I’ve been on a little bit of a musical nostalgia kick recently, and while sitting here trying to think of the first albums I ever bought, I figured it might be fun to get my readers in on some of the action. But first, why don’t I warm things up a little? As a kid, I was never really “in” to music the way some kids are. My dad listened to oldies and my mom listened to country, so I wasn’t exactly raised on the mainstream pop flavor of the decade (and, being a child of the 80s and early 90s, maybe that was a good thing). Add to that the fact that I’m an only child with no older siblings’ records to listen to, and I feel like I got started a little late.

Just before I started high school, I experienced a life-defining moment–one of those important, pivotal moments I will never forget. I was at my aunt and uncle’s house, and I was really curious about his collection of CDs, as my parents–technologically inept as they are–would not even own their own CD player until years later (and this was 1996! Not 1986!). He had all this music I had only vaguely heard of before…All these bands like Kiss, Aerosmith, and Led Zeppelin (and this was 1996! Not 1976!). He let me plug in the headphones and rock out for a while, and I left there with a…hunger. A hunger for ROCK.

Very, very soon after, I went to Wal-Mart (I discovered the local record store a little later–bargain basement goodness) and bought my first two CDs: News of the World by Queen, and Unplugged by Kiss. I realize Unplugged was a really, really strange choice for a first Kiss CD, but I saw a bunch of songs I’d heard of on the back and decided it would be a good purchase. I still don’t regret it–it fueled a desire to buy every Kiss album so I’d have all the originals in addition to the unplugged live cuts (I realize many of you would indeed regret owning every Kiss album, but I’m a guy who once very briefly considered buying an $800 Kiss Army leather jacket). It wasn’t long before I’d added Aerosmith, Alice Cooper, AC/DC and Black Sabbath to my collection. By the time a couple more years had rolled around and I was getting ready to embark to Los Angeles to see my first concert–Kiss at Dodger Stadium on Halloween, 1998–my friend’s stepdad remarked that his album collection was never as cool as mine when he was my age. It’s a shame it was 1998, not 1978 (notice a pattern here?).

I wasn’t totally oblivious to the mainstream of the time, though–and luckily, by the mid-90’s, the music scene was probably the best it had been since 20 years prior. Fortunately, a move to the city and a switch to cable TV provided me with MTV, which actually still played music videos. I recorded songs off the local rock station, and soon bought albums like Sublime by Sublime, One Fierce Beer Coaster by the Bloodhound Gang, Tragic Kingdom by No Doubt, One Hot Minute by the Red Hot Chili Peppers, and Electriclarryland by the Butthole Surfers.

Thirteen years later, there’s still absolutely nothing I love more than finding new (and old) albums that I love. Which leads me to the question…what were the first albums you ever bought?