In about 1995 I was in a record shop and asked a clerk for something new to listen to and he suggested John Hiatt's album Perfectly Good Guitar. I loved every single track on the album and then went back and began buying all of his past albums and have been a fan ever since.
What a great concept for a video! I'm one o' those record store guys who turned people on. We used to put on an album to see how many people would purchase a copy. Worked every time! I love the song 9-9 from the R.E.M. album you showed. Obviously influenced by 13th Floor Elevators. Thank you 'n keep 'em comin'.
I distinctly remember walking into my favorite record store back in the early 80's and asking the clerk, "Who is this playing right now". The band happened to be The Church and the record that was playing was "The Blurred Crusade". I walked out of there with the album, and since that time I've pretty much purchased all of The Church's albums, and seen them perform a couple of times as well.
I’ve got three that are memorable to me. Back in the seventies when I was stationed outside Rapid City S.D. At Ellsworth AFB my go to place was Budget Tapes & Records in downtown Rapid City. I walked in one day and was blown away to music coming over their sound system. Asked the cute little girl behind the counter who she had on and was surprised when she told me it was the new record by Carlos Santana called Oneness/ Silver Dreams-GoldenReality. Bought it on the spot and to this day is one of my most played records in my collection. Another time I walked in and heard this shredding guitar solo and it blew me away. I was really blown away when I was told it was off the new record by Dan Fogelberg, Phoenix. The track was Face The Fire. Couldn’t believe how different it was for a Fogelberg tune. Absolutely kickass tune. My last one was more recent. I was out looking for new music and asked the kid behind the counter if he had any suggestions. He suggested aband I had never heard or heard of. It was the Jayhawks and the record was Rainy Day Music. Bought it took it home and it blew me away. So much so that I went back and bought their whole discography. Still one of my favorite bands of all time thanks to that kid’s suggestion. dan
Get Yer Ya Ya’s out was pumping in my local Record Shop one Saturday morning when i was 13. I knew The Stones, but had not heard Ya Ya’s before I was stunned by the Force… Still sounds just as good 🥂
Thanks for another fun video! On a rainy summer Saturday in 1982 I stopped at a Believe in Music (a long-gone Grand Rapids, Michigan-based record store chain) "just to browse." The clerk put Roxy Music's recently released Avalon album on the turntable, and I was instantly captivated. By the time Bryan Ferry's voice entered the mix on "More Than This," I was at the counter buying a copy. Flash forward 42 years, and Avalon still sounds great!
A great topic,Tom. Just off the top of my head, this is how I first heard bands like Indigo Girls, REM and Teardrop Explodes. You just had to stay in the shop and listen to the whole album.
I like that Ultra-Lounge series too! Very well designed and packaged by Capitol. They’re great for those of us who fondly remember some of the music our increasingly urbane young parents (or grandparents?) were into in the 1950s and early ’60s.
I must have about 15 of those Ultra-Lounge discs. In the CD era I loved to pick up compilations of older music that was long out of print, and Ultra-Lounge was one of the best. (I have some from the Cocktail Mix series, too.) I have lots of UK CD collections from obscure American independent record labels of the '50s and '60s (Cobra, Gone, Wand, Dolton...). But my favorite compilations were the Rhino ones, from "Didn't It Blow Your Mind! Soul Hits of the '70s" to the Seventies AM radio pop collections, "Have A Nice Day" (available in a box set with avocado shag carpet and protective plastic liner, or on individual discs).
Back in the early 80’s when I was in the army stationed in Germany, there was a record store in the small town (near Frankfurt) where I lived. My first time in the shop I bought Peter Gabriel IV (Security) (German language version) and Kate Bush’s The Dreaming. The young clerk was impressed by my selections and we soon struck up a friendship. His English was about as good as my German. Turns out he was the owners son. I remember one day when I went into the store, he was all excited about a brand new album he knew I would like: Richard and Linda Thompson’s final album, Shoot Out the Lights. My favorite album that year. The store only got one copy and he specifically saved it for me. I almost forgot all about this. Thanks to your RUclips video for bringing back the memories.
Your next Freedy Johnston purchase should be "Can You Fly". I heard that in Fingerprints down in Long Beach and had to have it right on the spot. Regarding parking lot sales: I MISS ARON'S RECORDS PARKING LOT SALE. I would always come out of there with 90+ cd's. The 10 for $2 section was my favorite, especially with the 10% off card. 16 cents a disc.
Aron's (on Melrose and later on Vine) was my favorite hangout when I lived in the Fairfax district. Never forget flipping through the bins one day and looking up to see Tom Waits doing the same thing just opposite me. It was the day his 1989 movie "Cold Feet" was released (with Keith Carradine, Sally Kirkland, Rip Torn and Bill Pullman from a screenplay by Thomas McGuane and Jim Harrison) -- very much of its moment!
I know I have been in record stores in the past and heard stuff playing... and bought it unplanned. For the life of me, I cannot remember even one title. Does this mean it was bad... hell no! Great topic here; can't say i've seen anyone else do it. Subscribed!
I was skiing in Banff, Alberta and walked into the only record shop in town. They were playing Fur by Jane Weidlin, bought it there and then. Still love that album.
Around 20 years ago, I was at the original location of Fingerprints in Long Beach. They were playing something that was cool that I never heard before. I asked what it was, and it was a band I never heard of called Galaxie 500. I bought one of their used CDs then and enjoyed it. My favorite place to buy used records in the 70s was the Moby Disc on Victory Blvd in Van Nuys. Good old KSCA, such a great station that was sold and the format changed way before its time. It did go out on top.
I don't actually have a story about hearing something in a record store but in 1995 I was working in a computer store in the back repairing computers and this kid half my age who worked there as a kind of apprentice insisted on blasting Bad Religion's All Ages (a comp) one day and it was immediate love at first listen.
In Licorice Pizza in Berdoo they were playing "Suburban Lawns" and the more I heard the more I had to have it! Great 80s new wave/punk album. Still one of my favorites.
The proprietor of my local record store has an incredible depth of music knowledge and has turned me on to lots of previously unfamiliar stuff. So I'll only mention two stellar examples: Good God and their (sole?) self-titled album; and the singer Martha Velez. I love Grant Green too, and of course he crops up everywhere on Blue Note when the band leader wanted a guitarist in their combo. But of his own stuff, check out also Feelin' The Spirit.
Fountains Of Wayne debut album..............a total knockout! Sounding awesome blasting out in my local record store and still remains an all time fave.
In Iowa, KUNI broadcast to multiple cities, and I discovered it when I was 10. Bob Dorr was like the Midwest's version of John Peel, and I'd hear stuff from X, R.E.M.'s first single and Chronic Town, and loads of other post-punk and early indie. The shows featuring that stuff were after midnight and I would struggle to stay awake to figure out who the bands were behind all the strange sounds I heard, and would often nod off with the music still playing on my crappy clock radio. With the help of the Trouser Press Record guide, I finally started sorting out who was who, and I pretty much came to the record store prepared with my long wishlist. Good thing, as the store clerks always ignored me. I honestly can't think of a single time a record store clerk turned me on to anything. Another good source was a few mix tapes that a friend's older brother made in college via his radio show. That turned me on to Minutemen, Butthole Surfers, Naked Raygun, Big Black, Husker Du, etc.
When I was purchasing U2’s Zooropa the morning it was released, the lady clerk slipped in a cassette of Leonard Cohen’s The Future. Initially I thought that was kind of her to let me hear new sounds. Or maybe she was disgusted with my choice and the gift was her way of saying, “Do better!”😂
About 30 years ago I went to the local used record shop and heard Chromium Plating by the Pink Fairies. Blew my mind!!! Bought the compilation it was on. Instant fan and still am. Yes... Idle Moments is a gem. Love Grant Green 🍏
In the eighties, when I and my then-girlfriend spent some days in London, England, practically every record store was playing The Pogues' 'Sally MacLennane' from the 'Rum, Sodomy and The Lash' album. I didn't buy it then and there. I waited 'till I got back to Philadelphia. Never regretted it; the whole album is great!
I loved that old Amoeba Hollywood location. The first thing that came to mind on this topic was a similar experience I had in 1982, upstairs in the jazz/classical section of Tower Records on the Ave in Seattle's University District. The music was hypnotic and unlike anything I'd ever heard before. Turned out to be "Glassworks" by the Philip Glass Ensemble -- the first of many Glass discs I would pick up over the next 50 years. That was shortly before Godfrey Reggio's movie "Koyaanisqatsi" was released, which introduced Glass to a larger audience... (I forgot about that Freedy Johnston record! I picked that one up after hearing it on KCRW.)
I am always into early Donovan. Rewind back to the year 2000, I was in a record shop in western Sydney and the music from this Western Australian Band called Sodastream came up. It was just fantastic and I had to buy the cd which to this date, has remained one of my all-time favorite albums. The album title may not go down well these days as it is called: Looks Like A Russian. Unfortunately, the band has now disbanded and the second album is good but does not quite live up to what the debut album has promised.
In a record store near Venice Beach in 1990, they had Blue Rodeo’s Outskirts album on. The saleswoman told me it was Robbie Robertsons favorite band. Been my favorite band since.
My old record store boss got me into Manchester's The Chameleons UK and I finally saw them live about five years ago when they reformed. He also tried to convert me to Manchester United soccer team even buying me a soccer shirt one Christmas but that was unsuccessful 😅
September 1991 I was at a Coconuts Records in Arlington Heights, IL and they were playing an album that sounded like The Hollies. The clerk told me it was The La's. I had to have it. I also hunted down Matthew Sweet's Girlfriend CD. I picked up both
Not at a store but a talented charismatic kyd in high school was praising Syd and the early Pink: I didn't buy until 5 years but then it was love at first needle drop🦉🌠🍄 I do love 60's lounge, very as you say before vibe☄️
I was in a shop out in Vancouver that was playing SRV's Couldn't Stand The Weather back when it just came out. Gobsmacked! Needless to say I walked out with a copy. Cheers from London Canada
Big fan of This perfect world by Freedy Johnston . Interestingly produced by Butch Vig,, not long after producing Nevermind . Always loved the title track
Mt. Pleasant, Michigan had a little record shop near the Central Michigan University campus. Once, I went in to buy Nick Drake's Bryter Layter and Pink Moon on CD. The Monks' Black Monk Time was playing on the stereo, and the owner was on the phone. As I was paying for the CDs, the owner put his hand over the phone receiver to tell me "EXCELLENT albums.", and continued on with the conversation. Interesting fella, he gave a lecture once to a class I took on Ragtime and early American Jazz. Sadly, he closed the shop, and that spot was soon taken by a Jimmy John's, of all things.
There used to be an amazing now long gone record store called sound connection that got me into so many great bands and it began my journey with kraut rock with Neu 75 and can tago mago and there was another long gone store called Southside sound that began me on my prog and classic rock journey with wishbone ash argus and climax blues band real to reel and so much more independent record stores i will always support
i love the freedy johnston album but haven't paid attention to him in this century. i also love strummer doing "silver and gold"...i only wish i had an alarm clock that would play bowie's "low" in it's entirty!
@@tomrobinson5776 i knew that story from one of your older videos. we're close in age but i have never been to a record store such as amoeba or had a radio station like what you have in california. you're a wise man (which i say to all fans of the kinks and laura nyro)!!!
Although I’ve never had the pleasure of having a record store clerk recommend an LP I later bought, I did use to buy some LPs based on Rolling Stone magazine record reviews, mostly in the late 1970s and early 1980s. A couple of these were released in 1979: Bob Dylan’s Slow Train Coming and Ricky Lee Jones eponymous debut LP. Both gems in my book.
Early 70's, the owner of Yardbird Records in Chicago turned me on to the Pretty Things. He put on Parachute and it changed my life. Ended up buying everything I could find by them, from their R& B days to the psychedelic period and beyond. Still one of my fave bands. In 1979 walked into Wax Trax Records and this heavy bass sound was reverberating thru the whole store, when this super cool punky voice started delivering a blistering version of I Heard It Through The Grapevine. I instantly fell in love and knew I had to take it home. I thought I was pretty well versed in the music scene back then, but Wax Trax carried so many albums that were a total mystery to me. Cocteau Twins were another revelation that I heard there as well. So many great finds.
On my way to work one morning and I stopped in at the record factory. That was the name of the store and they were playing Matthew Sweet. I’ve never heard of him before but I was hooked as soon as I heard it. It was divine intervention, the song, and of course the reason I bought the album. It was divine intervention, and I was able to find Matthew sweet.
@@homerwinslow9047 That is such a perfect album. A top 3 90’s album for me. Hope Matthew makes a healthy recovery after that stroke weeks back. There’s a Go Fund Me page online for his medical expenses.
I heard Stickey Fingers playing in a store near Wayne State University. Talked to the clerk sold! Wishbone Ash second Album, I waited in the store until it was done and bought it on the way out. I heard Dance with me George from Ambrosia bought the album based on that song. I was 🚫 t disappointed. David Gilmour Live in Gadansk. I asked the owner for a recommendation that is what he gave me. Love the Album. Won Ton Ton first Album was playing at Peaches in Toledo. A fine young lady and I seemed to both be enjoying it. I added it to my stack and put back Brain Salad Surgery.
One more. From cutout bin at Yesterday’s Discs in Wichita, Kansas in 1985. Dirk Hamilton’s Meet Me at the Crux. Absolutely amazing album no one has ever heard of.
CONTROVERSY. I remember that song. Wow wow and wow. I'd never heard of Prince before that song. I had no clue he would blow up. I remember the video later. The song seemed so many things: unusual, sad, rocking, just so unique.
I've always had better life-altering musical experiences with the radio, friends, magazines, and club PA systems, than with record store clerks or the store PAs. The exception was when I spent a lot of time hanging out at Exile Records in Lawrence, Kansas from 1980-82. I had a pretty good relationship with Shirley, the store manager, and we spent hours every week talking about music and playing records. That was how I found out about X, The Buzzcocks, and The Gang Of Four, and much more. It didn't hurt that a lot of DJ copies of records from the college (KU) radio station (KJHK) turned up in Exile.
I'm sure I've had experiences like this but none jump to mind. But this theme immediately reminded me of the Beta Band scene in the movie, "High Fidelity." John Cusack: "I will now sell five copies of the three EPs by the Beta Band..." lol
I can only think of one instance. There was a record store next to where my folks did their grocery shopping, so I'd always go and hang in there until they came to get me. One day, and I was 12 or 13 at the time, the cute punk-rock girl behind the counter was playing Iggy & the Stooges "Metallic KO". I was thinking to myself, "wow, this is fucking crazy stuff!". I already had their first album, but this was completely different sounding. So my dad walks into the store to get me, hears what's playing in the store (Cock In My Pocket LOL) and proceeds to give the poor girl an earful about playing such dirty garbage with a young kid in the store. As we were walking out, I kind of shrugged at her and mouthed "sorry". She smiled and winked at me. I bought the record a couple of years later.
I went to Zed records in Long Beach, California in the early 80s, I heard a guy talking loud saying things like, this album is fucking great. I looked and I recognize the guy because he had four black bars tattooed on one of his arms. It was Henry Rollins. I walked up to him, and he turned to me and said, “ have you heard this album before?” And it was the damned machine gun etiquette. At that time, I never heard the album. He asked me if I was looking to buy some records. I said sure I’ll buy a couple because it was payday. He pulled out machine gun etiquette, and Damned Damned Damned. I told him to pick out two more and I’ll buy them, He grabbed the first Velvet Underground album and white light white heat. Walked out with four import albums that day. Because specialized in punk and import albums.
i walked into a stereo store - remember them? They had a wall of speakers set up the airplane track from 'Dark Side of the Moon' was playing and then the crash happened. Wow.
Not a record store but rather KSAN played a track from an album by Jack Lancaster & Robin Lumley (drums by Phil Collins) called Marscape. I woke ti this. Mind blowing. On RSO from 1976 if nemory serves. You probably can't buy it but it is on RUclips.
I remember being at the record store, and the guy was playing Zen Arcade by Husker Du. Bought it and love it!
In about 1995 I was in a record shop and asked a clerk for something new to listen to and he suggested John Hiatt's album Perfectly Good Guitar. I loved every single track on the album and then went back and began buying all of his past albums and have been a fan ever since.
What a great concept for a video! I'm one o' those record store guys who turned people on. We used to put on an album to see how many people would purchase a copy. Worked every time! I love the song 9-9 from the R.E.M. album you showed. Obviously influenced by 13th Floor Elevators. Thank you 'n keep 'em comin'.
I distinctly remember walking into my favorite record store back in the early 80's and asking the clerk, "Who is this playing right now". The band happened to be The Church and the record that was playing was "The Blurred Crusade". I walked out of there with the album, and since that time I've pretty much purchased all of The Church's albums, and seen them perform a couple of times as well.
The Church have never made a bad album.
Around the same time as me, only different record store, Rimpo: walked in, heard Church and bought "Blurred Crusade"🎉
@@keithkarlinsky6632 Very cool 😉
I’ve got three that are memorable to me. Back in the seventies when I was stationed outside Rapid City S.D. At Ellsworth AFB my go to place was Budget Tapes & Records in downtown Rapid City. I walked in one day and was blown away to music coming over their sound system. Asked the cute little girl behind the counter who she had on and was surprised when she told me it was the new record by Carlos Santana called Oneness/ Silver Dreams-GoldenReality. Bought it on the spot and to this day is one of my most played records in my collection. Another time I walked in and heard this shredding guitar solo and it blew me away. I was really blown away when I was told it was off the new record by Dan Fogelberg, Phoenix. The track was Face The Fire. Couldn’t believe how different it was for a Fogelberg tune. Absolutely kickass tune. My last one was more recent. I was out looking for new music and asked the kid behind the counter if he had any suggestions. He suggested aband I had never heard or heard of. It was the Jayhawks and the record was Rainy Day Music. Bought it took it home and it blew me away. So much so that I went back and bought their whole discography. Still one of my favorite bands of all time thanks to that kid’s suggestion. dan
@@dancranford5391 Very cool. I love the Tomorrow The Green Grass album. Nothing Left To Borrow is one of my favorite tracks of all time.
Get Yer Ya Ya’s out was pumping in my local Record Shop one Saturday morning when i was 13. I knew The Stones, but had not heard Ya Ya’s before
I was stunned by the Force…
Still sounds just as good 🥂
@@demonsbutterfly Hell yeah 👍
Thanks for another fun video! On a rainy summer Saturday in 1982 I stopped at a Believe in Music (a long-gone Grand Rapids, Michigan-based record store chain) "just to browse." The clerk put Roxy Music's recently released Avalon album on the turntable, and I was instantly captivated. By the time Bryan Ferry's voice entered the mix on "More Than This," I was at the counter buying a copy. Flash forward 42 years, and Avalon still sounds great!
A great topic,Tom. Just off the top of my head, this is how I first heard bands like Indigo Girls, REM and Teardrop Explodes. You just had to stay in the shop and listen to the whole album.
I like that Ultra-Lounge series too! Very well designed and packaged by Capitol. They’re great for those of us who fondly remember some of the music our increasingly urbane young parents (or grandparents?) were into in the 1950s and early ’60s.
I must have about 15 of those Ultra-Lounge discs. In the CD era I loved to pick up compilations of older music that was long out of print, and Ultra-Lounge was one of the best. (I have some from the Cocktail Mix series, too.) I have lots of UK CD collections from obscure American independent record labels of the '50s and '60s (Cobra, Gone, Wand, Dolton...). But my favorite compilations were the Rhino ones, from "Didn't It Blow Your Mind! Soul Hits of the '70s" to the Seventies AM radio pop collections, "Have A Nice Day" (available in a box set with avocado shag carpet and protective plastic liner, or on individual discs).
@@bacarandii The Have A Nice Day set is awesome. Still trying to find the rest of the Didn’t I Blow Your Mind series. I have nearly half.
Back in the early 80’s when I was in the army stationed in Germany, there was a record store in the small town (near Frankfurt) where I lived. My first time in the shop I bought Peter Gabriel IV (Security) (German language version) and Kate Bush’s The Dreaming. The young clerk was impressed by my selections and we soon struck up a friendship. His English was about as good as my German. Turns out he was the owners son. I remember one day when I went into the store, he was all excited about a brand new album he knew I would like: Richard and Linda Thompson’s final album, Shoot Out the Lights. My favorite album that year. The store only got one copy and he specifically saved it for me. I almost forgot all about this. Thanks to your RUclips video for bringing back the memories.
Your next Freedy Johnston purchase should be "Can You Fly". I heard that in Fingerprints down in Long Beach and had to have it right on the spot. Regarding parking lot sales: I MISS ARON'S RECORDS PARKING LOT SALE. I would always come out of there with 90+ cd's. The 10 for $2 section was my favorite, especially with the 10% off card. 16 cents a disc.
Aron's (on Melrose and later on Vine) was my favorite hangout when I lived in the Fairfax district. Never forget flipping through the bins one day and looking up to see Tom Waits doing the same thing just opposite me. It was the day his 1989 movie "Cold Feet" was released (with Keith Carradine, Sally Kirkland, Rip Torn and Bill Pullman from a screenplay by Thomas McGuane and Jim Harrison) -- very much of its moment!
I know I have been in record stores in the past and heard stuff playing... and bought it unplanned. For the life of me, I cannot remember even one title. Does this mean it was bad... hell no! Great topic here; can't say i've seen anyone else do it. Subscribed!
@@GeeAitch-r1r Thanks 😉
I was skiing in Banff, Alberta and walked into the only record shop in town. They were playing Fur by Jane Weidlin, bought it there and then. Still love that album.
Around 20 years ago, I was at the original location of Fingerprints in Long Beach. They were playing something that was cool that I never heard before. I asked what it was, and it was a band I never heard of called Galaxie 500. I bought one of their used CDs then and enjoyed it. My favorite place to buy used records in the 70s was the Moby Disc on Victory Blvd in Van Nuys. Good old KSCA, such a great station that was sold and the format changed way before its time. It did go out on top.
Great idea for an episode! The only ones that spring to mind is The Origin and Robyn Hitchcock's Globe of Frogs, both in the late 80s
@@Randomcomicsfrommyspinne-xt5kq Globe Of Frogs is a gem. 😉
I don't actually have a story about hearing something in a record store but in 1995 I was working in a computer store in the back repairing computers and this kid half my age who worked there as a kind of apprentice insisted on blasting Bad Religion's All Ages (a comp) one day and it was immediate love at first listen.
In Licorice Pizza in Berdoo they were playing "Suburban Lawns" and the more I heard the more I had to have it! Great 80s new wave/punk album. Still one of my favorites.
@@LuxVivens9 I remember seeing them open for U2 at the Santa Monica Civic in ‘81. Very unique band.
@tomrobinson5776 I would have loved to have seen them in action !
The proprietor of my local record store has an incredible depth of music knowledge and has turned me on to lots of previously unfamiliar stuff. So I'll only mention two stellar examples: Good God and their (sole?) self-titled album; and the singer Martha Velez. I love Grant Green too, and of course he crops up everywhere on Blue Note when the band leader wanted a guitarist in their combo. But of his own stuff, check out also Feelin' The Spirit.
Fountains Of Wayne debut album..............a total knockout! Sounding awesome blasting out in my local record store and still remains an all time fave.
Love that album! So good from start to finish.
After talking to a record store clerk about my love for Roxy Music he said I must get 801 Live. What a great album!
In Iowa, KUNI broadcast to multiple cities, and I discovered it when I was 10. Bob Dorr was like the Midwest's version of John Peel, and I'd hear stuff from X, R.E.M.'s first single and Chronic Town, and loads of other post-punk and early indie. The shows featuring that stuff were after midnight and I would struggle to stay awake to figure out who the bands were behind all the strange sounds I heard, and would often nod off with the music still playing on my crappy clock radio. With the help of the Trouser Press Record guide, I finally started sorting out who was who, and I pretty much came to the record store prepared with my long wishlist. Good thing, as the store clerks always ignored me.
I honestly can't think of a single time a record store clerk turned me on to anything. Another good source was a few mix tapes that a friend's older brother made in college via his radio show. That turned me on to Minutemen, Butthole Surfers, Naked Raygun, Big Black, Husker Du, etc.
When I was purchasing U2’s Zooropa the morning it was released, the lady clerk slipped in a cassette of Leonard Cohen’s The Future. Initially I thought that was kind of her to let me hear new sounds. Or maybe she was disgusted with my choice and the gift was her way of saying, “Do better!”😂
About 30 years ago I went to the local used record shop and heard Chromium Plating by the Pink Fairies. Blew my mind!!! Bought the compilation it was on. Instant fan and still am. Yes... Idle Moments is a gem. Love Grant Green 🍏
In the eighties, when I and my then-girlfriend spent some days in London, England, practically every record store was playing The Pogues' 'Sally MacLennane' from the 'Rum, Sodomy and The Lash' album. I didn't buy it then and there. I waited 'till I got back to Philadelphia. Never regretted it; the whole album is great!
I loved that old Amoeba Hollywood location. The first thing that came to mind on this topic was a similar experience I had in 1982, upstairs in the jazz/classical section of Tower Records on the Ave in Seattle's University District. The music was hypnotic and unlike anything I'd ever heard before. Turned out to be "Glassworks" by the Philip Glass Ensemble -- the first of many Glass discs I would pick up over the next 50 years. That was shortly before Godfrey Reggio's movie "Koyaanisqatsi" was released, which introduced Glass to a larger audience... (I forgot about that Freedy Johnston record! I picked that one up after hearing it on KCRW.)
I am always into early Donovan. Rewind back to the year 2000, I was in a record shop in western Sydney and the music from this Western Australian Band called Sodastream came up. It was just fantastic and I had to buy the cd which to this date, has remained one of my all-time favorite albums. The album title may not go down well these days as it is called: Looks Like A Russian. Unfortunately, the band has now disbanded and the second album is good but does not quite live up to what the debut album has promised.
In a record store near Venice Beach in 1990, they had Blue Rodeo’s Outskirts album on. The saleswoman told me it was Robbie Robertsons favorite band. Been my favorite band since.
My old record store boss got me into Manchester's The Chameleons UK and I finally saw them live about five years ago when they reformed. He also tried to convert me to Manchester United soccer team even buying me a soccer shirt one Christmas but that was unsuccessful 😅
September 1991 I was at a Coconuts Records in Arlington Heights, IL and they were playing an album that sounded like The Hollies. The clerk told me it was The La's. I had to have it. I also hunted down Matthew Sweet's Girlfriend CD. I picked up both
@@kevtruth Nice. Both albums are awesome.
Not at a store but a talented charismatic kyd in high school was praising Syd and the early Pink: I didn't buy until 5 years but then it was love at first needle drop🦉🌠🍄 I do love 60's lounge, very as you say before vibe☄️
Dan Delano cool bro from back when .
I was in a shop out in Vancouver that was playing SRV's Couldn't Stand The Weather back when it just came out. Gobsmacked! Needless to say I walked out with a copy. Cheers from London Canada
Very cool. Great album. 😉
Big fan of This perfect world by Freedy Johnston . Interestingly produced by Butch Vig,, not long after producing Nevermind . Always loved the title track
Mt. Pleasant, Michigan had a little record shop near the Central Michigan University campus. Once, I went in to buy Nick Drake's Bryter Layter and Pink Moon on CD. The Monks' Black Monk Time was playing on the stereo, and the owner was on the phone. As I was paying for the CDs, the owner put his hand over the phone receiver to tell me "EXCELLENT albums.", and continued on with the conversation. Interesting fella, he gave a lecture once to a class I took on Ragtime and early American Jazz. Sadly, he closed the shop, and that spot was soon taken by a Jimmy John's, of all things.
@@mangrove That’s a really cool story. 😉
There used to be an amazing now long gone record store called sound connection that got me into so many great bands and it began my journey with kraut rock with Neu 75 and can tago mago and there was another long gone store called Southside sound that began me on my prog and classic rock journey with wishbone ash argus and climax blues band real to reel and so much more independent record stores i will always support
i love the freedy johnston album but haven't paid attention to him in this century. i also love strummer doing "silver and gold"...i only wish i had an alarm clock that would play bowie's "low" in it's entirty!
@@marcyfan-tz4wj There was a period in my life where I had a CD clock radio and I woke up to Low every day. Finally got up around the final track. 😉
@@tomrobinson5776 i knew that story from one of your older videos. we're close in age but i have never been to a record store such as amoeba or had a radio station like what you have in california. you're a wise man (which i say to all fans of the kinks and laura nyro)!!!
Although I’ve never had the pleasure of having a record store clerk recommend an LP I later bought, I did use to buy some LPs based on Rolling Stone magazine record reviews, mostly in the late 1970s and early 1980s. A couple of these were released in 1979: Bob Dylan’s Slow Train Coming and Ricky Lee Jones eponymous debut LP. Both gems in my book.
Early 70's, the owner of Yardbird Records in Chicago turned me on to the Pretty Things. He put on Parachute and it changed my life. Ended up buying everything I could find by them, from their R& B days to the psychedelic period and beyond. Still one of my fave bands. In 1979 walked into Wax Trax Records and this heavy bass sound was reverberating thru the whole store, when this super cool punky voice started delivering a blistering version of I Heard It Through The Grapevine. I instantly fell in love and knew I had to take it home. I thought I was pretty well versed in the music scene back then, but Wax Trax carried so many albums that were a total mystery to me. Cocteau Twins were another revelation that I heard there as well. So many great finds.
On my way to work one morning and I stopped in at the record factory. That was the name of the store and they were playing Matthew Sweet. I’ve never heard of him before but I was hooked as soon as I heard it. It was divine intervention, the song, and of course the reason I bought the album. It was divine intervention, and I was able to find Matthew sweet.
@@homerwinslow9047 That is such a perfect album. A top 3 90’s album for me. Hope Matthew makes a healthy recovery after that stroke weeks back. There’s a Go Fund Me page online for his medical expenses.
I heard Stickey Fingers playing in a store near Wayne State University. Talked to the clerk sold! Wishbone Ash second Album, I waited in the store until it was done and bought it on the way out. I heard Dance with me George from Ambrosia bought the album based on that song. I was 🚫 t disappointed. David Gilmour Live in Gadansk. I asked the owner for a recommendation that is what he gave me. Love the Album. Won Ton Ton first Album was playing at Peaches in Toledo. A fine young lady and I seemed to both be enjoying it. I added it to my stack and put back Brain Salad Surgery.
One more. From cutout bin at Yesterday’s Discs in Wichita, Kansas in 1985. Dirk Hamilton’s Meet Me at the Crux. Absolutely amazing album no one has ever heard of.
@@brbertram I’ll have to hear that one.
First heard Wolf People playing over the speakers and eventually bought their entire discography. Like early Jethro Tull and Blodwyn Pig.
CONTROVERSY. I remember that song. Wow wow and wow. I'd never heard of Prince before that song. I had no clue he would blow up. I remember the video later. The song seemed so many things: unusual, sad, rocking, just so unique.
A lady in a record store in Mauritius intodruced me to segamusic.
I've always had better life-altering musical experiences with the radio, friends, magazines, and club PA systems, than with record store clerks or the store PAs. The exception was when I spent a lot of time hanging out at Exile Records in Lawrence, Kansas from 1980-82. I had a pretty good relationship with Shirley, the store manager, and we spent hours every week talking about music and playing records. That was how I found out about X, The Buzzcocks, and The Gang Of Four, and much more. It didn't hurt that a lot of DJ copies of records from the college (KU) radio station (KJHK) turned up in Exile.
What a fantastic video tom have you a great day also happy veterans day also today is remembrance day in Canada ❤😢
@@aminahmed2220 You have a great day as well. 😊
I'm sure I've had experiences like this but none jump to mind. But this theme immediately reminded me of the Beta Band scene in the movie, "High Fidelity."
John Cusack: "I will now sell five copies of the three EPs by the Beta Band..." lol
@@jeffreydavidson5870 Such a great film. 😉
Grant Green is awesome.
I can only think of one instance. There was a record store next to where my folks did their grocery shopping, so I'd always go and hang in there until they came to get me. One day, and I was 12 or 13 at the time, the cute punk-rock girl behind the counter was playing Iggy & the Stooges "Metallic KO". I was thinking to myself, "wow, this is fucking crazy stuff!". I already had their first album, but this was completely different sounding. So my dad walks into the store to get me, hears what's playing in the store (Cock In My Pocket LOL) and proceeds to give the poor girl an earful about playing such dirty garbage with a young kid in the store. As we were walking out, I kind of shrugged at her and mouthed "sorry". She smiled and winked at me. I bought the record a couple of years later.
@@senatorjimdracula1603 Awesome story. 😉
I went to Zed records in Long Beach, California in the early 80s,
I heard a guy talking loud saying things like, this album is fucking great.
I looked and I recognize the guy because he had four black bars tattooed on one of his arms.
It was Henry Rollins.
I walked up to him, and he turned to me and said, “ have you heard this album before?”
And it was the damned machine gun etiquette.
At that time, I never heard the album.
He asked me if I was looking to buy some records.
I said sure I’ll buy a couple because it was payday.
He pulled out machine gun etiquette, and Damned Damned Damned.
I told him to pick out two more and I’ll buy them,
He grabbed the first Velvet Underground album and white light white heat.
Walked out with four import albums that day.
Because specialized in punk and import albums.
@@islandhorizonvideos8230 Very cool!!
I did not resonate with this episode. I like Tom's personal and historical information on other topics.
i walked into a stereo store - remember them? They had a wall of speakers set up the airplane track from 'Dark Side of the Moon' was playing and then the crash happened. Wow.
Not a record store but rather KSAN played a track from an album by Jack Lancaster & Robin Lumley (drums by Phil Collins) called Marscape. I woke ti this. Mind blowing. On RSO from 1976 if nemory serves. You probably can't buy it but it is on RUclips.