Actually it would mostly have been new releases. The shops would get them free from record company reps who wer trying to push certain new release into the chart and sometimes they'd fire them out very cheaply to attract sales, or reduce them in a few weeks if they hadn't gone. Times have changed.
Coming back to records, there are some 12" and 7" singles I have several copies of because they were so cheap I couldn't leave them. :eek:
Really? thats interesting. I didn't know they did that but I guess it makes sense. I certainly remember bargain bins with singles going cheap but those would be ones that charted a few weeks or even months ago.
I remember DVDs at £24 in our HMV. Mind you they were milking it. Other shops had the same releases for under £20. I never bought any at that price but I used to buy the occasional Region 1 (US) disc for £15 or so if it was something I really wanted that wasn't available on Region 2.
Region 1 DVDs were officially on sale in the UK? I didn't know that either. I presumed only region 2 disks would be officially sold here, unless you mean buying on Ebay or somewhere like that. I remember it was MVC I got You've Got Mail - I used to be quite keen on that store until it closed down
Region 1 DVDs were officially on sale in the UK? I didn't know that either. I presumed only region 2 disks would be officially sold here, unless you mean buying on Ebay or somewhere like that. I remember it was MVC I got You've Got Mail - I used to be quite keen on that store until it closed down
Not officially, no but Amazon UK and Play sold them. I have an Australian release (maybe Region 4) that I bought from CDWow about ten years ago. We had a local-ish home cinema shop that sold them across the counter though.
Really? thats interesting. I didn't know they did that but I guess it makes sense. I certainly remember bargain bins with singles going cheap but those would be ones that charted a few weeks or even months ago.
The 'major labels' all had travelling reps who would call with chart return shops and just give them free product - mostly singles and sometimes LPs. Some of these reps also worked for promotions companies who helped push indie releases as well. The idea was that you would stroke the barcode of the release with the scanner of the 'chart return machine' and this was how sales were determined. Reps would hint at certain things they wanted pushed and the freebies were payola for this. Of course it's easy to leave a copy of a single behind the counter and swipe the code a dozen times over the course of the day even if nobody has bought it. This is what used to go on in the eighties-mid nineties but I think things changed a lot because the system was ripe for abuse.
Not officially, no but Amazon UK and Play sold them. I have an Australian release (maybe Region 4) that I bought from CDWow about ten years ago. We had a local-ish home cinema shop that sold them across the counter though.
Ah, that makes sense. I think CDWow specialised in foreign editions of CDs and DVDs - I only ever bought a couple of items from that site, I think. Region 4 works in all regions I think - its the regionless region, as it were?
What was bizarre, sorry? yes I remember when DVDs cost close to £20 - the first one I got was You've Got Mail which was something like £18.99 around 2001 and we could only play DVDs through a DVD drive on our home computer then.
Like you say, most new technologies or formats cost more until most people own the devices to play them, so they'll then be able to sell more and can bring down the price per unit.
What was bizarre was you suggesting that we needed to have a lot of money to buy CDs in the 90s. Yes they were more expensive than now, but the cost of a takeaway or a few pints is not a LOT of money.
Not officially, no but Amazon UK and Play sold them. I have an Australian release (maybe Region 4) that I bought from CDWow about ten years ago. We had a local-ish home cinema shop that sold them across the counter though.
We had a shop locally that sold them until trading standards clamped down on them. Of course it didn't happen with videos so this region rubbish was new and shops didn't realise at the time that it was illegal to sell them.
What was bizarre was you suggesting that we needed to have a lot of money to buy CDs in the 90s. Yes they were more expensive than now, but the cost of a takeaway or a few pints is not a LOT of money.
I don't know about other people but as a child I didn't have much money. I had to save up my pocket money for probably a 2-3 weeks or so to be able to afford a CD album when I was say 12-15, so I only got ones I really wanted.
I don't know about other people but as a child I didn't have much money. I had to save up my pocket money for probably a 2-3 weeks or so to be able to afford a CD album when I was say 12-15, so I only got ones I really wanted.
I can certainly sympathise with that. I used to buy a 7" single with my pocket money (I think they were about 75 pence new when I was ten) and it was a while before I bought an vinyl album because they were about £3.79. My first was 'No More Heroes' by The Stranglers. I had some cheapo MFP (Music For Pleasure label) albums before that which had been bought for me.
I must've nearly given up comic collecting when I started buying singles. I remember that I got a pound when I was nine or ten (which was pretty good as some mates got 10p!) and used to buy ten US Marvel comics from the corner shop one a month when the new ones came in. Then they went up to 12p each and I could only get eight for my pound.
I can certainly sympathise with that. I used to buy a 7" single with my pocket money (I think they were about 75 pence new when I was ten) and it was a while before I bought an vinyl album because they were about £3.79. My first was 'No More Heroes' by The Stranglers. I had some cheapo MFP (Music For Pleasure label) albums before that which had been bought for me.
I must've nearly given up comic collecting when I started buying singles. I remember that I got a pound when I was nine or ten (which was pretty good as some mates got 10p!) and used to buy ten US Marvel comics from the corner shop one a month when the new ones came in. Then they went up to 12p each and I could only get eight for my pound.
Its funny how princes change over time - 75p! speaking of pocket money, I can just about remember the first time I'd saved for a toy and I knew it was over a pound but I'd only learnt money in pence until then, so I had to ask my mum what happens when you have over a pound (like what is the next unit of currency) lol
I don't know about other people but as a child I didn't have much money. I had to save up my pocket money for probably a 2-3 weeks or so to be able to afford a CD album when I was say 12-15, so I only got ones I really wanted.
Well that explains it. I was in my 20s in the 80s. I had to save up to buy a vinyl album costing £3.49 in the mid 70s. To be honest, kids today have got it easy.
Also (totally random, I know) - whatever happened to Minidiscs? they never really took off, did they? if available on the high street, there would only be a small selection and they cost quite a lot I seem to remember.
I remember I went on a trip to Barcelona in April 98. I managed to go to the Camp Nou and watch Barcelona play a league match. We arrived their quite early (about over half an hour before kick off) and we say on their big screen a repeated advert for Sony MiniDIsc. As I recall, it was one of those European repeated adverts and as it was in Spanish we started repeating the expression 'Sony Mini Disc' as it was drummed into our heads.
Therefore, I wonder if the MiniDisc was a bigger innovation on the main European market?
This is because, the MiniDisc did not arrive for sale in the UK until late 99. I saw in HMV that It was released simultaneously with DVD's. A few months later I around Spring of 2000 I was told of the website Napster and how you could download MP3's. Well, as already been mentioned, the rest is history. The fact that people could use the internet to download compressed music files was seen as a bigger advantage to starting your miniDisc collection. But I remember people saying that MiniDisc produced a better sound quality than any other music format?
Well that explains it. I was in my 20s in the 80s. I had to save up to buy a vinyl album costing £3.49 in the mid 70s. To be honest, kids today have got it easy.
Ah - I almost wish I was, I love 80s music lol it seems like im between generations somehow because either I see people younger than me reminisce about kids shows in the mid to late 90s (or later) which I might have grown out of and not seen, or its people talking about being kids or growing up in the 60s-70s and im in the middle somewhere.
I remember quite a few years ago now, hearing about a report which claimed the average child got something close to £10 pocket money a week I think? £10 would have been a real fortune for me as a kid in the early 90s. I'm pretty sure I never got that much. I did bits of work but only got a proper paid job after college, when I was 19 (I was a bit late, I know - I did some work experience and other things though). Anyway thats a whole other subject I guess(!).
I was quite surprised when I read recently that music (ie chart music, singles and albums) was still released on vinyl LPs into the early 90s. I was born in 83 and I cant remember ever seeing vinyl for sale in the shops, although I suppose I was too young to remember much of the 80s apart from cartoons and the like
I do, however, clearly remember getting a Walkman in the late 80s and getting a few casette tapes. I presumed cassette tapes were widely available and the main format for listening to music in the 80s and if I think of vinyls, I'd tend to think of music dating back from the turn of the century or beforehand up until the 1970s. Maybe thats mainly because most of my parents vinyl collection dates from the 50s-70s I'd have thought, so I presumed vinyl was out dated by the 80s.
I was originally curious about this having seen a clip from an old 1980s TOTP episode with the opening titles containing vinyls and I thought that seemed quite outdated - I presumed it was a retro thing until I saw someone post in this forum about buying singles on vinyl.
Anyone else surprised by this? maybe its just me. The only vinyl I knew as a kid were those small colourful plastic 'vinyls' you put into a childs mock record player which played nursery rhymes I find it fascinating for some reason though - when did cassette tapes become the main format, the late 80s onwards maybe? I clearly remember singles being widely available on cassette tape certainly by the early 90s. There were also those kids storybooks that came with a cassette tape which read out the stories and had the wand sound effect telling you when it was time to turn the tape over (aw, happy memories there ). I'm thinking they date from the 1980s, so I guess I took it for granted that cassette tapes were pretty much in the mainstream then but maybe I'm thinking late 80s. I guess it was the tail end of a generation I'm not quite old enough to remember...
Also (totally random, I know) - whatever happened to Minidiscs? they never really took off, did they? if availabe on the high street, there would only be a small selection and they cost quite alot I seem to remember.
You definitely don't remember the 80s that well musically by the way you're talking.
I was a teenager in the late 80s and I bought loads of vinyl.
I first started listening to music round about 82/83 when my Dad bought me a tiny little MW/LW radio. The first 7" single record I ever bought was '19' by Paul Hardcastle back in 85.
I bought Tower of Strength by The Mission in '88. I remember cassette singles when they were quite new but I never liked them.
Vinyl singles went on sale until the early/mid 90s I think.
You definitely don't remember the 80s that well musically by the way you're talking.
I was a teenager in the late 80s and I bought loads of vinyl.
I first started listening to music round about 82/83 when my Dad bought me a tiny little MW/LW radio. The first 7" single record I ever bought was '19' by Paul Hardcastle back in 85.
I bought Tower of Strength by The Mission in '88. I remember cassette singles when they were quite new but I never liked them.
Vinyl singles went on sale until the early/mid 90s I think.
Yeah well I was born in (early) 1983, so I don't remember much but I was around in the 80s and I've always loved music.
Yeah well I was born in (early) 1983, so I don't remember much but I was around in the 80s and I've always loved music.
The 80s was a great time musically I think. I used to listen to the Top 40 chart every sunday evening.
When I first started listening to it it was presented by Richard Skinner. Every time they did the chart run down they would play the same piece of music in the background that I used to love. Years later I couldn't believe it when I found it.
It was called "Rockall" by Mezzorforte http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EiEOc4y2DDo
There's loads of 80's radio 1 jingles on the Radio Rewind website
The 80s was a great time musically I think. I used to listen to the Top 40 chart every sunday evening.
When I first started listening to it it was presented by Richard Skinner. Every time they did the chart run down they would play the same piece of music in the background that I used to love. Years later I couldn't believe it when I found it.
It was called "Rockall" by Mezzorforte http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EiEOc4y2DDo
There's loads of 80's radio 1 jingles on the Radio Rewind website
Mezzorforte biggest hit was Garden Party in '83
I found a series of videos on youtube earlier this year which features all the number 1s of the 1980s. I discovered Men At Works Land Down Under was number 1 on the week I was born, apparently.
I remember when Dr. Fox and Mark Goodier hosted the top 40 on Radio 1.
I'm 30 and while I never had vinyl as a kid (tapes ftw! ) I enjoy picking them up now, especially if it's from a band I really love, like Radiohead or Metallica.
I don't know about anyone else but there's just...something about taking a record out of its sleeve (the hairs standing up on my neck and arms as I do it!) and putting it on...turning the amp on, adjusting the speed etc. then sitting back while the music plays with all it's glorious vinyl warmth!!
As I record my own music I've got a bit of a thing about audio compression, digital mastering and everything that, basically, sucks the life out of a recording. Vinyl mastering has to be done differently, i.e. not as loud and compressed, so you end up with something that's easier and more enjoyable to listen to.
I found a series of videos on youtube earlier this year which features all the number 1s of the 1980s. I discovered Men At Works Land Down Under was number 1 on the week I was born, apparently.
I remember when Dr. Fox and Mark Goodier hosted the top 40 on Radio 1.
I'm 30 and while I never had vinyl as a kid (tapes ftw! ) I enjoy picking them up now, especially if it's from a band I really love, like Radiohead or Metallica.
I don't know about anyone else but there's just...something about taking a record out of its sleeve (the hairs standing up on my neck and arms as I do it!) and putting it on...turning the amp on, adjusting the speed etc. then sitting back while the music plays with all it's glorious vinyl warmth!!
As I record my own music I've got a bit of a thing about audio compression, digital mastering and everything that, basically, sucks the life out of a recording. Vinyl mastering has to be done differently, i.e. not as loud and compressed, so you end up with something that's easier and more enjoyable to listen to.
Pardon the pun but I like the sound of that does it make that crackling noise when you first play one, like you sometimes hear when old records are played on TV?
Pardon the pun but I like the sound of that does it make that crackling noise when you first play one, like you sometimes hear when old records are played on TV?
Yes!! There's nothing better...it adds to the anticipation before the first song!
You know what, Izzy, you've just made me want to play a record right this moment! Not sure what to choose...maybe an REM album.
So do you have a record player or considering getting one? (I would recommend!) What music are you into?
No I don't think so...I don't really have room for one in my room, though my parents have one in the living room. I prefer playing music through iTunes on my laptop with my earphones connected but I can totally understand using records too, it sounds cool (pardon the pun again)
I like lots of different types of music - pop, rock, R&B and soul mainly though. I like some dance music but not so much the really heavy stuff, nor heavy metal but most everything else. I've got the 3 80s Grooves compilations and Electronic Anthems 80s and numerous others. I've been collecting compilations of 80s music since last year (along with a couple of seventies and some 90s).
Comments
Really? thats interesting. I didn't know they did that but I guess it makes sense. I certainly remember bargain bins with singles going cheap but those would be ones that charted a few weeks or even months ago.
Region 1 DVDs were officially on sale in the UK? I didn't know that either. I presumed only region 2 disks would be officially sold here, unless you mean buying on Ebay or somewhere like that. I remember it was MVC I got You've Got Mail - I used to be quite keen on that store until it closed down
The 'major labels' all had travelling reps who would call with chart return shops and just give them free product - mostly singles and sometimes LPs. Some of these reps also worked for promotions companies who helped push indie releases as well. The idea was that you would stroke the barcode of the release with the scanner of the 'chart return machine' and this was how sales were determined. Reps would hint at certain things they wanted pushed and the freebies were payola for this. Of course it's easy to leave a copy of a single behind the counter and swipe the code a dozen times over the course of the day even if nobody has bought it. This is what used to go on in the eighties-mid nineties but I think things changed a lot because the system was ripe for abuse.
Ah, that makes sense. I think CDWow specialised in foreign editions of CDs and DVDs - I only ever bought a couple of items from that site, I think. Region 4 works in all regions I think - its the regionless region, as it were?
What was bizarre was you suggesting that we needed to have a lot of money to buy CDs in the 90s. Yes they were more expensive than now, but the cost of a takeaway or a few pints is not a LOT of money.
We had a shop locally that sold them until trading standards clamped down on them. Of course it didn't happen with videos so this region rubbish was new and shops didn't realise at the time that it was illegal to sell them.
I don't know about other people but as a child I didn't have much money. I had to save up my pocket money for probably a 2-3 weeks or so to be able to afford a CD album when I was say 12-15, so I only got ones I really wanted.
I can certainly sympathise with that. I used to buy a 7" single with my pocket money (I think they were about 75 pence new when I was ten) and it was a while before I bought an vinyl album because they were about £3.79. My first was 'No More Heroes' by The Stranglers. I had some cheapo MFP (Music For Pleasure label) albums before that which had been bought for me.
I must've nearly given up comic collecting when I started buying singles. I remember that I got a pound when I was nine or ten (which was pretty good as some mates got 10p!) and used to buy ten US Marvel comics from the corner shop one a month when the new ones came in. Then they went up to 12p each and I could only get eight for my pound.
Its funny how princes change over time - 75p! speaking of pocket money, I can just about remember the first time I'd saved for a toy and I knew it was over a pound but I'd only learnt money in pence until then, so I had to ask my mum what happens when you have over a pound (like what is the next unit of currency) lol
Well that explains it. I was in my 20s in the 80s. I had to save up to buy a vinyl album costing £3.49 in the mid 70s. To be honest, kids today have got it easy.
I remember I went on a trip to Barcelona in April 98. I managed to go to the Camp Nou and watch Barcelona play a league match. We arrived their quite early (about over half an hour before kick off) and we say on their big screen a repeated advert for Sony MiniDIsc. As I recall, it was one of those European repeated adverts and as it was in Spanish we started repeating the expression 'Sony Mini Disc' as it was drummed into our heads.
Therefore, I wonder if the MiniDisc was a bigger innovation on the main European market?
This is because, the MiniDisc did not arrive for sale in the UK until late 99. I saw in HMV that It was released simultaneously with DVD's. A few months later I around Spring of 2000 I was told of the website Napster and how you could download MP3's. Well, as already been mentioned, the rest is history. The fact that people could use the internet to download compressed music files was seen as a bigger advantage to starting your miniDisc collection. But I remember people saying that MiniDisc produced a better sound quality than any other music format?
Ah - I almost wish I was, I love 80s music lol it seems like im between generations somehow because either I see people younger than me reminisce about kids shows in the mid to late 90s (or later) which I might have grown out of and not seen, or its people talking about being kids or growing up in the 60s-70s and im in the middle somewhere.
I remember quite a few years ago now, hearing about a report which claimed the average child got something close to £10 pocket money a week I think? £10 would have been a real fortune for me as a kid in the early 90s. I'm pretty sure I never got that much. I did bits of work but only got a proper paid job after college, when I was 19 (I was a bit late, I know - I did some work experience and other things though). Anyway thats a whole other subject I guess(!).
I was a teenager in the late 80s and I bought loads of vinyl.
I first started listening to music round about 82/83 when my Dad bought me a tiny little MW/LW radio. The first 7" single record I ever bought was '19' by Paul Hardcastle back in 85.
I bought Tower of Strength by The Mission in '88. I remember cassette singles when they were quite new but I never liked them.
Vinyl singles went on sale until the early/mid 90s I think.
Yeah well I was born in (early) 1983, so I don't remember much but I was around in the 80s and I've always loved music.
When I first started listening to it it was presented by Richard Skinner. Every time they did the chart run down they would play the same piece of music in the background that I used to love. Years later I couldn't believe it when I found it.
It was called "Rockall" by Mezzorforte
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EiEOc4y2DDo
There's loads of 80's radio 1 jingles on the Radio Rewind website
Mezzorforte biggest hit was Garden Party in '83
I found a series of videos on youtube earlier this year which features all the number 1s of the 1980s. I discovered Men At Works Land Down Under was number 1 on the week I was born, apparently.
I remember when Dr. Fox and Mark Goodier hosted the top 40 on Radio 1.
I don't know about anyone else but there's just...something about taking a record out of its sleeve (the hairs standing up on my neck and arms as I do it!) and putting it on...turning the amp on, adjusting the speed etc. then sitting back while the music plays with all it's glorious vinyl warmth!!
As I record my own music I've got a bit of a thing about audio compression, digital mastering and everything that, basically, sucks the life out of a recording. Vinyl mastering has to be done differently, i.e. not as loud and compressed, so you end up with something that's easier and more enjoyable to listen to.
What a top tune!! This is my favourite ever hit from the '80s!! - http://youtu.be/T7hHx7gdN68
Pardon the pun but I like the sound of that
Yes!! There's nothing better...it adds to the anticipation before the first song!
You know what, Izzy, you've just made me want to play a record right this moment! Not sure what to choose...maybe an REM album.
What a bonkers video lol morris dancers and all!
Awesome
So do you have a record player or considering getting one? (I would recommend!) What music are you into?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FTZZjemferM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Le-mYN3dl0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ScCwVm4vft8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DJ15BEAIXrg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=POv-3yIPSWc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TkN4J2l1UaA
Nowadays I've heard alot more 80s songs and some of my favourites include IOU by Freez and Who's Zoomin' Who by Aretha Franklin, plus lots of others
No I don't think so...I don't really have room for one in my room, though my parents have one in the living room. I prefer playing music through iTunes on my laptop with my earphones connected but I can totally understand using records too, it sounds cool (pardon the pun again)
I like lots of different types of music - pop, rock, R&B and soul mainly though. I like some dance music but not so much the really heavy stuff, nor heavy metal but most everything else. I've got the 3 80s Grooves compilations and Electronic Anthems 80s and numerous others. I've been collecting compilations of 80s music since last year (along with a couple of seventies and some 90s).