Flashback Friday: My first CD

Flashback Friday is a series where I get in the wayback machine and revisit some of my favorite things from years past. It can be anything really, random stuff from teh intarwebz, books, movies, games, et cetera. 

We've covered some awesome teen shows from the 1990s and I've talked about my first video game. Now, I think, it's time to move into the musical realm. I think I entered into the age of compact discs a bit later than some. I remember seeing them at the store, but I was quite content with my tapes, big headphones, and small tape players. I even got a two tape deck boombox on the late side, so when I made mix tapes, I did so by holding a hand-held tape recorder (or a sweet microphone) up to radio or single deck tape player.

In the early to mix 1990s, my music of choice was mostly country. I grew up in Eastern Kentucky, from where around a dozen Country Music stars also hailed; country music runs through my blood. As does Bluegrass and Folk Music. At 25, I won't deny my love for the music on which I was raised, though in order to make myself appear cool, I did once denounce it. (I love all music, except country and rap," I once uttered.) I did listen to other music on the radio, 100.5 WKEE FM out of Huntington, West Virginia played songs from the "1970s, 1980s, and today" because that was "current" music. Songs of the '70s were not oldies at that point.



MTV was also a huge influence on my musical education, with Vh1 to come later when my cable service provider added it. I always watched the countdown shows and checked out the latest songs. I recall being absolutely terrified of the video for Soundgarden's Black Hole Sun. Seriously, though, the faces freaked me out. It was during that time when I also fell in love with Weird Al Yankovic. I think that I loved his parodies more than the original songs.

When Vh1 came around, I was obsessed with Behind the Music specials. I think I watched The Mamas and the Papas episode ten times or more. Pop Up Video become my favorite thing on the planet and helped foster what had already become an obsession with trivia.

But, the point of this post is to talk about my first CD. In an age before iPods and MP3 players, before I learned the benefit of illegally downloading music (henceforth becoming The Pirate Queen), and before I could stream music through services like Spotify, as I said before, I'd been playing tapes. I got my first CD in 1997 along with a huge boombox with CD player from Hill's Department Store in Russell, Kentucky. On that auspicious occasion, my jam was Wannabe by The Spice Girls, so my first CD was their first album "Spice." Others soon followed, but I played Spice so much it gave up the ghost at one point and I had to get a new copy. My favorite song on the album was "Say You'll Be There."

It was at that point I abandoned my love for country music in favor of Top 40. I also bought an embarrassingly large number of singles because they sometimes included an instrumental only track which allowed me to sing in my bedroom into a microphone. Let's face it, I did that no matter what. Once Titanic was released you bet I bought both of the soundtracks and even other CDs that were released to capitalize on music from the period. I couldn't resist the penny-whistle. I think I have most of the CDs that I ever owned somewhere, even that second copy of Spice.

I hope you enjoyed this trip in the wayback machine. What would you like to see me talk about next week?