What was the first "grown-up" album you bought?

JC 2K3

I'd heard Nirvana songs in my friend's house and liked them and I bought the Best of Nirvana at 14 when it just had come out.

Got a 128Mb MP3 player(very fancy for the time) shortly after and started ripping friends' albums to my PC. I remember having the Nirvana album, RHCP - Californication, the Best of Blur and Nickelback - Silver Side Up(lol) along with several songs I'd downloaded off KaZaA(oh KaZaA, dial-up, the memories...) on my PC at one stage for a while.

Then I found a burned copy of Nirvana:Unplugged in my cousin's room and she let me have it(She got given it by a friend and never listened to it). I fell in love with the song Lake of Fire and when I discovered that it was a Meat Puppets song, I bought two Meat Puppets albums in HMV and my music taste plunged into delightful obscurity.

Dudess wrote: »

I suppose your pre-teens is a nice age to be. And I find myself so drawn to the rock from the time when I was aged 10-12. Maybe that's the particular point when music makes an impression on you.

Well, as you can see from what I've written above, I didn't get into music until 14. Until I was about 13, I used to think MTV was an awfully boring channel and never listened to music at all besides some novelty songs. So I think it varies greatly from person to person.

JeanH

Fair enough it probably does vary alright.
Still I think what you wrote was very well put, Dudess. I have in recent years, my college years started listening to The Cure and The Stone Roses and I think both are excellent groups. However, it is the mid-Nineties that I always go back to in my mind when I try to think of a really happy time. It was a very brief period. It ended very definitely in 1997 with the release of Be Here Now and This Is Hardcore. They were two darker, more difficult albums for a pre-teen. I bought and persevered with This Is Hardcore but it just wasn't the Pulp of Intro, His N Hers and Different Class days... I remember many of the bands from the mid-Nineties very fondly. Groups like Cast, Suede, Lightning Seeds, Lush, Sleeper, Space - and of course Trainspotting as the film of the time also brings me right back. Seems like a happy time but then I was only 9 going on 10.
I don't care to remember the teenage years much. School was hell.
I started listening to Bowie just as I was doing the Leaving Cert and really got into him that summer before I started college and I can tell you that period is on a par with the mid-Nineties because that was a bloody happy time for me leaving school! I guess it's about experiencing music autobiographically innit?

JC 2K3

I've always likened music to a personal journey of sorts....

Dudess

JeanH wrote: »

I bought and persevered with This Is Hardcore but it just wasn't the Pulp of Intro, His N Hers and Different Class days

Well I was 19 when This Is Hardcore came out and I couldn't get into it, so yeah, I'd imagine it being tough-going for a 10/11-year-old! I've grown to love it since though. The title track is utterly remarkable.

Lush

Oh well now I really like you! Although have you checked out their shoegazing stuff (early 90s)? I much prefer it to their Britpop era stuff. Lush are one of my favourite bands ever - I'm convinced if it wasn't for their drummer's tragically early death they would have been huge.

I guess it's about experiencing music autobiographically innit?

Very well put.

Kudos to you for not being into Boyzone/Backstreet Boys/5ive etc. Ok I got into good music early on too but I still liked Bros and Jason Donovan. Never New Kids on the Block though - NEVER!!!

PonyP

First album that I ever bought was The Prodigy's Music for the Jilted Generation. Bought it as a cassette and played it to death, the ribbon broke after two months!!

JeanH

Lush came to my attention with Ladykillers. I loved that song! Then Shake Baby Shake was the next one to hit me but they weren't the biggest band of the time were they and I preferred Sleeper as regards female singers, silly girl that I was. I went looking up Lush on youtube recently and have realised what an ultra cool woman Miki was. She also did that little ditty with Jarvis Cocker called Ciao. I never managed to get my hands on that. Would love to hear it.
My respect for This Is Hardcore has grown since I got older, and I like to think, more mature! The title track is great but TV Movie is possibly my favourite. The lyrics are top Jarvis stuff : "Without you my life has become/A hangover without end/ A movie made for tv etc..... you know it I'm sure. I love it!
Cheers Dudess, I will indeed check out the earlier Lush stuff. I'm always on the prowl for decent music and Lush happen to be in the respected category for me
Nah I never liked the boybands but my earliest memories are of listening to my mothers Gallagher and Lyle tapes (I urge you to listen to Gallagher and Lyle's song 'Breakaway' on youtube), Billy Joel's The River of Dreams, ELO and The Eagles! Then I got into Pulp and everything changed! Oh but you know what, the first single I ever bought was 'Boom, Boom, Boom' by The Outhere Brothers! See, I'm not so perfect now!
Edit: Ciao is on youtube! Cool. I;ve just heard it for the first time ever. I wanted this song for a long time. Brilliant. Great collaboration

Howard the Duck

I think the first album i bought was Use "Your Illusion I" by Guns n Roses but i'm not too sure.. Was around 91 so i'd have been 9 which is surpising i always thought i was about 13 or 14 when that came out. I bought it on cassette tape first CD album i bought was The Shamen "Boss Drum".

Hermy

Regarding blank tapes, I remember getting a copy of Metallica's Ride The Lightening age 12 or 13. That woke me up.

Rustar, I think I was twenty (circa 1996) before I knew of the existence of King Crimson. Someone lent me a copy of The Concise King Crimson and I loved it. I wasted little time in getting my hands on the first seven albums which are fantastic. Then I got my hands on The Cheerful Insanity of Giles, Giles, Fripp - very amusing - how the hell did they jump from there to The Court of the Crimson King the following year!

Rustar

Hermy wrote:

Regarding blank tapes, I remember getting a copy of Metallica's Ride The Lightening age 12 or 13. That woke me up.

Rustar, I think I was twenty (circa 1996) before I knew of the existence of King Crimson. Someone lent me a copy of The Concise King Crimson and I loved it. I wasted little time in getting my hands on the first seven albums which are fantastic. Then I got my hands on The Cheerful Insanity of Giles, Giles, Fripp - very amusing - how the hell did they jump from there to The Court of the Crimson King the following year!

Don't know, but although occasionally driven to excess due to their experimental nature, there is a veritable encyclopedia of good Crimson music.
I loved the way the selection of singing bassists changed the whole 'look and feel' of the band, my favorite period being the Wetton period musically (although Lake is one of my favorite vocalists).
There was nothing like Crimson before, during, or since....although many modern bands like Tool and Primus consider them a strong influence.

Interesting trivia...."21st Century Schizoid Man" is the first instance that I know of where distortion effects were used on the vocals.

Dudess

JeanH wrote: »

what an ultra cool woman Miki was.

I think most heterosexual females have at least one girl crush - she is most definitely mine! I had her hair for a while too, but it required too much maintenance.

Cheers Dudess, I will indeed check out the earlier Lush stuff. I'm always on the prowl for decent music and Lush happen to be in the respected category for me

Look up their songs Hypocrite (from 1994) and Deluxe (1990, widely considered their best song of all).

I urge you to listen to Gallagher and Lyle's song 'Breakaway'

I know it. Yeah, in the mid 70s, those wilderness years between glam rock and punk, there was an awful sludge of blandness being churned out from various quarters, but the odd gem floated to the surface, and that's definitely one of them. It was used in a travel ad and I think maybe a coffee ad. Great song.

the first single I ever bought was 'Boom, Boom, Boom' by The Outhere Brothers! See, I'm not so perfect now!

I suppose I'll have to forgive you...

Hermy

Rustar wrote: »

Don't know, but although occasionally driven to excess due to their experimental nature, there is a veritable encyclopedia of good Crimson music.

Don't get me wrong Rustar, while I continue to be amused by Cheerful Insanity, I absolutely love listening to it. It was just such a surprise at the time, being familiar with everything from Schizoid Man to One Time, to hear so many curious songs and ideas with very few hints of what was to come.

blastman

I think my first grown-up purchase was Telekon by Gary Numan, during a brief electronic phase I went through before developing a taste for heavier music. My first purchase in that genre was Powerage by AC/DC (probably a weird album to start into AC/DC with, but it worked for me!)

Latchy

My first LP purchase was ' Mind Games ' by john Lennon about 1974 although other family members were previously always buying other fav albums ,but i think that was my first buy .

Quality

Guns 'N' Roses Appetite for Destruction...

I wanted to marry slash..

Notorious

I remember buying Eminem's first album "The Slim Shady LP" when I would've been around 13. Although I did buy the "Don't Look Back in Anger" single on cassette before that.
I'm pretty sure my next purchases were all acquired together; "Renegades" by Rage Against the Machine, NoFx's "Pump Up the Valuum", and Sepultura's "Nation". Altogether an odd basket, and I'd listen to all of them now, except rarely Eminem.

Dudess

JeanH, also check out Superblast! by Lush (1991) and Nothing Natural (also 1991). They've better songs than Nothing Natural, but what an ending!

I see you like New Order too - you have chosen wisely...

humberklog

Dudess wrote: »

Gotta love that eccentric 80s funk from Europe. I presume you're a fan of Yello?

Not really. I or 2 good ones. I'd put Art of Noise ahead of yello and it'd be mental to have to many of that type of music too often.
Woulda been much more New York new wave fan type back then. Especiallly in early secondary school where you kinda gotta identify with a genre. Plastic Bertrand would slip under the bar of new wave influence.

Dudess

Oh I love Closer to the Edit and Moments in Love. Anything else I've heard didn't appeal to me. Still though, very pioneering group.

Mossy Monk

Def Leppard - Hysteria

A fine purchase.

Scubadevils

Beat Box from Art of Noise is a great track, sewing the seeds to the birth of techno a couple of years later...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4q5UdiTOi4s

JeanH

Dudess, I checked out those Lush songs on youtube. I think I'd go with Superblast and Deluxe more than the other two. Still I've got to say Ladykillers is my favourite. I'm obsessed with that Ciao track. That's excellent. Cheers for the info. Dudess. I'm going to have a look for a few Lush CDs next time I'm in Dublin. Something tells me I checked before and nowehere really stocks them. Might have to search around Borderline Records and Rhythm etc.

Dudess

Early Lush is very different to their Britpop stuff, which was quite a departure. Some feel the earlier stuff is a bit too "inaccessible" while others feel the Britpop stuff is too commercial. Meh, I like whatever is good by them but I must admit I do prefer the earlier stuff - that's what got me into them in the first place.

Well albums-wise: Lovelife is their 1996 one. Tower Records should have it but yeah, it might need to be ordered.
Online ordering is probably your best bet. Split is their 1994 one - it's a remarkable album. Kind of a meeting point between their very "indie" early stuff and the Britpoppy stuff.

Prior to that is Spooky from 1992 and Gala from 1990.

mental07

Dudess wrote: »

I suppose your pre-teens is a nice age to be. And I find myself so drawn to the rock from the time when I was aged 10-12. Maybe that's the particular point when music makes an impression on you.

That's true for me too. That point for me was the mid-90s - the first album I bought was Blur's Parklife (out of my confirmation money ) I still listen to other stuff that was knocking around at that time - Oasis's Definitely Maybe and What's the Story?, Different Class by Pulp (Misshapes is pure class!).

I can also remember watching Glastonbury on TV in 1997 and being in awe of Radiohead's performance....

sinnerboy

Made in Japan - Deep Purple

dh2007

Dudess wrote: »

Shortly after Bad I got Kylie - I don't care. Some stormin' tracks there!

that's mad - the first ever album I bought was the very cheesey 'Kylie'. Got it on tape with my first holy communion money aged 7 in 1988! and that was shortly followed by Bad. Bad is brilliant! I still listen to Bad now and then. Admittedly Kylie doesn't get any listens

I think the first grown-up album I bought was aged 12 (6th class) Blood Sugar Sex Magik by the RHCP - but I bought it for a friend as a present for her birthday so I don't know if that counts! I'd been listening to it at home cos my sisters had it.

I lived for years scabbing my sisters music so I don't think I bought anything myself til The Great Escape by Blur which was probably mid-nineties at that stage

Nailz

It was either Stone Roses "Stone Roses", Happy Mondays "Bummed" or the Durutti Column "Guitar and Other Machines", very odd for my age and location... especially the last two.