I don’t really remember buying an album at a place I couldn’t get it at home, but I do remember seeking out a new tape or CD before a vacation so I’d have something interesting to listen to on the trip.
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And then I had a special playlist just for the day of the eclipse of all songs that have the word sun or a variation of it in the title. Hey. I'm 42 and childfree (I have time) and I love music what can I say lol
I don't do that but I have a tradition of blasting Discharge - Hear nothing See nothing Say nothing to my headphones just as the plane takes off. It hits differently with that G force pushing you in the seat.
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Went down to Texas for the solar eclipse in April. Of course had to make a playlist of all my favorite hip hop and R&B songs to come out of Texas
No, no, no! It has to be something you _found_ along the way but had no idea you wanted. A scrubby record shop in a strip mall where you stop for lunch may have a concert bootleg of your favorite band that you've never heard of, or an entire display of Frank Zappa records that finally convinces you to give him a listen. Streaming music just doesn't work the same.
There are still some songs where the transition on the tape was a specific way, and when I hear the song, I hear the old taped transition.
For example, in this one mix tape I made off the radio for my London trip, I had Weezer'S Buddy Holly, and the way it ended and went immediately into Green Day's Brain Stew (With the Godzilla roars mixed in) RIGHT on the beat and fucking perfect... I want Godzilla brain stew after Buddy holly EVERY TIME.
I was born and raised in Southern California, about 60 miles from Disneyland, but the first time I ever went there was through a school field trip at age 14.
Certain rituals and milestones don’t occur when you grow up in a dysfunctional household that chronically lacks money.
Yeah I was like damn, nope can't relate lol. The biggest vacation my family took as a kid was to a seaside town when I was like 8. Everything else was just like an amusement park or something, then when I was a teen would just go off with friends places. Oh and I guess the occasional trip to visit my sister at college a couple of states over. But that was spent just helping her with stuff. Definitely wasn't buying music on vacation though nor even really going on vacation.
My 'vacation' was similar: going to Six Flags for one day every other year and to the lake about 20 miles from my house to fish. Granted, I loved doing those things and appreciated what little my parents could do, but going on an actual vacation was completely out of the cards for us.
Our "vacation" was visiting family or friends (definitely nothing more than 3 hrs away, though, gas n wear n tear n all) and staying at their house for free lol. I don't think we ever took a 'destination' vacation until I was in middle school, and then never again til I was 19 or so.
I was the token poor kid at a rich people church, so I got a few scholarships from the members to go to church camps and other evangelical “fun” places. I was 27 when I finally went on my first real vacation that wasn’t a church camp or family visit.
I was a little kid when Pearl Jam's Ten came out, I was obsessed with it. My family went on a trip to Switzerland (the French section). I saw the album at a store there and kept asking my parents to buy it for me because I thought it was the same album except with everything sang in French, they kept telling me it doesn't work like that and I had a hard time believing them.
I remember buying the Green Jello cassette on a road trip before they had to replace the "O" with "Y" for trademark reasons. Wish I still had it.
"Not by the hair on my chinny chin chin🎶🐷🐷🐷"
We always had the option of buying singles on cassette, though it never seemed like the value was there. I think a single was like $5-6 but the LP was about $16
My aunt and uncle moved to Massachusetts and wanted to spend time with me. They paid for my plane ticket and I spent about two weeks with them. She knew I was really into music and bought me some stuff from a local record shop. Slayer - Decade of Agression; White Zombie - Astro Creep 2000; Ugly Kid Joe -The Very Best Of...
I couldn't find these in my local shops for some reason, so I was stoked.
My son and I hit every record store when we go out of town so it's still possible. Don't really get the soundtrack aspect but I still look back at what I bought and can see what I was listening to at the time of that trip.
The soundtrack aspect is that you listen to a certain album on the road, and then later when you hear that album, you are reminded of the trip. The effect is stronger if it’s a new album, and if you listen to it on repeat. Still works at our advanced age!
These days we aren’t carrying walkmans though so you could buy a CD or 7” (or lp if you packed for that - take a cardboard box in your luggage) and them stream it while traveling to get the same effect. Or, buy an album ahead of the trip as a special treat for yourself and blast it nonstop while on the road to help it soak into your brain.
Safe travels!
I used to drive back and forth to college which was like a 12 hour trip, gas station cassette tapes were my jam. I’d wear out that “Outlaw country hits” or whatever it may be
All of the "almost hits" from bands you recognize in a convenient format at a price you can afford.
It seemed like a deal at the time.
It was probably fun putting those tapes together. Kind of like making a mixtape while minimizing licensing costs.
So many great (at least at the time) hidden gem albums that weren't readily available/not yet caught on back home that became instant faves on vacation:
Sublime - 40oz to Freedom
System of A Down - S/T
Sevendust - S/T
G Love and the Special Sauce - Yeah it's That Easy
Goodie Mob - Soul Food
Mindless Self Indulgence - Frankenstein Girls
Nine - Nine Lives
311 - Grassroots
I could go on but I'll stop, haha
In particular, there was a bookstore in Vermont that had a "buzz bin" with selections from up and coming bands, and we had plenty of family vacations in VT, so it was always a big deal when I got to hit the bookstore.
In Canada we only had access to a selection European imports, and they were so expensive. Wasn't it the same in the US? When you're over there there's so much more to choose from. Especially like eurodance and electronica. And britpop had different releases sometimes, like different B sides on singles, or additional tracks on the album and that kind of thing.
Remember those British and Euro magazines that would come with a disc inside? And they were only at certain shops.
I was going to disagree, but then I remembered visiting the Virgin Megastore in NYC and buying a Japanese CD single of a Smashing Pumpkins track I hadn’t seen before. I had completely forgotten about that kind of experience.
It's still out there but a bit more difficult to find. And crazily cassettes are seeing a comeback for small indie acts. I still hit up record stores when I travel and/or find rarities on discogs.
Or as seemed to be the case in the late 90’s, not sure about earlier, versions of albums that only had tracks if you got that version. For example Sehnsucht by Rammstein as released in Australia/New Zealand had two English versions of songs (du hast and Engel), that weren’t on all (most?) releases. Covers or remixes appearing on specifically on the Japanese version were not uncommon.
I remember doing this with Foo Fighters Colour and the Shape on a trip to Oklahoma. Also did it with Pennywise - About Time on a road trip with my grandparents. I still think about the trips when I listen to these records.
Yeah that's how I discovered People's Instinctive Travels and the Paths of Rhythm. Was in a music store in California during the summer, saw the cover, flipped it over, read it, it all looked great, bought it. Had no idea who A Tribe Called Quest was or that it was going to be a classic album.
Every tour I take with my band, we always stop at record stores wherever we play. The used section is where you find the gems. You never know what some other, strange city values and doesn’t value as opposed to your own.
In relation to the nostalgia in your post; once while on vacation with my family I bought the Bio Dome Soundtrack. Filled with songs just as dumb as the movie. Meeemmoriiiieeeessss.
I remember how important picking new music for traveling specifically was for me. I know what you mean that it became the official soundtrack, I remember trying to find a used media store to grab something else when I wasn’t feeling my selection either. Trying to use those “preview listening stations” to scan a CD and listen to parts of songs lol
I don’t think it’s gone as much as just changed, new music is more accessible than ever thanks to digital offerings far more easy to get in to something now than back then too.
We had a ton of record shops where I lived (NYC) but too broke to travel overseas (because well…NYC) where you could get European and Japanese releases.
But I do remember certain CDs defining a trip because I listened to them in the car the whole way there. Like I will always remember my trip to Busch Gardens in VA when I listen to Little Earthquakes.
I traveled a lot growing up due to my parents divorce and living on other sides of the planet. The 5 or 6 CDs I would rotate through while on the road was my only pleasure. Then when I could add one or two into the mix was the best!
Oh yeah, for sure. Finding local music you discovered traveling that no one at home knew about was something special. The only other way to experience this was at festivals or finding some obscure band on tour. Thanks for the reminder about this.
We used to go camping alot over the summer, and I would get a new CD beforehand and listen to it ad nauseum on my discman while I laid in bed and stared at the ceiling all summer.
Absolutely. I remember buying Pearl Jam's Ten and Hendrix's Are You Experienced while vacationing in Florida back in '93. Provided a beautiful soundtrack for the trip.
I know this thread is about music but I feel the same way about obscure movies. A friend once went on a quest to get me 9 lives of Fritz the cat. It took digging. Now you could probably have it delivered tomorrow by a dozen vendors. In some ways it’s nice but there is no unicorn left
I know what you mean. I bought Nirvana - Incesticide while on a trip to San Antonio, TX. I still think about being there when I hear any song from that album.
Not when I was a kid, but back in the aughts when my wife and I were first dating we got to spend a week at her rich uncle’s condo in Florida that he kept to not pay income taxes. She bought Feist’s The Reminder and we listened to it nonstop. Always takes me back whenever I hear a song from it.
I can't remember the last time I bought a record, or a CD. My first record was We Are The World. 5 year old me played it till it skipped on Willie Nelson.
For me it was when we drove to a small town, went to the only mall (which was completely filled with young couples on dates), went to the computer games store, and saw that its entire inventory was at least ten years old. I was, like, SCORE
I remember the first time I went abroad in high school, I bought a few albums in London that had the European bonus tracks. That was exciting stuff, even before you could download the bonus tracks on Napster - finally getting to hear the song you knew existed, but had no way to find.
I'll never forget visiting Toronto, from a small NS town, and going to the giant HMV (I think) that had multiple levels. It was quite an experience at the time.
I don’t recall buying music on vacation. Though recently I was overseas for work when the new Pearl Jam dropped. But when I got to the record store, they were closed for the afternoon.
Thanks for coming to my Ted Talk.
I went to a show the other day and was happy that they had CDs to buy. I have a whole collection of CDs that came from some show of a band I never heard of before or since. Selling CDs was one way bands could actually make money back in the day so I’ve always made sure to buy one (or more) whenever I see anyone. Sometimes it’s bad, but most times it’s generally good and it definitely returns you to a place and time in your life when you listen to them.
I remember this with a techno/trance CD I bought several states away. I absolutely loved that album and every so often I hear a track that makes me think of that roadtrip. I don’t remember the name of the CD or the track sadly.
I went to see my uncle in Vallejo and when we went up to San Francisco we went to Tower Records. I didn't have a very expansive music palette back then so I just got The Simpsons - Songs in the Key of Springfield. But I was excited about how big that store was and how much there was to look at.
And I was on a trip from Michigan to West Virginia when Def Leppard had just released Euphoria so my aunt bought it for me just before we left. That was a great album to hear on the road.
I spent my teenage summers in a very small town in the middle of nowhere. There were ZERO places to buy CDs.
So, on the road trip to that location, I made my parents stop at the last available Sam Goody and I was given money to buy one CD. That was going to be what I listened to all summer. It 100% became my soundtrack to each summer.
Green Day - Dookie
Offspring - Smash
Soundgarden - Down on the Upside
RHCP - Californication
Dr. Dre - 2001
Rage - Battle of Los Angeles
RHCP - By The Way
For me it was books. I can still vividly remember going to CVS with my mom a few days before a car trip and picking up book and just crushing it in the car, on the beach, everywhere.
Grew up in the Deep South where there were like, two tape/CD stores in a 100 mile radius with a combined square footage less than a Taco Bell.
I remember visiting Ann Arbor on a summer trip and walking into the hip college record store and coming out with the cassette of Why Do Birds Sing, and had to hide it from my parents because they thought The Violent Femmes must be some radical queer group.
PS wow, that album holds up.
You must have went places really exotic to get things like that. I had a local record store that could order the rarities. I had the Australian import of frogstomp that actually had acidrain, where the US release either didn’t have it or it was a hidden track or something.
I got grounded
I found this cd of The Smashing Pumpkins Versions in a tiny music shop in Prague. Had no idea it existed because I had never seen it before. Looking it up now, though, it must be an unauthorized album because you can't sell it on discogs.
Grew up in Southern California
I remember that whenever I went somewhere far, it was like going back in time a year.
As far as albums go, there were only old releases.
You sound like you had the opposite experience, so my guess is that you didn't live on either coast.
If I bought while on vacation, usually it’s because the price was cheaper lol. My music store I shopped, the manager would order anything I wanted that I couldn’t get in store. Didn’t know until after it closed, I was their best customer lol. Actually thought the manager was joking when he told me I was.
I mean, you can still do that just with spotify.
I was in Croatia a couple of months ago, and I just made a playlist of songs I heard there a lot. I still listen to it and it takes me back. yes, the medium is different, but not sure why the feeling has to be.
I'm from Vancouver, Canada, and I bought ***Tragically Hip - Road Apples*** when we went on a family trip to Edmonton, Canada. Listened to that tape the whole ride back home.
I remember doing this in Europe as a younger adult, because most of the music I loved wasn’t available in the US and was prohibitively expensive to buy online, so when I went to the UK or other places I’d be able to buy the CDs there. Then those albums became the soundtrack to the trip. Good times 🧡🧡🧡🧡
I like visiting physical music stores and try to pick up something local. Last one I went to was in Wailuku, Hawaii called [Request Music](https://requestmusichawaii.com/).
My parents bought my older sis the Paula Abdul Cold Hearted Snake maxi single for one of our road trips. So that’s what we listened to for half the time.
Yes yes yes! We often went to the coast during Spring, and I would get to buy a C.D. from the Best Buy down there. And you're absolutely right...they would become my personal soundtrack for the vacation! I specifically remember getting these albums(1 per trip) [1.Green](http://1.Green) Day : Insomniac, 2. RiverFenix aka Fenix TX : S/T, 3. Suicide Machines : Destruction By Definition, 4. NOFX : Pump Up The Valium
I grew up in a music heavy city so this is a completely foreign and fascinating concept to me. So you had record stores that didn't have certain albums or was it more that you were buying local music to the area you were visiting?
Oh yeah. I went to Hamburg and got Nirvana's "Bleach" and a bootleg concert recording at Ingos Plattenkiste. And downtown by the Alster I found a shop that sold Gorefest. Good times.
What I miss is the local radio station collections. Back before radio stations became automated piles of crap that sound the same everywhere - every market had their own unique station with unique personalities.
WHFS in the DC area used to have artists in for interviews and they'd end up doing live music on air. Every so often they release those recordings on a CD. Most markets had some variation of this and you could only find those CDs if you lived in the market. I miss that.. F' the telecommunications act of '96 for destroying radio.
Yes! A ground of friends and I would always buy a CD and that would be the soundtrack for the trip. We got this random Icelandic reggae album on one trip and anytime one of those songs comes on today, I am instantly back on that trip from college.
For sure! I remember finding my first punk record store when I was on a road trip with my grandparents, and that’s how I got the first Rancid and Operation Ivy albums. They were on nonstop repeat the whole road trip.
Great subject! And yes, the limitless streaming possibilities, such as the same in music, movies, and TV, now remove all the “specialness” that those things once had. We have reached max consumption. There are a million amazing choices, and no one cares anymore.
This is why I started buying records again.
Sadly I wasn’t to into music growing up. Always just listened to Mom’s music which was Grateful Dead, Madonna, and Carly Simon. That’s what I got to listen to.
But as I started discovering my own tastes i would burn CDs. Yeah I was older by then. And there was an awesome record store a couple of towns over so I’d be able to just grab stuff. My first car had a cassette player, and I bought an Anthrax tape for $1. I still have that tape for nostalgia reasons. I can’t listen to it. I don’t have a cassette player and I’m not getting one for one tape.
The time I went to Greece in 2000 I bought [this CD](https://i0.wp.com/powersoft365customers.blob.core.windows.net/he288410-nereis-trading-ltd/Items/743217150129.jpg?ssl=1) from someone outside our hotel. Mainly because of the title.
In 2010 I was in NYC and ventured out to the record store in Astoria to buy Greek CDs and did the same when I went to Little Italy in Toronto a few years later. Dropped maybe $200 each time. I still listen to some of the CDs.
When i was in italy a couple of years ago I browsed a vinyl shop and found a Pearl Jam live show on vinyl and i just had to get it. I think the key now is to get things that you can’t get on a streaming service.
I worked on a military base doing construction in 99 and if there were CDs that were sold out everywhere else I could go to the PX and get them for almost half the price . It was awesome. Now I just push a button and it's there . Boring
This brings me back. I grew up in rural areas. Indie record stores in college towns (or even a Best Buy) were Godsends compared to the options at Wal Mart.
Natural, personal discovery of created content is a lost pleasure in a world where we have all content available in our pockets. A new method of natural, personal discovery is in content creation. Few of us did that, many of the younger generations do.
Stuff like this makes me feel like the spoiled city kid I probably am. Living in London, there was no music I wanted that I couldn't get at home until I first went to the US in my 20s.
I still remember finally tracking down a copy of 1000 Homo DJs single Supernaut in a mall in new hampshire over 2 decades ago. The struggle was real when your preferred choice of music was obscure industrial-techno metal.
I definitely bought some stuff I couldn't get back home on my first trip to that giant music store in Times Square- possibly a Tower Records.
These days, I bring 45s back from the UK, most pop that was never popular in the States.
I used to be able to buy one cd per summer on my parents dime. I remember getting papa roach, mushroom head,Slipknot and The Prodigy.
It was never music I couldn’t get at home but the release of Mushroomhead I got was a recording that they would later be re-record for a major label and I prefer the version I got.
The things I couldn't find I was always resourceful enough to find it, I recall there was some stuff not released in the US, I made friends with someone on Napster and sent them a check and they bought it and mailed it to me.
I also just did a lot of mail order from different zines and sources.
Lots of stuff is like this, especially if you come from a smaller town. Going to a large mall 45 min away was incredible to me as a teen or waiting to see a popular movie at a bigger theater. New albums too. Nothing is an event anymore, which means it flattens out the hype because of it's endless accessibility.
Like I remember going to a cottage where all there was was bunny ears on the TV and being thrilled when a channel actually came in didn't so much matter what it was. It was having that access that was thrilling.
When I was a freshman in high school, I flew to Florida to spend New Years Eve with my much older siblings. My brother took me to a store that sold liberated bootlegs. I bought a Pearl Jam CD called "Eddie's Bay Area Meat Locker". It had an early version of "Better Man" on it. When I got home, copies of it started getting made and passed around. Someone even performed the song in our school variety show. So, I feel I was responsible for Small Town, WV knowing that song long before Vitalogy was released.
I bought Primus' Pork Soda on my 8th grade trip to Washington DC. My friends teased me while rocking out to hearing Mud for the first time.
I also bought Adam Sandler's "They're All Gonna Laugh At You" while on a church trip with my mom, my best friend, my girlfriend, and her mom. We popped the album in on the way home and it lasted about 3 or 4 minutes before getting cut off.
Born in 78.
I used to travel for work in the mid 00s... and buying a new album and loading it on my iPod was kind of a fun way to create a soundtrack to remember those work trips.
I used to buy stacks of CDs when we went to the UK - I always came back with stuff I couldn’t get at home- like Vice Squad and the Birthday Party. I had the best music collection
Yup. Enjoyed going to record stores in big cities and college towns for this reason. Especially since I enjoy classical and jazz music, which was difficult to find in my small Midwestern city without special ordering it
My mom took me to Hong Kong for my 21st birthday. Came back with a suitcase full of CDs and DVDS. Some of the stuff wasn't even out yet or still in the theaters. It was epic.
Music laid the foundation for my most cherished memories on vacation. Buying that new album you wanted and binged constantly while on that vacation that connects you to that moment is incredibly strong.
I feel this. My first ever trip to Manhattan I took the subway to the village and bought “Futureworld” by Trans Am at a record store. That is still my soundtrack to that moment.
I legit buy albums pretty much every time I travel. If I am successful I buy a 2nd carry on.
This year I picked up albums from Lisbon, Paris, and Cleveland (work trip).
It wasn’t something I couldn’t get at home, but I remember getting 40oz to freedom on the boardwalk on ocean city, nj. Became the soundtrack to my summer that year.
My grandparents were English and we visited the UK often to see family. I was turning 15 in February of ‘95 and when we went that year (over my bday), Oasis was MASSIVE but I hadn’t heard of them back home yet. I bought the Definitely Maybe CD and listened to it on repeat. A few months later I started hearing some songs on the radio station we listened to. Then WTSMG blew up but it still wasn’t as big in the US vs the UK. I fucking LOVED/love Brit Pop to this day. It was a really fun time.
I was 9 years old in 1986, and I HAD to have Bon Jovi "Sippery When Wet" on cassette, much to the chagrin of my sisters who were planning to get it for my upcoming birthday. I made my family listen to "You Give Love a Bad Name", "Living on a Prayer", then rewind, and repeat, over and over. I'm sorry, family.
I remember when I was 14. I grew up in southern Ontario near Toronto, and we went on vacation out west. I was obsessed with the rising grunge scene and my mom took me to the Sub Pop "Megamart" (smaller than a corner store lol) in Seattle. I picked up three Green River albums and Soundgarden's earliest EP and when I got home I was king shit for a month with my obscure artifacts lol
Ya you could find weird albums of bands and also just local bands that had zero present outside of the country you were in. I still have a few from places like Fiji and Australia.
>Remember back in the day when you were on vacation with your parents or something, and you'd buy an album or single that you couldn't buy back home? You'd listen to it on your headphones, and it would be the soundtrack to the trip.
YES! I grew up in a dinky ass town in Northeastern MN and bought so many CD's on trips to the Twin Cities. I had this wild antenna rig on my radio that let me pull in the college radio signal, so I knew what I liked.
I have distinct memories of a classmate buying the Grease soundtrack on CD at a gift shop while we were on a field trip to Washington, DC. Mainly because I was jealous. LOL
I took my Walkman and my Ice Cube - Lethal Injection on vacation for 3 years in a row. But I do remember buying a Suzanne Vega cassette tape for $18 bucks at the airport 🤦🏻♀️
Usually when we went on vacation in the southwest there was inevitably a pan pipe or flute busking and hawking CDs. Strong memories of driving the lonely stretches of I-15 listening to some Kokopelli inspired flute meditations.
I remember downloading obscure songs onto my flip phone (I think illegally) but no we never bought a local album on vacation and made it the playlist for the trip. Sounds like it would be cool tho
In the early nineties, a Canadian band appeared on Saturday Night Live — The Tragically Hip. The two songs they performed ticked me to my core. I was obsessed.
For over a year, combed record stores for their album. Nothing. Record stores in suburban US didn’t stock The Tragically Hip.
Then I went on vacation with my parents to a major city. Went to a records store called Dave’s Sounds. My name is Dave. (Not really but you can replace Dave with my actual name and it makes sense.) Lo and behold, they had “Day For Night” by the The Tragically Hip, with the two songs that were burned into my head for over a year.
Snapped up that album with an advance on my allowance. The Hip is still my favorite band.
My favorite was finding a used cd store and getting older cds from bands I liked already but didn’t know their original stuff. STP and Live were some great finds.
You don't have to use Spotify or any streaming services and nothing stops you from dusting off that discman. Also stores selling CDs are still common at least in larger towns and cities so go explore!
I don’t really remember buying an album at a place I couldn’t get it at home, but I do remember seeking out a new tape or CD before a vacation so I’d have something interesting to listen to on the trip.
I still do this with Spotify – I even create playlists for specific trips.
https://preview.redd.it/34scekbw7m0d1.jpeg?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=a8cf219d7de504c0cc41fcf859a57c31b5c9d8ea And then I had a special playlist just for the day of the eclipse of all songs that have the word sun or a variation of it in the title. Hey. I'm 42 and childfree (I have time) and I love music what can I say lol
I don't do that but I have a tradition of blasting Discharge - Hear nothing See nothing Say nothing to my headphones just as the plane takes off. It hits differently with that G force pushing you in the seat.
I still burn Mix CDs.
https://preview.redd.it/tgp4a22e7m0d1.jpeg?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=2cdfdcd75ea21b269d02a29ce28617137e45c683 Went down to Texas for the solar eclipse in April. Of course had to make a playlist of all my favorite hip hop and R&B songs to come out of Texas
No, no, no! It has to be something you _found_ along the way but had no idea you wanted. A scrubby record shop in a strip mall where you stop for lunch may have a concert bootleg of your favorite band that you've never heard of, or an entire display of Frank Zappa records that finally convinces you to give him a listen. Streaming music just doesn't work the same.
Gin Blossoms’ New Miserable Experience is my soundtrack for Europe.
My family was too poor to go on vacation :(
We went on day trips and stuff like that but I couldn't afford to buy CDs. I had the free ones from Columbia House. Then I taped songs from the radio.
There are still some songs where the transition on the tape was a specific way, and when I hear the song, I hear the old taped transition. For example, in this one mix tape I made off the radio for my London trip, I had Weezer'S Buddy Holly, and the way it ended and went immediately into Green Day's Brain Stew (With the Godzilla roars mixed in) RIGHT on the beat and fucking perfect... I want Godzilla brain stew after Buddy holly EVERY TIME.
Samesies.
did you feel like a complete loser because YOUR family never went to disneyland too?
I was born and raised in Southern California, about 60 miles from Disneyland, but the first time I ever went there was through a school field trip at age 14. Certain rituals and milestones don’t occur when you grow up in a dysfunctional household that chronically lacks money.
Yeah I was like damn, nope can't relate lol. The biggest vacation my family took as a kid was to a seaside town when I was like 8. Everything else was just like an amusement park or something, then when I was a teen would just go off with friends places. Oh and I guess the occasional trip to visit my sister at college a couple of states over. But that was spent just helping her with stuff. Definitely wasn't buying music on vacation though nor even really going on vacation.
My 'vacation' was similar: going to Six Flags for one day every other year and to the lake about 20 miles from my house to fish. Granted, I loved doing those things and appreciated what little my parents could do, but going on an actual vacation was completely out of the cards for us.
Our "vacation" was visiting family or friends (definitely nothing more than 3 hrs away, though, gas n wear n tear n all) and staying at their house for free lol. I don't think we ever took a 'destination' vacation until I was in middle school, and then never again til I was 19 or so.
I was the token poor kid at a rich people church, so I got a few scholarships from the members to go to church camps and other evangelical “fun” places. I was 27 when I finally went on my first real vacation that wasn’t a church camp or family visit.
I was a little kid when Pearl Jam's Ten came out, I was obsessed with it. My family went on a trip to Switzerland (the French section). I saw the album at a store there and kept asking my parents to buy it for me because I thought it was the same album except with everything sang in French, they kept telling me it doesn't work like that and I had a hard time believing them.
Ah, oui oui, Édouard Vedder of Perle Confiture
Jeremy a parlé en classe aujourd'huiiiiiiiiiiiiiii
Literally LOL’ing at this
Yeah, the "Perle Confiture" got me haha
To be fair - if you were a Celine Dion fan, that could have worked.
if you enjoyed Disney movies you can get the Tarzan soundtrack in German or French. And it's all Phil Collins!
I remember buying the Green Jello cassette on a road trip before they had to replace the "O" with "Y" for trademark reasons. Wish I still had it. "Not by the hair on my chinny chin chin🎶🐷🐷🐷"
You'd better obey the cowgod!
RAMBO!
We’re so spoiled with choice nowadays. Not needing to buy a full album just for one song, so many more artists now sharing the same spotlight.
I am really suffering with decision fatigue from too much choice. I miss the cultural zeitgeist of shared experience.
This is why I don’t use streaming. I listen to vinyl at home and cds in the car.
I don’t use Spotify for this reason. I much prefer to buy whole records and listen to them all at once.
We always had the option of buying singles on cassette, though it never seemed like the value was there. I think a single was like $5-6 but the LP was about $16
My aunt and uncle moved to Massachusetts and wanted to spend time with me. They paid for my plane ticket and I spent about two weeks with them. She knew I was really into music and bought me some stuff from a local record shop. Slayer - Decade of Agression; White Zombie - Astro Creep 2000; Ugly Kid Joe -The Very Best Of... I couldn't find these in my local shops for some reason, so I was stoked.
My son and I hit every record store when we go out of town so it's still possible. Don't really get the soundtrack aspect but I still look back at what I bought and can see what I was listening to at the time of that trip.
The soundtrack aspect is that you listen to a certain album on the road, and then later when you hear that album, you are reminded of the trip. The effect is stronger if it’s a new album, and if you listen to it on repeat. Still works at our advanced age! These days we aren’t carrying walkmans though so you could buy a CD or 7” (or lp if you packed for that - take a cardboard box in your luggage) and them stream it while traveling to get the same effect. Or, buy an album ahead of the trip as a special treat for yourself and blast it nonstop while on the road to help it soak into your brain. Safe travels!
I really miss going to Camelot Music on a Friday after school with a few friends and looking for a new album to buy.
I used to drive back and forth to college which was like a 12 hour trip, gas station cassette tapes were my jam. I’d wear out that “Outlaw country hits” or whatever it may be
All of the "almost hits" from bands you recognize in a convenient format at a price you can afford. It seemed like a deal at the time. It was probably fun putting those tapes together. Kind of like making a mixtape while minimizing licensing costs.
So many great (at least at the time) hidden gem albums that weren't readily available/not yet caught on back home that became instant faves on vacation: Sublime - 40oz to Freedom System of A Down - S/T Sevendust - S/T G Love and the Special Sauce - Yeah it's That Easy Goodie Mob - Soul Food Mindless Self Indulgence - Frankenstein Girls Nine - Nine Lives 311 - Grassroots I could go on but I'll stop, haha In particular, there was a bookstore in Vermont that had a "buzz bin" with selections from up and coming bands, and we had plenty of family vacations in VT, so it was always a big deal when I got to hit the bookstore.
311 Grassroots, trip from PA to Miami. Awesome!
I never heard of regional restrictions when buying music
In Canada we only had access to a selection European imports, and they were so expensive. Wasn't it the same in the US? When you're over there there's so much more to choose from. Especially like eurodance and electronica. And britpop had different releases sometimes, like different B sides on singles, or additional tracks on the album and that kind of thing. Remember those British and Euro magazines that would come with a disc inside? And they were only at certain shops.
I’m going to go out on a limb here and say that most of us probably didn’t get the chance to travel to Europe to purchase music back then.
I was going to disagree, but then I remembered visiting the Virgin Megastore in NYC and buying a Japanese CD single of a Smashing Pumpkins track I hadn’t seen before. I had completely forgotten about that kind of experience.
What albums or singles couldn't you buy back home?
European dance music that wasn't available in the U.S.
It's still out there but a bit more difficult to find. And crazily cassettes are seeing a comeback for small indie acts. I still hit up record stores when I travel and/or find rarities on discogs.
Local music or if you are a serious collector, the exact same album with all the same songs, except it says “Made in West Germany” or wherever.
Or as seemed to be the case in the late 90’s, not sure about earlier, versions of albums that only had tracks if you got that version. For example Sehnsucht by Rammstein as released in Australia/New Zealand had two English versions of songs (du hast and Engel), that weren’t on all (most?) releases. Covers or remixes appearing on specifically on the Japanese version were not uncommon.
I remember doing this with Foo Fighters Colour and the Shape on a trip to Oklahoma. Also did it with Pennywise - About Time on a road trip with my grandparents. I still think about the trips when I listen to these records.
Yeah that's how I discovered People's Instinctive Travels and the Paths of Rhythm. Was in a music store in California during the summer, saw the cover, flipped it over, read it, it all looked great, bought it. Had no idea who A Tribe Called Quest was or that it was going to be a classic album.
Every tour I take with my band, we always stop at record stores wherever we play. The used section is where you find the gems. You never know what some other, strange city values and doesn’t value as opposed to your own. In relation to the nostalgia in your post; once while on vacation with my family I bought the Bio Dome Soundtrack. Filled with songs just as dumb as the movie. Meeemmoriiiieeeessss.
This is the way.
Yeah. Damn...
I remember how important picking new music for traveling specifically was for me. I know what you mean that it became the official soundtrack, I remember trying to find a used media store to grab something else when I wasn’t feeling my selection either. Trying to use those “preview listening stations” to scan a CD and listen to parts of songs lol I don’t think it’s gone as much as just changed, new music is more accessible than ever thanks to digital offerings far more easy to get in to something now than back then too.
I went on a family trip to Seattle with a walkman and only one tape: Stone Temple Pilots “Purple”
We had a ton of record shops where I lived (NYC) but too broke to travel overseas (because well…NYC) where you could get European and Japanese releases. But I do remember certain CDs defining a trip because I listened to them in the car the whole way there. Like I will always remember my trip to Busch Gardens in VA when I listen to Little Earthquakes.
I traveled a lot growing up due to my parents divorce and living on other sides of the planet. The 5 or 6 CDs I would rotate through while on the road was my only pleasure. Then when I could add one or two into the mix was the best!
Oh yeah, for sure. Finding local music you discovered traveling that no one at home knew about was something special. The only other way to experience this was at festivals or finding some obscure band on tour. Thanks for the reminder about this.
We used to go camping alot over the summer, and I would get a new CD beforehand and listen to it ad nauseum on my discman while I laid in bed and stared at the ceiling all summer.
I did that once! It was a Sonic Youth tape. It was *ok.*
My wife and I dropped like $400 on obscure Japanese hardcore punk records when we were there last month.
I have a "Die Toten Hosen" CD I bought when I was 16 on a trip to Germany not long after the Berlin wall fell.
I remember when I was young I bought the single "Crush" by Jennifer Paige in a mall in Orlando after going to Disney World (with the fam, of course).
Absolutely. I remember buying Pearl Jam's Ten and Hendrix's Are You Experienced while vacationing in Florida back in '93. Provided a beautiful soundtrack for the trip.
I know this thread is about music but I feel the same way about obscure movies. A friend once went on a quest to get me 9 lives of Fritz the cat. It took digging. Now you could probably have it delivered tomorrow by a dozen vendors. In some ways it’s nice but there is no unicorn left
I know what you mean. I bought Nirvana - Incesticide while on a trip to San Antonio, TX. I still think about being there when I hear any song from that album.
Not when I was a kid, but back in the aughts when my wife and I were first dating we got to spend a week at her rich uncle’s condo in Florida that he kept to not pay income taxes. She bought Feist’s The Reminder and we listened to it nonstop. Always takes me back whenever I hear a song from it.
I can't remember the last time I bought a record, or a CD. My first record was We Are The World. 5 year old me played it till it skipped on Willie Nelson.
For me it was when we drove to a small town, went to the only mall (which was completely filled with young couples on dates), went to the computer games store, and saw that its entire inventory was at least ten years old. I was, like, SCORE
I remember the first time I went abroad in high school, I bought a few albums in London that had the European bonus tracks. That was exciting stuff, even before you could download the bonus tracks on Napster - finally getting to hear the song you knew existed, but had no way to find.
I'll never forget visiting Toronto, from a small NS town, and going to the giant HMV (I think) that had multiple levels. It was quite an experience at the time.
I don’t recall buying music on vacation. Though recently I was overseas for work when the new Pearl Jam dropped. But when I got to the record store, they were closed for the afternoon. Thanks for coming to my Ted Talk.
Bro would rebuy cds in the US so they didnt have french on them. I mainly looked for japanese imports with the extra tracks.
I went to a show the other day and was happy that they had CDs to buy. I have a whole collection of CDs that came from some show of a band I never heard of before or since. Selling CDs was one way bands could actually make money back in the day so I’ve always made sure to buy one (or more) whenever I see anyone. Sometimes it’s bad, but most times it’s generally good and it definitely returns you to a place and time in your life when you listen to them.
I remember this with a techno/trance CD I bought several states away. I absolutely loved that album and every so often I hear a track that makes me think of that roadtrip. I don’t remember the name of the CD or the track sadly.
I went to see my uncle in Vallejo and when we went up to San Francisco we went to Tower Records. I didn't have a very expansive music palette back then so I just got The Simpsons - Songs in the Key of Springfield. But I was excited about how big that store was and how much there was to look at. And I was on a trip from Michigan to West Virginia when Def Leppard had just released Euphoria so my aunt bought it for me just before we left. That was a great album to hear on the road.
I spent my teenage summers in a very small town in the middle of nowhere. There were ZERO places to buy CDs. So, on the road trip to that location, I made my parents stop at the last available Sam Goody and I was given money to buy one CD. That was going to be what I listened to all summer. It 100% became my soundtrack to each summer. Green Day - Dookie Offspring - Smash Soundgarden - Down on the Upside RHCP - Californication Dr. Dre - 2001 Rage - Battle of Los Angeles RHCP - By The Way
For me it was books. I can still vividly remember going to CVS with my mom a few days before a car trip and picking up book and just crushing it in the car, on the beach, everywhere.
Grew up in the Deep South where there were like, two tape/CD stores in a 100 mile radius with a combined square footage less than a Taco Bell. I remember visiting Ann Arbor on a summer trip and walking into the hip college record store and coming out with the cassette of Why Do Birds Sing, and had to hide it from my parents because they thought The Violent Femmes must be some radical queer group. PS wow, that album holds up.
I 100% remember this and it was the only thing that made our yearly trip to Arizona not awful.
I buy music on trips all the time. If I don't, something bad likely happened. Got some of my favorite records on trips.
You must have went places really exotic to get things like that. I had a local record store that could order the rarities. I had the Australian import of frogstomp that actually had acidrain, where the US release either didn’t have it or it was a hidden track or something. I got grounded
I found this cd of The Smashing Pumpkins Versions in a tiny music shop in Prague. Had no idea it existed because I had never seen it before. Looking it up now, though, it must be an unauthorized album because you can't sell it on discogs.
Get into vinyl!
Grew up in Southern California I remember that whenever I went somewhere far, it was like going back in time a year. As far as albums go, there were only old releases. You sound like you had the opposite experience, so my guess is that you didn't live on either coast.
South Florida. But it wasn't until I was in my late teens/early 20s that I knew where to buy imports.
If I bought while on vacation, usually it’s because the price was cheaper lol. My music store I shopped, the manager would order anything I wanted that I couldn’t get in store. Didn’t know until after it closed, I was their best customer lol. Actually thought the manager was joking when he told me I was.
I mean, you can still do that just with spotify. I was in Croatia a couple of months ago, and I just made a playlist of songs I heard there a lot. I still listen to it and it takes me back. yes, the medium is different, but not sure why the feeling has to be.
I'm from Vancouver, Canada, and I bought ***Tragically Hip - Road Apples*** when we went on a family trip to Edmonton, Canada. Listened to that tape the whole ride back home.
I remember doing this in Europe as a younger adult, because most of the music I loved wasn’t available in the US and was prohibitively expensive to buy online, so when I went to the UK or other places I’d be able to buy the CDs there. Then those albums became the soundtrack to the trip. Good times 🧡🧡🧡🧡
What is vacation with your family as a kid?
Plex + Plexamp, roll your own, enjoy acquiring albums again
I like visiting physical music stores and try to pick up something local. Last one I went to was in Wailuku, Hawaii called [Request Music](https://requestmusichawaii.com/).
My parents bought my older sis the Paula Abdul Cold Hearted Snake maxi single for one of our road trips. So that’s what we listened to for half the time.
I still do this. I go to record stores wherever I travel. I recently found one in PA that I couldn’t find in UT.
Yes yes yes! We often went to the coast during Spring, and I would get to buy a C.D. from the Best Buy down there. And you're absolutely right...they would become my personal soundtrack for the vacation! I specifically remember getting these albums(1 per trip) [1.Green](http://1.Green) Day : Insomniac, 2. RiverFenix aka Fenix TX : S/T, 3. Suicide Machines : Destruction By Definition, 4. NOFX : Pump Up The Valium
I grew up in a music heavy city so this is a completely foreign and fascinating concept to me. So you had record stores that didn't have certain albums or was it more that you were buying local music to the area you were visiting?
Oh yeah. I went to Hamburg and got Nirvana's "Bleach" and a bootleg concert recording at Ingos Plattenkiste. And downtown by the Alster I found a shop that sold Gorefest. Good times.
What I miss is the local radio station collections. Back before radio stations became automated piles of crap that sound the same everywhere - every market had their own unique station with unique personalities. WHFS in the DC area used to have artists in for interviews and they'd end up doing live music on air. Every so often they release those recordings on a CD. Most markets had some variation of this and you could only find those CDs if you lived in the market. I miss that.. F' the telecommunications act of '96 for destroying radio.
Yes! A ground of friends and I would always buy a CD and that would be the soundtrack for the trip. We got this random Icelandic reggae album on one trip and anytime one of those songs comes on today, I am instantly back on that trip from college.
Yes! It's how I discovered Black Sabbath. I bought their Greatest Hits tape at a truck stop, and was hooked instantly.
I used to have to travel to a mall 45 minutes away to get new albums. I distinctly remember doing that for Pinkerton.
For sure! I remember finding my first punk record store when I was on a road trip with my grandparents, and that’s how I got the first Rancid and Operation Ivy albums. They were on nonstop repeat the whole road trip. Great subject! And yes, the limitless streaming possibilities, such as the same in music, movies, and TV, now remove all the “specialness” that those things once had. We have reached max consumption. There are a million amazing choices, and no one cares anymore. This is why I started buying records again.
My mom or grandma would always let my sister and i pick out some new cassette singles, a tape, or (later) a CD before a long drive to Myrtle Beach.
Sadly I wasn’t to into music growing up. Always just listened to Mom’s music which was Grateful Dead, Madonna, and Carly Simon. That’s what I got to listen to. But as I started discovering my own tastes i would burn CDs. Yeah I was older by then. And there was an awesome record store a couple of towns over so I’d be able to just grab stuff. My first car had a cassette player, and I bought an Anthrax tape for $1. I still have that tape for nostalgia reasons. I can’t listen to it. I don’t have a cassette player and I’m not getting one for one tape.
What year was it when you could get different music on vacation than what you had locally? I never experienced that.
The time I went to Greece in 2000 I bought [this CD](https://i0.wp.com/powersoft365customers.blob.core.windows.net/he288410-nereis-trading-ltd/Items/743217150129.jpg?ssl=1) from someone outside our hotel. Mainly because of the title. In 2010 I was in NYC and ventured out to the record store in Astoria to buy Greek CDs and did the same when I went to Little Italy in Toronto a few years later. Dropped maybe $200 each time. I still listen to some of the CDs.
When i was in italy a couple of years ago I browsed a vinyl shop and found a Pearl Jam live show on vinyl and i just had to get it. I think the key now is to get things that you can’t get on a streaming service.
I worked on a military base doing construction in 99 and if there were CDs that were sold out everywhere else I could go to the PX and get them for almost half the price . It was awesome. Now I just push a button and it's there . Boring
This brings me back. I grew up in rural areas. Indie record stores in college towns (or even a Best Buy) were Godsends compared to the options at Wal Mart.
Natural, personal discovery of created content is a lost pleasure in a world where we have all content available in our pockets. A new method of natural, personal discovery is in content creation. Few of us did that, many of the younger generations do.
Maybe I just lived in a big city but there wasn't any kind of music that I couldn't get in my hometown.
Yes, for me Cape Cod is Third Eye Blind - Out of the Vein.
I lost my case logic on a road trip once and took years to recover.
Stuff like this makes me feel like the spoiled city kid I probably am. Living in London, there was no music I wanted that I couldn't get at home until I first went to the US in my 20s.
I still remember finally tracking down a copy of 1000 Homo DJs single Supernaut in a mall in new hampshire over 2 decades ago. The struggle was real when your preferred choice of music was obscure industrial-techno metal.
Damn I just got hit with nostalgia. My first ever CD purchase with my own lawnmower money was Superunknown while we were visiting family in Canada.
I definitely bought some stuff I couldn't get back home on my first trip to that giant music store in Times Square- possibly a Tower Records. These days, I bring 45s back from the UK, most pop that was never popular in the States.
I used to be able to buy one cd per summer on my parents dime. I remember getting papa roach, mushroom head,Slipknot and The Prodigy. It was never music I couldn’t get at home but the release of Mushroomhead I got was a recording that they would later be re-record for a major label and I prefer the version I got.
The things I couldn't find I was always resourceful enough to find it, I recall there was some stuff not released in the US, I made friends with someone on Napster and sent them a check and they bought it and mailed it to me. I also just did a lot of mail order from different zines and sources.
You can still buy music on your vacation. Not something I remember doing though probably because we couldn't afford vacations.
Lots of stuff is like this, especially if you come from a smaller town. Going to a large mall 45 min away was incredible to me as a teen or waiting to see a popular movie at a bigger theater. New albums too. Nothing is an event anymore, which means it flattens out the hype because of it's endless accessibility. Like I remember going to a cottage where all there was was bunny ears on the TV and being thrilled when a channel actually came in didn't so much matter what it was. It was having that access that was thrilling.
Not everything is on a streaming service. I can still find quite a bit of music outside of those mediums.
Yeah, buying bootleg live nirvana concert cd’s in France. Those were the days!
When I was a freshman in high school, I flew to Florida to spend New Years Eve with my much older siblings. My brother took me to a store that sold liberated bootlegs. I bought a Pearl Jam CD called "Eddie's Bay Area Meat Locker". It had an early version of "Better Man" on it. When I got home, copies of it started getting made and passed around. Someone even performed the song in our school variety show. So, I feel I was responsible for Small Town, WV knowing that song long before Vitalogy was released. I bought Primus' Pork Soda on my 8th grade trip to Washington DC. My friends teased me while rocking out to hearing Mud for the first time. I also bought Adam Sandler's "They're All Gonna Laugh At You" while on a church trip with my mom, my best friend, my girlfriend, and her mom. We popped the album in on the way home and it lasted about 3 or 4 minutes before getting cut off.
My wife and I check out record stores for actual records when we travel, but if it's not a road trip, it's a pain in the ass to get it home.
Born in 78. I used to travel for work in the mid 00s... and buying a new album and loading it on my iPod was kind of a fun way to create a soundtrack to remember those work trips.
This was how I got ahold of Hybrid Theory. Listened to that album on repeat on a car trip through the southwest. Good times.
Hm, no I never did that. I grew up in a place with plenty of record stores. I would save up and buy obscure stuff all the time.
I used to buy stacks of CDs when we went to the UK - I always came back with stuff I couldn’t get at home- like Vice Squad and the Birthday Party. I had the best music collection
Alice In Chains, Dirt Texas trip, 1993
Yup. Enjoyed going to record stores in big cities and college towns for this reason. Especially since I enjoy classical and jazz music, which was difficult to find in my small Midwestern city without special ordering it
My mom took me to Hong Kong for my 21st birthday. Came back with a suitcase full of CDs and DVDS. Some of the stuff wasn't even out yet or still in the theaters. It was epic.
Casingle
Important part of the Kill Bill soundtrack
Music laid the foundation for my most cherished memories on vacation. Buying that new album you wanted and binged constantly while on that vacation that connects you to that moment is incredibly strong.
I feel this. My first ever trip to Manhattan I took the subway to the village and bought “Futureworld” by Trans Am at a record store. That is still my soundtrack to that moment.
No. What. Why. Idk. I was a mall rat and we had a few local music stores for the indie local bands. So I never found music on vacation.
Can't remember buying albums on vacation but do remember the exact stores where I bought many albums and movies. Especially if it was out of town.
I legit buy albums pretty much every time I travel. If I am successful I buy a 2nd carry on. This year I picked up albums from Lisbon, Paris, and Cleveland (work trip).
It wasn’t something I couldn’t get at home, but I remember getting 40oz to freedom on the boardwalk on ocean city, nj. Became the soundtrack to my summer that year.
My grandparents were English and we visited the UK often to see family. I was turning 15 in February of ‘95 and when we went that year (over my bday), Oasis was MASSIVE but I hadn’t heard of them back home yet. I bought the Definitely Maybe CD and listened to it on repeat. A few months later I started hearing some songs on the radio station we listened to. Then WTSMG blew up but it still wasn’t as big in the US vs the UK. I fucking LOVED/love Brit Pop to this day. It was a really fun time.
I was 9 years old in 1986, and I HAD to have Bon Jovi "Sippery When Wet" on cassette, much to the chagrin of my sisters who were planning to get it for my upcoming birthday. I made my family listen to "You Give Love a Bad Name", "Living on a Prayer", then rewind, and repeat, over and over. I'm sorry, family.
I feel that way about clothes but not music
No. My parents never wanted to drag the kids to music store on vacation. That actually sounds like hell
I bought a Johnny Cash greatest hits CD on vacation in Spain. It was pretty cool.
I still check out the local record shops when I go somewhere
I remember when I was 14. I grew up in southern Ontario near Toronto, and we went on vacation out west. I was obsessed with the rising grunge scene and my mom took me to the Sub Pop "Megamart" (smaller than a corner store lol) in Seattle. I picked up three Green River albums and Soundgarden's earliest EP and when I got home I was king shit for a month with my obscure artifacts lol
Ya you could find weird albums of bands and also just local bands that had zero present outside of the country you were in. I still have a few from places like Fiji and Australia.
I still make playlists for trips for just there reason. Can’t hear The Hook without thinking about sanibel island to this day….
I just bring it with me. https://preview.redd.it/vo6ihtbpcn0d1.jpeg?width=720&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=658b2ce9b793376624675f5d778e74f0a632ff12
I bought Local H As Good As Dead from the mall underneath the twin towers in NY
>Remember back in the day when you were on vacation with your parents or something, and you'd buy an album or single that you couldn't buy back home? You'd listen to it on your headphones, and it would be the soundtrack to the trip. YES! I grew up in a dinky ass town in Northeastern MN and bought so many CD's on trips to the Twin Cities. I had this wild antenna rig on my radio that let me pull in the college radio signal, so I knew what I liked.
It's actually one of my favorite things to do while traveling! I love to check out the local record shops in every city that I visit!
I have distinct memories of a classmate buying the Grease soundtrack on CD at a gift shop while we were on a field trip to Washington, DC. Mainly because I was jealous. LOL
Not really the same, but I always look up record stores when I travel and buy a few LPs.
I took my Walkman and my Ice Cube - Lethal Injection on vacation for 3 years in a row. But I do remember buying a Suzanne Vega cassette tape for $18 bucks at the airport 🤦🏻♀️
This is how I discovered techno, ambient, and industry music. I never heard anything like it before
Usually when we went on vacation in the southwest there was inevitably a pan pipe or flute busking and hawking CDs. Strong memories of driving the lonely stretches of I-15 listening to some Kokopelli inspired flute meditations.
I try to support local artists that play at cafes by buying their CDs. Nice little souvenir that takes you back to when you first heard them.
I remember downloading obscure songs onto my flip phone (I think illegally) but no we never bought a local album on vacation and made it the playlist for the trip. Sounds like it would be cool tho
In the early nineties, a Canadian band appeared on Saturday Night Live — The Tragically Hip. The two songs they performed ticked me to my core. I was obsessed. For over a year, combed record stores for their album. Nothing. Record stores in suburban US didn’t stock The Tragically Hip. Then I went on vacation with my parents to a major city. Went to a records store called Dave’s Sounds. My name is Dave. (Not really but you can replace Dave with my actual name and it makes sense.) Lo and behold, they had “Day For Night” by the The Tragically Hip, with the two songs that were burned into my head for over a year. Snapped up that album with an advance on my allowance. The Hip is still my favorite band.
I bought a pirated copy of one of Eminem's albums on the street in NYC as a teen. I probably still have it. Good quality copy.
I still listen only to physical records/tapes/CDs. Lots of people do. It’s not all that unusual, even though the majority use Spotify and whatnot.
Winger. Florida. Late eighties or maybe 1990.
The dream is alive at this music store right in the main drag of Gatlinburg. That place is an insane blast from the past.
My favorite was finding a used cd store and getting older cds from bands I liked already but didn’t know their original stuff. STP and Live were some great finds.
I remember buying the Dr Dre 2001 CD on a family trip to the Philippines. Definitely understand the “soundtrack of the trip” angle.
You don't have to use Spotify or any streaming services and nothing stops you from dusting off that discman. Also stores selling CDs are still common at least in larger towns and cities so go explore!
Yes I did this in the UK with a compilation 2 CD set of rock and Britpop titled cigarettes and alcohol.
This makes no sense. I remember being able to buy the same music everywhere whether on vinyl, tape, cassette, etc.