Songs You Were Scared To Buy

[Tramp The Dirt Down]

Scared may be a strong word but I remember at the height of the punk/new wave music of 1977 , as a 15 year old I loved Night Fever by The Bee Gees but I know peer pressure from my mates of a similar vintage would have made my life a misery if I bought it.

Any other instances?

[Stumpy Pepys]

I used to listen to Kenny Rogers in secret. I've since come out.

[Jah Womble]

One of my punk-ish buddies gave me a hard time for owning an album by Fleetwood Mac. My 'cool' was apparently destroyed, despite the fact that I also had titles by Bowie, The Stranglers, Buzzcocks, Ramones, Elvis Costello, etc.

On a related tip, I can recall bumping into some guys from school at Baker's Records in Canterbury, all of whom were listening to a Bob Dylan record in the booths. It being c 1976 and the Christmas holidays, I'd just shelled out for the latest Donny Osmond LP for my sister's present - and was utterly mortified when one of the guys asked what I had in the bag...

(Don't know about 'scared', but I was very embarrassed about buying those Hot Hits compilations as a [very] young 'un - mostly because of the scantily-clad lovelies adorning the sleeves. To be honest, I should've been far more embarrassed about the audio content.)

[Stumpy Pepys]

One of the interesting things about today's youngsters ("Get off my lawn!") is that they don't appear to be embarrassed about listening to old records or a lot of stuff we would have considered embarrassing.

I went to a wedding recently, where the couple and most of the guests were 25-ish. I don't remember hearing any records made post-2000.

[Amor de Cosmos]

Not scared, too naive I think. A couple of early embarrassments:

Wow. I didn't know the G-Clefs were black until now.

[treibeis]

Don't know about 'scared', but I was very embarrassed about buying those Hot Hits compilations as a [very] young 'un - mostly because of the scantily-clad lovelies adorning the sleeves. To be honest, I should've been far more embarrassed about the audio content.)

I had two of those, both with women dressed in football kits (cheap versions of Chelsea and Arsenal; there were also LPs featuring cheap versions of Sheffield Wednesday and Hibernian).

The internet and/or ursus will claim otherwise, but the third track on Side 1 of the Arsenal record was "Chirpy Chirpy Cheep Cheep".

[Sits]

Those "Hot Hits" compilations (and "Top Pops"?) were covers by session bands weren't they, to save money in some way?

[Gangster Octopus]

What I loved about punk/post punk was that I could now buy anything that I wanted; there were no more rules. If I liked something, I bought it.

[Benjm]

What I loved about punk/post punk was that I could now buy anything that I wanted; there were no more rules. If I liked something, I bought it.

[Jah Womble]

Those "Hot Hits" compilations (and "Top Pops"?) were covers by session bands weren't they, to save money in some way?

Well, basically they were 79p (in late-1972, at any rate) - and my ten-year-old self couldn't save enough to buy 20 Power (or Dynamite) Hits, which were all originals and therefore more expensive (about £1.75 a throw). I only had a crappy little transistor radio, so Hot Hits (and Pick of the Hits / Top of the Pops) covers compilations sounded just fine to my naive ears.

In 1978, I swapped four of these compilations for Bowie's Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust with a cousin. I think I got the better of that particular deal.

[Gangster Octopus]

Nope. But I did buy Another One Bites The Dust...

[Stumpy Pepys]

Those "Hot Hits" compilations (and "Top Pops"?) were covers by session bands weren't they, to save money in some way?

Yes. I think the companies had to pay royalties to the songwriters, but obviously not to the artists. Session musicians were presumably on Musicians Union rates.

Elton John did a few before he was famous, as did Tina Charles. David Bowie did at least one number.

In Elvis Costello's autobiography, he recounts his father (Ross McManus) sheepishly slipping off to record a few.

[Giggler]

Seemingly very little when looking at my collection. The first CD I ever bought as an 11-year-old in 1992 was a Genesis live album, for goodness sake.

I went through a pre-download age phase of wanting to own 'classic songs'* and went up to the counter in Vibes in Bury with this, aged 17, and paid actual money for it:



*Make Me Smile (Come Up and See Me), obviously

[Jah Womble]

Yes. I think the companies had to pay royalties to the songwriters, but obviously not to the artists. Session musicians were presumably on Musicians Union rates.

Elton John did a few before he was famous, as did Tina Charles. David Bowie did at least one number.

In Elvis Costello's autobiography, he recounts his father (Ross McManus) sheepishly slipping off to record a few.

Apologies - that's how I should've answered upthread, but got carried away down Memory Lane. (Stumpy's recollection of it is better than mine would've been, however.)

Tina Charles, of course, also voiced the first 5000 Volts hit, I'm On Fire (1975) - although was replaced for Top of the Pops by Luan Peters, later of Fawlty Towers-fame. (To confuse matters even more, the group's other Top Ten hit, Dr Kiss-Kiss, was sung / performed by Linda Kelly.)

Anyway, as you were.

[pebblethefish]

I actually was the cool kids, so whatever I said was cool was cool. Which means that the rest of my year grew up liking some pretty weird stuff.

[Alderman Barnes]

On a related tip, I can recall bumping into some guys from school at Baker's Records in Canterbury

Because there were no decent record shops in the Medway Towns, we always had to go down to Richards Records in Canterbury. They had very thin, see-through bags, so when I combined my trip down there to buy Never Mind The Bollocks with a look round the cathedral, I thought I was the coolest, punkest thing ever. I may have been wrong.

[MsD]

I love Hey Paula, have had it in my head a lot lately.

[beak]

Wow. I didn't know the G-Clefs were black until now.

Especially Joe Jordan!

[Amor de Cosmos]

I love Hey Paula, have had it in my head a lot lately.

Yeah, without doubt it sticks like glue.

Back when Record Mirror was the music paper the ace faces read, it was one of the very few singles to get five stars in a review. Only a couple of others spring to mind, Bo Diddley's Who Do Love was another, and more typical of its readership's taste. Somehow it transcends the boy/girl sappiness by cranking it up to eleven. The chapel organ and the slight catch in Paula's voice really do a job.