I have been sorting out old records today. Old vinyl records, LP’s and 45’s. Remember those? Oh the places I have been inside my head today!
Just looking at the album covers trigger tunes and overtures in my mind. There are fascinating subconscious connections from visual and audio prompts. How can I remember so many lyrics from decades ago, yet struggle to remember what I am shopping for, without a list?
Music in my family was all classical, choral, a bit of Gilbert and Sullivan played on a radiogram or the wireless. I broke the mould when I insisted on buying pop singles at age five and six – The Monkees, The Beatles.
Tamla Motown was a strong influence in my early teens, Diana Ross, Marvin Gaye, Jackson Five, Stevie Wonder, to name a few. David Cassidy and The Partridge Family, but not the Osmonds. There was a phase of reggae long before Bob Marley made it popular.
I remember my first transistor radio, that I’d listen to under the bed covers after bedtime. I don’t remember the pirate stations such as Radio Caroline, initially there was just the BBC with Radio 1 playing my generations music, but I do remember the launch of early independent stations in London, such as Capital Radio in 1973.
Musical taste extended into prog rock as well as the music of the pop charts. Genesis, Yes, Rick Wakeman, Hawkwind and others. The new instrumentals, Mike Oldfield’s Tubular Bells that launched Virgin Records also in 1973, also Jean Michel Jarre’s Oxygene.
The big names of the time, Queen, David Bowie, Elton John, plus new 1980’s bands culminated in the amazing Band Aid Christmas single, followed by Live Aid in 1985.
Classic albums are in my vinyl collection, Carole King Tapestry, Fleetwood Mac Rumours, Pink Floyd Dark Side of the Moon, Simon and Garfunkel Bridge over Troubled Water. It is unnerving as such albums have 35th or 40th anniversary re-releases. Oh I feel old. Music defines our youth, our twenties.
Cassettes came and went along with the Sony Walkman, but music became portable. CD’s in the mid 80’s and Sony Discman of the 90’s were superseded in the new millennium with ipod’s and Itunes and now we all have a huge music collection in our pockets.
As my daughters got into their teens and developed their own musical tastes, I enjoyed picking up new music through them. The Script and Ed Sheeran are such examples.
I have the dilemma of deciding what to do with this vinyl collection. I have not owned an actual turntable for fifteen years, so why hang on to them? Should I sell them? Are they worth anything? I’ll make some enquiries. Or do I store them for another decade and have more nostalgic days when I look at them all again on a future date?
What is your musical journey?
