.

Hits One was the first record I owned, 12 inch vinyl. Only because it had Ghostbusters by Ray Parker Junior on it. But discovered other such classics as Purple Rain - Prince and Thriller - Michael Jackson, so a good present. I think it was purchased with Xmas money from relatives.

What was the first music you purchased /downloaded and what was the last and what is your favourite?

First purchased late 84
Queen - Radio GaGa 12" single vinyl back in 84 still have it but it's scratched to buggery so probably not worth anything but an absolute classic. I actually don't have a record player at the moment. Need to obtain one

Last purchased couple weeks ago
Poppy - I Disagree - Mixed bag this one, very different to her early stuff which was to excuse the pun Poppy for me. There's a couple of really heavy metal/electronica tunes that prompted the purchase. its growing on me.

Favourite
Difficult one as it depends on mood and a tune is always linked to the time when you used to listen to it. Probably my favourite album is "The Prodigy Experience", the first from the Prodigy although I actually prefer some of the versions on the singles that were released from that album. The B side to Charley, "Your Love" is what got me into to rave/dance/electronica.

 

My first record (aside from some novelty records as a kid - eg. David Bellamy, the Brontosaurus Song) was Got My Mind Set On You by George Harrison.

Last purchased? Dunno - maybe the Strokes, Is This It about 19 years ago?

Favourite? Obviously there are some that fit in general moods, but 4 Symbols by Led Zeppelin doesn't have a single bad moment on the album.

 

My first single purchase was Rock and Roll Parts 1 and 2 by G Glitter Esq. Still a fantastic record, in spite of its creator.
First album was the first Paul Simon solo, the one with Me and Julio and Mother and Child on.
Last purchased? I think it was an Old Grey Whistle Test folk retrospective, with Pentangle, Tim Buckley, Judee Sill and many more!.

The album I am currently putting on and listening to the whole of is Peter Gabriel 1 (Car).

 

First single - The Sweet - "Teenage rampage"
First album - The Eagles "One of these nights"
Last - Other than the odd track here and there, probably Lana Del Rey "Born to die"
Favourite - Varies. Maybe the above LdR album though her 2 or 3 albums since have been awful, or maybe The Cure "Bloodflowers" ?

 

First Album. The rise and fall of Ziggy Stardust and the spiders from Mars. Sounds just as good today as it ever has.

Favourite. Violator, Depeche Mode.
Ziggy runs it very close. But to me this is unbelievable from start to finish. Brings back so many memories.

Last Album. Bastille, Doom Days.
Surprised me how good it is. So hoping to see them live very soon.
Remixes of a Million pieces and another place with an orchestral backing are superb.

 

Gonna be youtubing that one later.
Lets add most embarrasing.

For me it's a toss up between:
Star Trekkin - The Firm or Doing up the house - Harry Enfield / Loadsamoney
On reflection it's probably the Anfield Rap all on 7" vinyl.

 

First, Aladdin Sane, Bowie
Favourite, Never mind the ******** here’s the Sex Pistols
Most recent, tends to just be playlists these days, but I did bother with 21 Pilots’ Blurryface which was both exhilarating and patchy.
Embarrassing? According to my son, my entire collection of Dad Rock in all its forms.

Should have added first proper live gig (Not local pubs) Meister. The Stranglers for me.

 

First album - Cold Chisel - by Cold Chisel. Bought purely for one of the tracks - Khe Sanh, sung by by the gravelly-voiced Jimmy Barnes.
Last album - Light my Byre - by Peat and Diesel, a Scottish resurrection of the Pogues.
Favourite album - it really depends what mood I'm in, but I always make time to listen and relax to Jan Gabarek and the Hilliard Ensemble's Officium.

 

First proper live gig: The Jam, California Ballroom, Dunstable.

 

I'm not embarrassed by that.

 

First proper live gig, Stones, Voodoo Lounge Tour at Wembley.

 

I think you have just made up ALL those bands, album titles and song titles....

 

Everything but the girl for me. Then the Cure.

Oh and I missed the most embarrassing song as I didn't read the full thread title. In 1974 I bought The Bay City rollers "Shang-a-lang". Leant it against a radiator by mistake shortly afterwards which made it wharp, and it then sounded much better.

 

That was one of the first albums I heard (the actual first was The Beatles 20 Greatest Hits), played it a lot until well into the 1990s. Could be bias on my part as I was an 80s kid, but I think there was a lot of really good pop from that decade, from the one-hit wonders as well as the more established acts, even some of the novelty stuff. Yes there are a few duds on it, but the good far outweighs the bad, which is more than you say about a typical mid-90s Now! compilation and I imagine any greatest hits released since.

My musical tastes are highly eclectic but until well into my adulthood my tastes were very much dominated by classical and jazz (enjoyed a lot of top 40 stuff until the early 90s though), and I didn't buy any music until my later teens and I couldn't tell you what my first records owned/purchased were in either genre. So to make it simple I'll stick to pop. I'm also one of those more old-fashioned people who still buys CDs because I want the cover art and liner notes (being on screen doesn't count) and I like the feeling of popping a disc into my player. I occasionally buy vinyl, but only for releases that aren't available in any other format (I attended a Record Store Day event once to see what the fuss was about, not the best use of my time and money).

Not counting compilations, the first album I heard was Musical Youth's The Youth of Today. Very much teeny-bopper stuff but good fun and some of it holds up OK today, and I thought those kids were cool.
The first serious album I heard was Enigma's MCMXC a.D. on cassette in 1990 (shudder to think those horrible chunks of plastic were actually the dominant format back then). Loved it and played it a lot, but its appeal has faded somewhat since then - Back to the Rivers of Belief is still a great track though.
The first album I bought was Wham's Make it Big, mainly because of Wake Me Up Before You Go Go - typical thrown together slickly produced pop album with hits + filler and I haven't played it much, The Final compilation is a much better listen.
Last CD purchase - Supertramp's Indelibly Stamped - not very good and only bought it because I was exploring their output from the beginning and it's not available on Spotify and Youtube.
Last vinyl purchase - Sonic Youth's Personality Crisis 7''
Favourite album - The Beatles: Abbey Road at times, The Beach Boys: Pet Sounds at others

 

First purchased - I think was Call Me by Blondie
Most recent - Fishermans Friends movie soundtrack
Best album - Moseley Shoals bu Ocean Colour Scene
First gig - I actually can't remember the name of the artist but it was Hip Hop group in the late 80's at Brixton Academy and I was happy to get out alive
Most embarrassing - Best of S Club Seven

 

First Gig - the Orb at the Albert Hall. Still the best gig I've ever been to. Little Fluffy Clouds in that environment was epic.

 

Think again...

 

#fake news.

 

First: Bad - Michael Jackson.
Latest: Resist - Within Temptation
Favourite: Dark Adrenaline - Lacuna Coil.
Embarassing: The Spirit Room - Michelle Branch
First Proper Live Gig: The Pixies

 

is the preserve of the Trump and Johnson administrations.

Finished that for you.

 

First album I owned properly was Sgt Pepper Lonely Hearts Club Band, bought for me at Christmas, in 67, I think.

First I bought personally with my own hard-earned was Can't buy a Thrill by Steely Dan.

Last was "Hands Up" by Justin Fletcher (for my grandaughter), but for me it was Kaya, by Bob Marley, third time I've bought it.

Favourite due to sentimentality was probably Sgt Pepper, being able to read the lyrics on the sleeve (rare in those days), She's Leaving Home, and A Day in A Life, but musically probably Dark Side Of the Moon by Pink Floyd, but about ten others run it close.

 

Most of these are far too credible. (Would never have guessed you were a Steely Dan fan. ZZ!).

My first single was the Floral Dance. Thankfully, at least not the Terry Wogan version. Probably most embarrassing as well.
My first album was So Far Away by The Chords (a Jam clone).
My first gig was, I think, Billy Bragg at the long since defunct Oxford Ice Rink, just around the time of “Between the Wars”.

I couldn’t easily nominate a favourite album. “Remain in Light” by Talking Heads, “Low Life” by New Order, “Poetic Champions Compose” by Van Morrison would all be up there but it varies according to mood.

I’ll go with last gig too - New Order at Bristol Harbourside last July. It’s only taken me 40 odd years to see them play live.

 

The Chords!

 

wharp?

 

Interesting, those were the first great rock albums I heard. All the previous others were either pop or just not that great - The Cure's Mixed Up (if that counts as rock) and Led Zeppelin's In Through the Out Door (underrated, but I can see why some hate it).

I loved Sgt Pepper and even though I'd heard snatches of Pink Floyd before I was surprised how easy on the ear DSOTM was - back then apart from Led Zeppelin I wasn't much keen on the harder stuff (others including Hendrix, Cream, Deep Purple etc.) my brother played constantly that seemed to typify rock.
I had a homemade cassette copy of The Police's Outlandos d'Amour which was much more punkish than what they're famous for but I couldn't stand the first few songs so recorded over it, I quite liked it when I returned to it much later though.

 

I wasn't keen on real rock, but a lot of my favourite music comes from rock bands, or artists that went a bit more commercial or mellow. For example, embarrassingly, my favourite track by Led Zepperlin is Stairway To Heaven. I bought a load of Eric Claptons stuff, post Cream. My favourite tracks from DSOTM were Us And Them with it's sax, and Great Gig In The Sky with Clare Torry. Peter Gabriel's was "Don't Give Up".

Now, and it probably effects most of us that enjoyed the music back then, from the mid sixties through the 70's and 80's I'm in awe of the how brilliant it all was, when compared with what we've heard over the last 20 years. Unfair, and maybe not even true, but I'm very lucky to have been able to actually lived through it and compare it all.

 

Embarrassing? That's universally one of their favourites, along with Kashmir, No Quarter, Kashmir, Communication Breakdown, Dazed & Confused, and probably When the Levee Breaks. It's my favourite as well, and the first hard rock track I liked, though initially mainly for the softer part.

There's been plenty of great albums by the more alternative acts in the last twenty years, but the chart-topping stuff since the 1980s has been largely awful.

 

First single: Love Is Like Oxygen - Sweet
First album (vinyl): One Step Beyond - Madness
First album (cassette) - Out Of The Blue - ELO (I think it was that one)
Latest album: Darkness Brings The Wonders Home - Smoke Fairies, this month.

Favourite album(s): Blacklisted - Neko Case, Magic Potion - The Black Keys, A Gathering Of Strangers - UNITE
Not necessarily my favourite albums but they each changed the direction of music I was listening to at the time.
'A Gathering Of Strangers' is particularly apt at the moment as it was billed as 'A collection of songs of exile and exiled songs'.

Embarrassing single: Shaddup Your Face - Joe Dolce
Embarrassing album: D-D-Don't Don't Stop The Beat - Junior Senior
For some reason whenever I see or hear Keith Lemon it makes me remember Junior Senior and I HATE Keith Lemon.

First Proper Live Gig: The Dylans at the Camden Underworld, heaven knows what year that was.
Latest Gig: Fatoumata Diawara at the Roundhouse, earlier this month.

 

What’s wrong with you people? Would your mums not let any of you have a Spotify subscription or something?

 

My firsts were all in 1973, when glam rock ruled the world.

First single: Solid Gold, Easy Action by T.Rex. I was totally mesmerised by Marc Bolan on Top Of The Pops and wanted to be him.
First album: Pin Ups by David Bowie. How cool was I aged 10? Not that I knew it and it certainly didn't last.
First gig: The Sweet at Hemel Pavilion. With my mum.

Most embarrassing purchase: Agadoo by Black Lace, although in my defence I was an occasional mobile DJ at the time and it was a floor-filling bit of cheese.

Favourite album: Despite my moniker it's not by The Stranglers, although Rattus Norvegicus is right up there. Depending on mood, my favourite album veers between:
Never Mind The B0ll0cks - Sex Pistols
Takk - Sigur Ros
Complete Music - New Order
Disintegration - The Cure

Last single bought: Smash It Up - The Damned. A recent vinyl reissue. Vinyl is still my format of choice despite the expense.
Last album bought: Darkness Brings The Wonders Home - Smoke Fairies. On gold & black splattered vinyl.
Last gig: Midge Ure at Aylesbury. Wasn't expecting much but it was surprisingly good. He played all of the Vienna album as well as various Ultravox & Visage hits.
Next gig: The Rezillos - tomorrow in Northampton.

What are your musical guilty pleasures? In the late 70s I secretly loved Out Of The Blue by ELO. Not cool at all for a teenager into punk and I certainly didn't tell my friends.

 

T'internet was barely there when I was at uni and certianly wasn't available on my Phillips Skymaster 4.


Damn now you've got me browsing ebay for one.

 

Napster then Limewire.

 

This has almost inspired me to get up in the loft and dig out the boxes (and boxes) of vinyl. I need a refresh on my framed album wall art. At the moment, above me on the wall as I type:
Harvest, Neil Young
Wave, Patti Smith
Teenage Depression, Eddie and The Hot Rods
Back in the High Life, Steve Winwood
Animals, Pink Floyd
In The City, The Jam
Car, Peter Gabriel
The Nightfly, Donald Fagen
Forever Changes, Love
Give 'Em Enough Rope, The Clash
Heavy Weather, Weather Report
A Passion Play, Jethro Tull
What's Going On, Marvin Gaye

Which is a pretty good indication of my (popular) music likes!

 

First single - Forever Autumn by Justin Hayward
First Album - Gosh It's by Bad Manners
Favourite Album - It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back, or Infected
Most Embarrassing - I'm pretty sure I've got One More Sleep by Leona Lewis on iTunes, so I suppose I must have paid for it

 

Excellent.