I am not ashamed. I am also lying.

The first record I ever bought was a single. It was "Eye in the Sky" by The Alan Parsons Project. Embarrassing? Sure. But not as embarrassing as some of the others I have in my stack of 45's.

I used to love to buy singles. What's not to like? They don't eat up your little girl allowance money like albums do, and besides, if you want to own "Lover Girl" by Teena Marie do you really want the entire "Starchild" album? No.  You also get to have extra single-only art and photos on the sleeve, unless you're buying a song that's already been around for a while. In that case, you get stuck with a plain label record in a cheap paper sleeve. Plus, you sometimes really luck out by getting a good flip side! Such as "Hallelujah Here She Comes" on the back of U2's "Desire", which, incidentally, seems to be the last 45 I bought. I guess cassingles were supplanting the 45 at that point. And yes, I did buy a handful of those annoying cassingles. Hey, the B-Side of The Cure's "Mixed Up" version of 'Close to You' was 'Primary(red mix)'!! And didn't get a CD player until the spring of 1991, so I didn't buy any CD singles until later. 

I'm just going to go ahead and list all the 45's I have in this little stack here. I'm not counting a few 45's that I bought comparitively recently as objects of curiosity or sentiment- I'm only including the ones I bought in the 80's, mostly from the Record Bar in Northwoods Mall. In no particular order:

'West End Girls'- Pet Shop Boys 1985

'Human' -Human League 1986

'Don't You Forget About Me' -Simple Minds 1985

'Eye in the Sky' -Alan Parsons Project 1982

'When Smokey Sings' -ABC 1987

'Get it On' -The Power Station 1985

'Opportunities (Let's Make Lots of Money)' -Pet Shop Boys 1986

'Wishing Well' -Terence Trent D'Arby 1987 

'Sign Your Name' -Terence Trent D'Arby 1987 I know. TWO songs by this guy?!

'Desire' -U2 1988

'Dr Heckyll & Mr. Jive' -Men At Work 1983

'Overkill' -Men At Work 1983  Hey, man- don't pick on Men At Work!

'One Vision' -Queen 1985 From the "Iron Eagle" soundtrack. My family went out to see that movie and had a great time, except that when we got home we found that our house had been broken into and some stuff had been stolen. Bummer.

'Let's Go Crazy' -Prince 1984 Thank God I got the Purple Rain album for my birthday that year.

'Getcha Back' -The Beach Boys 1985

'Love is the Seventh Wave' -Sting 1985 Why THIS Sting song? I have no idea.

'Iko Iko' -The Belle Stars -1982 Used in "Rain Man" in 1988. 

'Emotion in Motion' -Ric Ocasek 1986 Aaawwwwww.

'Cum On Feel the Noize' -Quiet Riot 1983

'Lean On Me' -Club Nouveau 1986 I just went back in time and slapped myself.

'Oh Yeah' -Yello 1985

'Wipeout!' -Fat Boys with special guests The Beach Boys 1987 Dear God. I can't believe I just typed that, let alone bought it!! One of the tackiest songs ever recorded.

'La Bamba' -Los Lobos 1987 From the movie of the same name, a sleeper hit that year. Still, that's no excuse.

'Shout' -Tears For Fears 1985 b/w 'The Big Chair', inexplicably. I couldn't listen to 'The Big Chair' without getting creeped out. It was really weird.

'Say You, Say Me' -Lionel Richie 1985 From the Mikhail Baryshnikov movie "White Nights" This is even worse than owning a Fat Boys single!!  I wish I could erase this act of stupidity. Honestly. I have no explanation or excuse.

'Never Tear Us Apart -INXS 1987

'Need You Tonight' -INXS 1987

'Devil Inside' -INXS 1987 Why didn't I just buy the album 'Kick'? Dunno. Just kept buying singles, never got around to getting the whole ball of wax until later.

'I'm Your Man' -Wham! 1985 The tip of the iceberg that was my Wham! collection.

'A Different Corner' -George Michael 1986 George at his gloomiest and most sensitive. Although I have not heard "Older"

'Father Figure' -George Michael 1987

'I Want Your Sex' -George Michael 1987 This single came out before the "Faith" album proper did. I remember that as I was buying this, the girl behind the counter and the guy behind me were wondering aloud if there was going to be a George Michael solo album. I piped up with something like "Yeah, it's coming out in October and it's going to be called Faith! Gurgle!" At that time I had a subscription to Rolling Stone, Premiere (back when it was oversized), and Sassy. So I was up to date on my shit.

Well, that's it. What a cringe-inducing list. I should also list my albums from that time period to give you a more accurate picture of my taste at that time, but that may not be a very good idea. Keep in mind that buying 45's was also ideal for taking a low-risk musical gamble; it was also ideal for novelty impulse buys such as *shudder* 'Wipeout!' I also should say that in my town, and especially at my school, there was no such thing as 'alternative' music until about 1990. The scene was mainstream radio or nothing, unless you were somehow in the know. I never even heard any Depeche Mode songs in between 'People Are People' and 'Enjoy the Silence'. At least I had some older cousins who went to Middleton way across town and occasionally played songs like 'Pablo Picasso' by Burning Sensations for me. That was on Cindy's "Repo Man" soundtrack- which I thought was delightful, so that's something.

Comments

[Sofia]

I don't see anything slightly cringe-worthy on that list. Pretty good records on there.

[Ashley Holt]

Good lord, you still own these 45s? You frighten me.

I can't remember my first 45, but it may have been Love is Like Oxygen by Sweet, which was, believe it or not, considered to be an "underground" hit that only the cool kids knew about. Once I learned about B-sides, I started snatching up all the available Queen singles. These were from low-grade, middle period Queen albums like Jazz and The Game, but I was delighted to discover that many of the grittier B-sides sounded more like Queen circa Day at the Races (especially the Roger Taylor songs like Human Body - still a favorite). Soon the humiliating Hot Space LP was released and Queen was officially dead to me.

Everyone, absolutely EVERYONE had Whip It. If you were an extra hip 5th grader, you had Pop Musik by M (with its even more avant garde B-side, The M Factor). Pop Musik seemed to announce the dawn of a new era, a modern, plastic, synthisized era of music in which Debbie Boone and the Eagles could not survive. We weren't sure what it was, but it had something to do with skinny ties.

Probably the most embarrassing 45 from the 70s I had was Hopelessly Devoted to You. I know there was something very specific I liked about the song at the time, like a particular part of the bridge or a certain instrument, but damned if I can figure out what it was now.

Of the 80s 45s, the most regretable was probably Flesh for Fantasy by Billy Idol. But hey, sometimes you just get caught up the moment, seduced by Billy's wicked sneer and exposed nipples, fading into view amidst the dry ice.

But at least I never bought a Lionel Ritchie single.

[Amy W.]

Wow, Ashley- 'Hopelessly Devoted To You'?? The fact that you had that makes me feel better. I had Olivia Newton John's Greatest Hits anyway, which included that song (needless to say). I think I threw it away a while back, but I still have a soft spot for Grease songs.

You totally evoked the entire ouevre of Billy Idol so very clearly- instantly the video for 'Eyes Without a Face' began playing in my head!

[Jay Nagy]

Great.

Great!

Put "Eye in the Sky" out there for my mind to grab onto.

Earliest existing 45 I can think of is "One Thing Leads To Another".

Did you ever see that bit on the Half Hour Comedy Hour where Willie Nelsonr returned the favor and made an album of Pet Shop Boys covers?

[Denise R]

George Michael came to the Verizon Center on Tuesday. If someone had given me tickets, I would have so been there.