I can't remember if my first cassette came was "Elton John's Greatest Hits" or Kiss "Rock and Roll Over", but the latter changed my life forever.

The last one purchasd was Painkiller's "Buried Secrets / Guts of a Virgin". (not THAT'S some heavy stuff)

I didn't realize this until your question inspired the consideration- Bruce Springsteen is the answer to both... Born in the USA, on tape, when i was 6 years old :), and Magic, downloaded last week... both superb and extremely satisfying. i guess i've come full circle

Nice one, MZ.

First 45: "Talking In Your Sleep" by the Romantics

First LP: (tie) Thriller by Michael Jackson; K-Tel's Chart Action '83 (same trip to Swallen's)

First cassette: Synchronicity by the Police

Most recent purchase: The new Radiohead album. (Yes, yes, I pre-ordered the In Rainbows discbox. Totally worth it.)

first tape, the Beach Boys and Jan and Dean
first c.d., the Joshua Tree U2
first album Led Zep iv
first 45, the inner light Beatles
first step on Pandora.......GRant-Lee Phillips
most recent purchase, Eddie Vedder Into the Wild

1st disk:
ACDC--Highway to Hell--I think around the 3rd grade.
A "cool" kid somehow convinced our homeroom teacher to play it, and I was hooked!
Most recent:
I-tunes purchase of Livesavas "Shine Language" and "Resist". Stumbled on them recently while they were headlining a free summer concert in the park in Spokane. These guys are genuine!

First CD: Primus - Tales From the Punchbowl

Most recent CD: Engelmacher - Birds of a Feather

The first music I owned was a Memorex copy of Loverboy that my dad made me.

Fast forward, my Aunt buys me The Thompson Twins in grade schooland I play it till it breaks.

My last purchases off iTunes were the best tracks by Nickel Creek. I can't get enough of 'Somebody more like you' and 'Jealous of the Moon', hope they aren't really breaking up.

First CD I ever bought was Daft Punk's Discovery - ironic considering I hated all other dance music at the time.

Most recent CD would have been the Legacy Edition of Grace by Jeff Buckley, although I did download Kate Miller-Heidke's Live at the Playroom EP off iTunes.

oh, the contrasts! my first full length was steve miller band's greatest hits - it was a st patrick's day sale and anything with green on the cover was discounted. I was a kid - went up and asked the guy at the counter if any part of the rainbow horse's head was green and he said yes. so my mom bought it for me. bought totally based on the cover art, but I loved it.

First lp: Fleetwood Mac
Most recent cd: The Waterboys, "Room to Roam"
First 45: "Got to get you into my life": the Beatles

I'll never forget it. I brought home the double vinyl "Goodbye Yellowbrick Road" by Elton John and played the hell out of it. I bought every Elton album after that until "Rock of the Westies". Then I stopped. The last album I bought was a download of "Boxer" by the National. I hope to play them both til the day I die!

First (that I remember): Bone Thugs-N-Harmony - E. Eternal 1999

Most Recent: Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Is Is EP

First tape bought: Petra - Beat the System
First vinyl: Led Zeppelin II
First cd bought: The Cream of Clapton
First (and only) digital album bought: Tinariwen - Amassakoul (which should *really* be on Pandora by now- heard it on Calabash)
Most recent cd bought: The Kinks - Kinda Kinks

My first purchased music? I have no idea, but presumably it was some piece of light classical. The first music I ever owned however was a record of The William Tell Overture and Marche Slav, given to me by my parents when I was about 9. (Until I went to college and heard Sgt. Pepper's, the only music I ever paid attention to was classical.)

Most recent purchase, Mark Knopfler's Kill to Get Crimson. Though actually I have several more discs currently in transit, including Tangerine Dream's "Madcap's Flaming Duty". But I don't really count myself as owning music until I've listened to it.

- Alan -

Wow! Thats too far back to remember. I had 45s rpm back in the day. The very first one I would guess the 1966 Temptations Get Ready. I would have been 11 years old. For some reason I remember walking into Scotty's record shop in Summit New Jersey and bringing that home. I do remember my first LP that I bought with my own money. That would have been The Stylistics Greatest Hits and Wilson Pickett it had the hit single on it Dont Let The Green Grass Fool You.
I remember winning my first dance contest and that would have been to Chubby Checkers song The Twist. Now that I'm going down memory lane I do remember hearing my first turning point in music. My cousin Tracy (aka Ice Tea) played the 45 single by Jimi Hendrix Purple Haze. I remember thinking that this is had to be a whiteman because I never heard a black man play and sing like that before. Even though I never really left my crib music Jazz. In the late 60's my ears became open wide when I heard the Woodstock soundtrax. I recall Santana really sparking my attention. The 70's bought a variety of music very much into R$B for Disco and Cosby Stills Nash and Young. Then Pink Floyd Dark Side Of The Moon doomed my innocense. (joke) As if I ever had them. Now, in the age of digital, I still have some of those old recordings but now their on silver platters. My new joys thanks to Pandora's convience of purchasing is Ben Harper, Terry Collier most recent. Prince's latest and Jacksoul.

Bought Good-bye Yellow Brick Road in 1974 when I was 12. Still love every song on it, though the record is long gone (sold at a low moment in a yard sale after move #12 or something of my adult life).
Bought Woodface by Crowded House in 2007--also my first album download--after being reminded by their concert this summer how extraordinary Neil Finn and Crowded House are/were. How I miss drummer Paul.

First vinyl: Michael Jackson's 'Thriller'

First tape: Lionel Ritchie's 'Dancing On The Ceiling'

First cd: Eric Clapton 'Unplugged'

Great site by the way!

First vinyl LP: Magical Mystery Tour - The Beatles

First 45 rpm: Popmuzik by M

Latest purchase: Pre-ordered the new Radiohead

First album (on vinyl): Cheap Trick's At Budokan (Live) "surrender, surrender, but don't give yourself away!"

Latest album (on iTunes): Wavorly's Conquering the Fear of Flight

First CD: Sugar Ray's "14:59" (I'm only 19...)
Latest CD: Matchbox Twenty's "Exile on Mainstream"

I love this question. I ask it to everyone - guy friends, interviewers, interviewees, dates, co-workers, etc. It's a great conversation starter and almost everyone seems to be able to remember their first CD/record/tape purchased. Guess it's one of life important "firsts"!

First Received LP That I Can Remember (early 70s): Fifth Dimension's "Up, up and Away".

First Purchased LP (1980): Devo's "Freedom of Choice," after my first concert. The Shaun Cassidy poster came down.

Last Purchased CD That's Still In My CD Player: Brain Leisure's "Methods To Madness"...French electronic industrial...still can't shake the angst of my youth.

Last CDs On Order:
Erasure's new "Storm Chaser"
Erasure's "I Could Fall In Love With You"...hey, I'm married.
State of Trance 2006...Pandora-inspired.
A Trip In Trance 4...Pandora-inspired...guess I still like to be taken "up, up and away".

The first album I ever bought was Suzi Quattro's first album. I remember I went to an Uncle Bill's store (Cleveland area) where she was signing the album becasue she was playing there that weekend. Man, I still like to listen to that album!
The most recent album I purchased was naturally for my daughter ... High School Musical. I hope she still enjoys that album when she's my age!

Joe Coyne

First Cassette: One of the Manheim Steamroller Christmas ones
First CD: Up! by Shania Twain, I was twelve.
Most Recent: Caught in the Act by Saxophone Cartel
Next: Either Dusk and Summer or The Shade of Poison Trees by Dashboard Confessional

First CD: New Kids On the Block
Most Recent: Rascal Flatts (CD. . . I don't do digital purchasing. . . I prefer to be able to hold it in my hands.)

First Album:
Blood, Sweat and Tears (1969)
Last Album:
Bedouin Soundclash - Street Gospels (Last Night)

My last purchases off iTunes were the best tracks by Nickel Creek. I can't get enough of 'Somebody more like you' and 'Jealous of the Moon', hope they aren't really breaking up

First CD - Matrix
Most recent - NIN's Year Zero

First LP - Sky's the Limit - Temptations- I loved "Just My Imagination" I think I still have around somewhere.

Last Disc - All This Time - Heartless Bastards - they opened for Lucina Williams recently and I loved their sound. lead vocal and song writer ERika Wennerstrom reminded me of a young Grace Slick and the drummer Kevin Vaughn was a beast. Lucina Williams seemed quite somber after their set.

My first album was Primus - Pork Soda. Which I found at the local Game And Disc Exchange, i thought the cover art was cool and it was $3, still one of the best albums I've ever bought.

The most recent album I bought was Wire - 154. A band I had never heard of until a drunken after bar party, but kind of like.

I actually had story albums and children's songs on 45's from about age 4 or 5 on, but I didn't buy my own first record until I was 12.

First LP: The Beatles - Hey Jude

I've been getting most of my recent music by trading my old CDs for new ones on lala.com.

Latest CD received: Boyskout - Another Life
On The Way: The New Pornographers - Mass Romantic

Most recent purchase: The Oohlas - Best Stop Pop

hey gang - it's no surprise to see all the variety in everyone's posts. it's amazing how much music is out there. one thing that strikes me, though, is how the first records seem to generally be more on the classic tip, while the more recent ones in general seem a bit more obscure and even diverse. am I imaginng that? maybe it's a reflection of the incredible diversity that's readily available now? anyway I find it promising.

keep em coming!
mz

ps - and joel, tinariwen is in the office (it's on my desk, actually). we do not yet analyze any music in languages other than english and spanish - we need to hire people who understand those lyrics first. so stay tuned and someday hopefully in the relatively near future we'll have african music in pandora...!

The first CD I ever bought was a second hand Queen one, after hearing Bohemian Rhapsody in my stepdads car.

The last one I bought was Blondie's Greatest Hits.

Yo...

First Record Purchased - Iron Butterfly's "Ball"
Last Record Purchased - "Ultimate Prince"

PEACE! - H.

First I would like to say how much I am enjoing my newest webfind. Pandora. I stumbled across you as an add-on to firefox and was instantly hooked. Thank you for delivering great music to my laptop.

On to the question...
My first album was The Beach Boys "Endless Summer," purchased when I was 9 years old from what would become my favorite music store of all time, Licorice Pizza, in Garden Grove, CA. I remeber wanting this album so badly, and my mom telling me to save my money. I think it $8 or $9 back then. I thought it woud take forever to save that much money since my allowance was only $1 a week. She suggested trying to do chores for the neighbors to earn the extra money I needed, which i did.I charged $1 an hour to do yard work. Each hour seemd like an 8 hour day to me then, but I did it and in a couple weeks I had cash in hand and walked to Licorice Pizza to make my purchase.
The thing I liked the most about the record store was the fact that they had a big jar of licorice on the counter, and it was FREE. I remember walking in, grabbing a couple pieces , and heading straight to the "B" section. I pulled out the pristinely wrapped album like it was the Holy Grail, and, walking up to the counter, taking out the crinkled dollar bills from my pocket. The guy behind the counter said it was a good album and put it in a bag for me. I headed out the door feeling so good that I ran home. I could not wait to put it on my record player. And when I did, it was magic. I listened to that album over and over again. It was a good start to a musical journey. I still have it today. Framed in my office along with some later purchases: AC/DC's Back in Black, John Lennon's Imagine, and Elton John's Captain Fantastic. All are treasure chests of memories from different parts of my life.

Thanks for asking this question. And letting me share my answer. It is fun to bring that story back to mind.

I miss going to the record store like I did back then. Sadly, Licorice Pizza went the was of many small record stores over the past 30 years, and is no longer around. Though,It will always live in my memory.

As for recent purchases, I buy music online often. Last week I got Social Distortion's Greatest Hits. So many great songs on there that spark memories of another era in my life. I highly recommend it.

Thanks for the memories.

Don

first album --> Lene Lovich - Stateless
latest cd --> St. Vincent - Marry Me

first album introduced by a local radio station in Toronto, Canada

latest cd introduced by pandora courtesy of jax radio

strange that i haven't seemed to move much but really it's more of what goes around, comes around. it's nice after 20 years to be back in the same comfortable genre of music.

first album i ever received: Madonna ~ The Immaculate Collection

first album i purchased: K7 haha...dont even remember the name of the disc, but they were definitely a one hit wonder

latest album purchased: M.I.A. ~ Arular

My very first record was a birthday present, it was
Blondie, and I loved it. My most recent CD was the new Velvet Revolver, "Libertad", quite different, but no less good :-)
~Mia

The first cassette tape that I bought was All-4-One because of the song "I swear"...I want to say I was in 4th grade or so, somewhere around 1994. The most recent album I bought would probably have been (+44)'s "When your heart stops beating." Good stuff. Thanks for the site, I can't believe I just found this today!

First 45: "Brand New Roller Skates" - Melanie
First LP: Hermans Hermits - On Tour (I still have it!)
First CD: The Best of the English Beat
Most recent purchase (2)Sylvan-Post Humous Silence & Flower Kings-Sum of no Evil

First CD: Metallica's black album
Last CD: Finntroll's "Visor Om Slutet"
(Most recent purchases include: Korpiklaani's "Tervaskanto", Bathory's "Twilight of the Gods", and Amy Winehouse's "Frank". I ♥ half.com!)

First CD ever purchased: Ace of Base (those crazy Swedes and their infectious pop music)...I was only 7 or 8 if I remember correctly.
Last CD I purchased: I bought both the new Kanye West and new 50 Cent CDs at the same time (I'm such a sucker, I know.)

First cassette: The Spice Girls (I forget which one)

Most recent CD: Elvis Costello's Futarma Sessions EP, or, if that doesn't count, John Welsey Harding's Why We Fight

...I'm much better off than I was.

First tape: Tears for Fears- Songs from the Big Chair

Latest CD- Velvet Revolver - Libertad

First 45 - Joan Jett - I Love Rock and Roll
First 33 - Chipmunk Christmas or something..
First tape - Michael Jackson - Beat it
First cd - Aerosmith - Pumped
First mp3 - ??

Latest - Ohgr

you still looking for a graphic designer? oh you are in California! err..I am on the other side.

Oh this is fun!
The first record ~45rpm~ was Harry the Hairy Ape by Ray Stevens.
The most recent was Remy Zero - The Golden Hum.

My first LP was John and Yoko - Two Virgins. Yup, I bought it for the cover!!!! My big sister threw it away. She said it was nasty.

Lots of really great stuff in between.

Bests!

Firt LP = Elton John Madman Across the Water
Latest = Emmy Lou Harris/Mark Knopfler All the Road Running

First Tape: Kriss Kross - Totally Krossed Out (Thanks Nana!)
First CD was a three pack of Christmas gifts - Candlebox - Self Titled, Green Day - Dookie, Offspring - Smash
Most Recent - Kanye's Graduation.

First Cd: Spice Girls....how embarrassing
Last CD: Coconut Records - Nighttiming

chronologically....

first and last 45 - "jack and diane" - back when he was just john cougar
first tape - "in 3-d" - wierd al yankovic (not joking)
first and last lp - "rattle and hum" - u2
first cd - hm...i think it was a violent femmes cd
last tape - "exile in guyville" - liz phair
first download - acoustic bootleg version of wilco's "heavy metal drummer" off napster
last cd - "live at leeds" - the who
last download - "chuck e's in love" - ricki lee jones

funny the most recent purchases are the oldest material

First CD bought: The Fugees - The Score
Most Recent: Celebration - Modern Tribe

Great thread.

1st 45: King of the Road -- Roger Miller
1st vinyl LP: Something New -- The Beatles
1st CD: Compact Snap! -- The Jam
Last CD: Pocket Symphony -- Air

I believe the first album I bought was The Eagles Greatest Hits Vol. 2 on cassette when I was about 10. The cd that got me going with my current collection was Semisonic's Feeling Strangely Fine, and I just downloaded The Frames' Dance The Devil from emusic yesterday.

(I'm very new to this site/project/community. It's awesome!)

Interesting question and thread (Painkiller fan also).

First 8-track: Aerosmith Rocks
First cassette: Blue Oyster Cult's Mirrors
First 45: Boston's More Than A Feeling
First full-length lp: BTO's Not Fragile
Most Recent CDs: Wayne Shorter's Juju and Merzbow's Tauromachine
Most Recent d/l: Husker Du rare live stuff

The first thing I bought with my own money was the We Are The World 45. First album was Huey Lewis and the News' Sports.

Last thing purchased: Violence is Golden by Scanners - on Amazon today.

my first one i bought was Oliva Newton John record with I honestly love you on it and i still have it! The last piece of music was a whole genere of songs Rob Zombie to AFI to Nelly Fratado to Fiftycent and Enya!

1st albums: Elton John "Yellow Brick Road" and Ginger Baker "Best of Ginger Baker", both on the same day in 1973 or 1974.

1st 8 track: Avoided those like the plague.

1st CD: The Fixx: "Reach the Beach" 1985.

Last CD: Eminem: "The Marshall Mathers Album" 2002.

Last download: DJ Tiesto: "Silence (Sarah McLachlan)"

You know how there Sirius Sattelite Radio and XM? How about Pandora having a device that connects to your car stereo system via cellular connection and you can play your favorite artists and favorite songs, just like this wonderful website does. Nothing out there does for your car what the Pandora does for your personal computer and home stereo system.... Peace, Love and Kick Ass! hehe

happily, martin, you can already do that very thing through any sprint phone. check out the pandora home page and look at the "pandora on the go" options, and you'll be all set. here's the link if you want to cut and paste it instead -

http://www.pandora.com/on-the-go?from_home=1

cheers,
mz

My first album was The Eagles, Hotel California. The timing of this thread is a little ironic because the last CD I purchased was the new Eagles CD. I really haven't thought much about them in the last 6 or 8 years because I was so tired of endless "greatest hits" compilations. The new cds are good, but they are not Hotel California.