30 years ago were you alive, and if so what were you listening to?

[Mike Meyer]

Grease was the word for me in '78. Also, Peaches and Herb - Reunited. Still mainly buying 45's back then.

[Craig]

Funnily enough, today (the 14th) is the 30th anniversary of me starting work at the company I'm still with now. I remember buying Don't Look Back by Boston but more importantly I bought myself a guitar (a MusicMan Sabre II) which I still have today.

Craig

[maggior]

Maggior, my first two albums I bought at Sears in San Francisco when I was about 9 - Johnny Cash at San Quentin and Sly and the Family Stones greatest hits - played them on a "zip up" luggage record player

I had one of those luggage record players too! But that was before my first serious record purchase - Book of Dreams. My dad treated me to an Emerson turntable system (no radio or tape, just a turntable with a built in amp and separate speakers) bought in Rickles ("...do it better with Rickles" - I can still remember the jingle). It had a BSF turntable on it. Book of Dreams was bought at Two Guys. It was a toss up between that or the Beatles blue album ('67 - '70) collection.

I haven't thought about this stuff in ages, yet I remember it like it was yesterday.

[haunyack]

Utopia - "Oops! Wrong Planet" - had me jumpin' up and down and head bangin'.

Ol' Todd would rock despite releasing mushy top 40 crap in order to raise cash for equipping his recording studio with the current bleeding edge (analog!) technology.

"I was so much older then ..."

.

[alZmtbr]

No one has mentioned Alan Parson's Project - perhaps that was after '78?

I remember working a few shifts at campus radio - both at UofW and down the road at Wilfred Laurier. A bud of mine from High School got me into that - he was a year ahead of me, in PoliSci. He always played some Alan Parsons as a lead in to his show "Professor Hyde and Doctor Feather" or something like that.

I don't think I had a TT until 2nd year (dual 504, which still see's duty today), relying on a cassette machine and tapes made from my older brothers system at the parents place. I still have all of the vinyl purchased from the campus record store...

[norderney]

In 1978 I was 16 years old!!!

I had a Philips Music Centre (from 1973 to 1980) which had a turntable, cassette deck, tuner and amplifier built into a single unit, with separate speakers.

I was more into Top 40 singles, but also instrumental music such as Herb Alpert and Bert Kaempfert and jazz standards, such as Ella Fitzgerald and Sergio Mendes.

I have always had quite a wide musical taste, with the exception of progressive rock and opera!!!!

[Phil Leigh]

In 1978 I was 17. I recall a Dual semi-auto deck, Grado FTE+(?) cartridge, A&R A60 amp and Gale speakers (not the chrome ones).

Big albums for me that year were:
Bloody Tourists - 10CC
If You Want Blood - AC/DC
Pyramid - Alan Parsons
From The Inside - Alice Cooper
52nd St - Billy Joel
Live Bullet - Bob Seger
In Your Mind - Bryan Ferry
The Cars
Cheap Trick at The Budokan
Tracks on Wax 4 - Dave Edmunds
Minute By Minute - Doobie Bros
Dire Straits 1st
Out Of The Blue - ELO
My Aim Is True & This Years Model - Elvis Costello
Works Vol2 - ELP
Double Vision - Foreigner
Back On The Streets - Gary Moore
And Then There Were Three - Genesis
City To City - Gerry Rafferty
Along The Red Ledge - Hall & Oates
Magazine - Heart
New Boots & Panties - Ian Dury
War of the Worlds - Jeff Wayne
Luxury You Can Afford - Joe Cocker
The Kick Inside - Kate Bush
Man Machine - Kraftwerk
Straight From the Hip - Liar
Octave - Moody Blues
Bat Out Of Hell - Meatloaf
Approved By The Motors - The Motors
Jazz - Queen
Long Live Rock & Roll - Rainbow
The Rutles
Jazz - Ry Cooder
Facades - Sad Cafe
Inner Secrets - Santana
Three's A Crowd - Tarney Spencer Group
Rogue Waves - Terry Reid
Obsession - UFO
Van Halen I
Live & Dangerous - Thin Lizzy

What a year!!!!
(not sure my memory is 100% on the year on some of these but they feel right)

[peejay]

For better or worse, Arrival was my first ever Album - a gift, and yes, I have to live with that - but hey, they were big around this time. Anyone else wanna 'fess up

[DeVerm]

I always had a wide music-choice and was only disgusted with stuff like ABBA, Fame, Grease, opera etc. But no. 1 band was Herman Brood and his Wild Romance. I'm afraid you have to be Dutch or maybe from one of the surrounding countries to know them, but some of you might know Cuby and the Blizzards and he played in that band too.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herman_Brood

cheers,
Nick.

[norderney]

For better or worse, Arrival was my first ever Album - a gift, and yes, I have to live with that - but hey, they were big around this time. Anyone else wanna 'fess up

Yep, I had the LPs of Voulez-Vous (1979) and Super Trouper (1980) by ABBA.

I have now got all their studio albums on CD and in FLAC on my hard dtive now.

I agree Arrival was a good album.