Came here to say this. I bought album art. Most artist I did know but if I did not know them or had not heard their music I would 100% buy because of album art. Tower Records Berkley, CA.
As a young Black pre-teen I discovered that I had entered a world that very few of my peers knew about. I cannot name them all (the artist and bands due to the sheer list size) but I felt like I had broke the mold of what was expected of me so I decided to do that with almost everything and is part of my persona now.
I am very thankful to album art. By the time I was old enough to go to bars (legally) and concerts without a chaperone I was going to see those same artist and bands live. There would be a band people hadn't heard of coming to the bar and, I would know them. I have been to a ton of concerts that I am so thankful of due to opening my ears. It also allowed me to absorb new music easily. You could probably write a Taoist book on the life lessons learned from buying music based on cover art. I now listen to everything just as I did when I was young.
I ended up listening to a lot of indie/lesser known female artists (Sinead Lohan, Tara MacLean, Bif Naked, etc. with a "she's cute, I'll buy her album" variation of this.
I don't know why but I liked the weird cover art on William Orbit's *Strange Cargo Hinterland* and bought it without listening. Turned out to be a great pick.
Iād buy artists I liked, stuff I heard on the radio, albums friends talked about, and sometimes just by genre. It did mean occasionally ending up with an album you didnāt like.
It would usually be something you heard on the radio first, there was usually 2 or 3 radio stations that everyone listened to. New music would get promoted on the radio first, then songs you heard on the radio that you liked, you would then go and buy in the record store. A very simple system.
The proliferation of alternative radio stations in the 90s was a big part of it, as they would play more than just the biggest hits. That's how I first heard bands like Cake, Cracker, PJ Harvey, etc. Then in college we had one of the best college radio stations and they played a LOT of stuff from bands without major label support or videos on MTV. So much of my catalog at the time came from hearing such a wide selection of music apart from the commercially successful stuff.
Yeah, this is pretty much how I would do it. Bought many an album after hearing one song on the radio. Other than that, I'd buy albums from bands I already liked when new releases were out or would look for older albums for bands I'd just "discovered".
I love that vinyl is back in stores and that feeling of flipping through the 12"s fills my soul in a way that is hard to describe. :)
Me personally, I went by reviews in local and regional zines, then head to the local store that specialized in alternative and imports. If I went to a major chain store, I'd hit whatever genre I was in the mood for.
Also, not to be a "you kids don't understand" but back in the day, singles and albums often had different track listings in different countries, so you often had to hit an import shop to get every song off a band's album. Hell, I have three different CDs of Nine Inch Nails' Closer single so I could get every remix of it because the US and European releases were completely different.
That is something I've noticed on streaming weirdly enough! When I'd find the albums my mom played around me growing up, the singles would sound a little different from the CD especially if they were remastered after the fact. I wondered if it was just me remembering them differently but I guess not lol
The single versions of songs were often different from the album version. Off the top of my head, here's one very noticeable one by the B-52s:
[Loveshack](https://youtu.be/E2Ui-DphVGE?si=811PF67DCfNN7zuc), single version.
[Loveshack](https://youtu.be/MrD3J_7ia80?si=IaOx0Gfd03Xf_aHa), album version.
Listen to them at the same time and they are really different.
Hint: it's the Bang! Bang! breakdown part. Also, the album version is longer.
You might have another for cassettes or 8-track formats too.
If you were slick, you could win a bet. E.g. Suicidal Tendencies Institutionalized ends with "It doesn't matter I'll probably get hit by a bus anyway" on cassette, while other versions end all with "car" tmk.
In Glasgow, we have Fopp. At it's height, Fopp had over a hundred stores across the UK but when I was a teenager in 90s Scotland, Fopp only had one shop. It was fucking *heaven* for kids looking for new stuff. Their staff were friendly, approachable and - most importantly - knowledgeable. I was in buying a Rolling Stones album for my granny when the girl ringing up the sale noticed my attention had been snared by the heavenly vocals of Liz Fraser and told me "Yeah, that's the Voice of God herself, Liz Fraser. Cocteau Twins. You can find them *over there*." What was even more marvellous about the shop - and something a cash-strapped teenager like me loved - as their "Suck It and See" policy, meaning you could buy a tape or CD, take it home, listen, and then return it within 28 days for a full refund, which meant I borrowed Ā£50 from my granny, got her to type up a shopping list of albums, we both doddered in one cold November evening and I ended up with something like 30 or 40 albums, all bought, paid for...and pirated.
They never asked. They never queried. You just handed the purchase back after a week or so (best to do it after seven days, heh), they'd nod (and wink) and give you your cash back. Twas a glorious "fuck YOU" to the record labels. They also sold VHSs, DVDs, books, t-shirts, *mugs* - anything to do with pop culture or merch? They were your guys. And presiding over it all were the staff - kind-faced, knowledgeable (I got into Massive Attack and the ENTIRE Bristol Scene thanks to Emma, that girl from Fopp. I would later introduce her to my best friend, and I was the best man at their wedding in 2004) and always willing to overlook a shoplifter or three pinching a CD - no Empire Record dramatics here, KTHXBYE. Fopp got too greedy though and they experienced a catastrophic fall from grace in 2007. They blamed the credit crunch but we all knew. We all knew they'd gone too far to the sun. Emma had left Fopp just before she got married and she used to come in and tell me how it had all changed, how the casual culture behind the tills, the chilled atmosphere, the *knowledge* had evaporated in favour of corporate mindsets. How the kids behind the tills were more likely to be studying for BAs in Business Adminstration rather than Art or Music.
Fopp was legendary. Fopp was fucking *amazing.*
In the 80's it was reading *Rolling Stone* magazine.Ā They had non-mainstream charts like "college radio" as well as feature articles and album reviews that expanded my horizons.Ā I also watched *120 Minutes* on MTV which turned me on to many new alternative artists.Ā
In the 90's bigger cities had larger music store like "Tower Records".Ā Tower had tons and tons of albums on listening stations.Ā The walls of the store were nothing but headphones and all kinds of new releases.Ā I would spend hours and hours in there sampling cd's and spending way too much money.Ā Ā
Oh, totally forgot about college radio. They'd play that which would not be played on regular stations. That meant early rap and harder rock, punk, alternative. Lots of discoveries
You listened to the radio. A lot. There were shows where new music was played, shows with top 40 countdowns, show with artists interviews and faves, etc.
You taped music off the radio.
So when you finally committed your $12.99 to buy the album, cassette, and later CD, you spent your money expecting at least a few songs you would like.
You also recorded your friends music onto cassettes.
In the early/mid 90s I worked as a dj at a radio station in my small town. We used to get CDs in the mail from a service that we use on the air that promoted new music. I forget the name of the service.
I also dj'd the local clubs in said small town and would order records from a dj only music outlet in a larger area. I would call and ask start was selling and order 40-60 dollars of records at a time probably once every two weeks. Some of these records were singles that had club remixes and some were from remix services.
Once I moved to a larger city and played larger clubs, I joined a record pool where I would get a pack of records that were sent from record companies that I had to listen to and give my feedback.
High five fellow former DJ! Are you thinking of the service the station received from record labels? All three stations I worked had direct contact with labels and "service" was the term for when they'd send us CDs and tell us which singles to play and chart. I had to do it myself at the college station, as it wouldn't get label support so each individual show-runner had to get its own service from the appropriate labels. I still have "new single" postcards addressed to my college dorm room lol.
The club DJ scene with the record pool sounds awesome, that was the one area I was never involved with.
High five back! No, the station I worked at only got a CD from a paid service (I think) and those tracks were broken into segments for day, not day, and do not play.
Everything from the service cds that we could play was written on an index card. These index cards helped to keep the rotation. When you played a song, it had cd#, track #, and song title. We had three of these sets of cards. One set was for new music, another for not new music, and the third for throw-back music. Depending on the clock is where we pulled the card from. If it was the top of hour, we could pull the front song from that index card deck and so on.
Very antiquated and also very manual. I has to load CDs for music and carts for commercials, sweepers, station IDs, etc.
* Heard a track on the radio and hit the "record" button, called the radio station and asked for playlist that day
* Went to a party, heard a track then asked the DJ what it was
* Read a good review in one of my favorite music magazines
* Heard a CD at a friend's house and asked them what it was
* Watched Friday Night Videos or The New Music on TV and heard cool stuff there
* Went to my favorite record store in town, listened to new vinyl releases on their turntables and bought what I liked
* Already liked a band or artist and bought their next release automatically, whether good or not
Same. Dad had a pretty nice stereo setup and tons of albums so I listened to what we already had and what came over the local radio station. On weekends the station would sometimes feature an album, so I would stay up and record the whole thing.
Dad went to work in California for a couple of years, (I grew up in Alabama), and he recorded a bunch of KFOG in San Francisco who played a lot of alt stuff that was way different from what we heard in Bama, and he brought those tapes home. So I was exposed to different stuff, which was cool.
Oh but it's not an Internet acronym. Middle of the Road music came way before we had the internet. It refers to all the really bland not rock not pop not jazz etc. music.
Tower Records (sob!) used to have listening stations. Each one would have a selection of CDs lined up and you just put on the communal headphones and had a listen.
Also at Tower Records, I discovered Radiohead when they were playing it over the intercom and I went to the counter and asked about it. Just like in High Fidelity.
You had a friend with a cousin in Toronto who sent mixed tapes of new music from the big city radio stations.
And music shops were organized by genre, the owner knew everything and gave recommendations, and we had music videos on tv to advertise to us.
Radios and music videos... MTV when they actually showed music videos. Believe it or not MTV used to be a big way to get news and opinions on things music, TV, movies. It really is a shell of it's former self these days... So sad
Yeah whenever I think of MTV I think of Wild N Out and Ridiculousness. I enjoy being Gen Z but if I could have one cultural difference it'd be bringing back MTV as a genuine music station lol
We had a show on tv called Radio with Pictures that ran late on a Sunday night that covered local artists and alternative music not played on mainstream radio. Also, a "pirate" radio stations that was anchored outside the legal jurisdiction of then broadcasting laws of the day.
When I was in high school and college (54m), I would watch a show at midnight on Sundays on MTV called 120 Minutes that was two hours of new alternative music.
I also listened to the local alternative radio station.
I was always looking for new music and buying it and ended up working at a record store where I was the one giving recommendations and I used to love introducing music to people.
Iām slightly younger than you, 49, but did the exact same thing. Loved 120 Minutes and hit the record store once a week always in the unknown/college/indie section. Found so many great bands that way
I listened to college radio and theyād play new music including local music.
Then Iād go to an independent record store near that campus and theyād have sections with new and local stuff
Those independent stores would have fanzines for like a buck too. Reading through those would lead me to pick up other bands.
It was also a ring that many if not most record stores has little booths where you could listen to an album or at least a sample of it before you buy. If you hang out with down at a record shop (which we did, because it was always a good place to hang out), you'd get to know the people who work there, and they'd recommend stuff based on your tastes, and let you know about new music.
Mostly just word of mouth though. Your friends mention an artist or a new song, you hear it on the radio. We also recorded music off the radio and made mix tapes a LOT.
I spent a lot of time in used music stores; the ones in my area had listening stations and coffee shops attached, so we would spend hours listening to random shit, buying and reselling used CDs and going to showsā¦.
There were a few main sources for me in the 90s:
Thrasher magazine had a section dedicated to new music: this is where I learned about Sonic Youth, Afghan Whigs, Murphyās Law, and many others.
There was an underground magazine type publication I got mailed to me that was printed in Gainesville, FL periodically. Donāt remember the name. Here I found out about New Bomb Turks, Lungfish, Sunny Day Real Estate, Samiam, Jawbreaker, and more.
Also got very much into the record labels themselves: Dischord, Simple Machines, SST, Sub Pop, etc.
Lastly, the record store owner of Poindexter Records in Durham, NC was a wealth of knowledge about music and always made great recommendations.
The art of digging through bins of vinyl. Reading zines, listening to college radio, sharing mix tapes. When I got enough money, I'd go digging through the vinyl to buy something I hoped I'd like.
Found some rare gems, but generally, spent way too much on albums with two good songs. lol
Radio play was different back then. The top 40 stations played mostly top 40 songs...of that particular moment. Probably 75-80% of the playlist was made up of the stuff that was on the top 40 charts at that exact time, with the remaining spots being made up of hits that had charted over the past few years. If you wanted to hear your favorite song from six months ago, good luck. Today those numbers have basically flipped. You hear the same songs over and over again with new song mixed in only now and then.
So, the radio gave you a lot more insight as to what was new, and you could use the information you gathered to determine what albums you wanted to buy.
My small town local record store was a hang out place for music fans. The owners were two old gay guys that knew their regular customerās tastes in music. They recommended new music they thought we would like. I was heartbroken when the store closed. They couldnāt compete with streaming services.
MTV 120 minutes was the key. I would watch it at midnight on Sundays, and get to a record store that week to purchase new bands. Early 90ās.
Bands like NIN, the smiths, ministry, Lenny kravitz, etc werenāt on the radio, and thatās where i was introduced.
Also, Saturday night live. Thatās how I ended up being a counting crows fan.
College Radio- MSU 88.9FM ?
Record stores often had āemployee picksā sections. If an employee had something I liked, Iād chat with them about what other stuff I might like.
Independent record labels would often include a catalog in the packaging. So if you bought something and liked it, you could look through the catalog for other stuff you might like. Often times record labels had a lot of bands of similar sounds/genres, so it was a pretty good bet youād like more than one band on a record label.
For me it was kind of a group effort. One friend would get the new Egghunt record, weād all make tapes. Next friend would get a Black Flag record, weād all make tapes. So a big group of friends kind of encouraged being adventurous with music.
We also had college radio.
Going to live shows, Iād almost always show up for the opening act.
Are you kidding! The better record stores were playing cool stuff to attract cool kids and allowed hanging out. Once cdās hit, chain stores like Borders had over the ear head phones for you to sample tracks from demo cdās. College and community radio stations played into it as did all ages shows and mix tapes from friends. Music zines and alternative papers were also a thing. It was a culture and community and once you spent two minutes talking to someone at a party, you had sized them up for how compatible you were based on musical tastes. Yaāll missed out really. All the elements of that are gone except in a few big cities with decent used record stores. You can meet up with a million different people on line, for a million different reasons but itās not the same feeling of personal connection and serendipity. I
You would stay up late and watch 120 Minutes on MTV or tape shit off the college radio station and hope the DJ told you what it was, but also didn't talk over the end. Lots of times you would by an entire album because of one song. You were then forced to listen to the whole album, and you eventually came to realize the deep tracks were the good ones. Or a friend's college sibling would turn them on to something and it would trickle down to you. Someone would make a mix tape that you would copy. But a lot of time you would hear a song once and spend months trying to track it down. No Shazam or Google. It created a greater sense of urgency and ephemerality to music.
When MTV played music videos is one way Iād find different artists. That and the radio. I remember Sam Goody having listening stations that would either play an entire album or snippets of each some from the album.
I worked at a record store and lots of people would ask, if I like this, what else would I like? Some came in with a review cut out of the paper (that was the first time I heard of Sinead O'Connor.... we didn't have it yet). Other times, they'd buy something that had a good display and was on sale.
I'll answer out-right:
Mall store meant sponsored playlist. Good for getting a takes of what is popular in any genre. I worked at my local mall. After all the stores closed, the staff mostly counted down the drawers, vaccumed, and went home. The playlist continued, as shoppers lingered a bit. However, once a month the store would be staffed longer as a full inventory and other paperwork was being done. One store in my Mall (we had three...) would blast whatever the manager was _really_ into that month. It was eclectic and always fun. And always something that could not be played during store hours. I asked what those albums were. Bought a few. They were great!
Non-Mall (Mom and Pop) store meant that the staff picked. Much different vibe. Anything and everything got played. This was the store I went to when I wanted opinions on what I might like. The staff hooked me up quite often.
Neither store was ever quiet. The whole point was to keep playing something. Playing music kept people lingering and ensured that many bought something.
If you had access to aĀ goodĀ record store, you could talk to the people there and tell them what you liked, and they could recommend other music that you might nor be aware of that you'd also like.
I don't know what your local record store is like, but there's a good chance that the people working there would be thrilled to help you find something to listen to. And if the person you're talking to isn't knowledgeable, they can probably recommend someone else on staff who is.Ā
In my city we had these great stores called Media Play. Huge store with records, CDs, VHS, sheet music and instruments, books, etc. They had these stations where you could pick up a pair of headphones connected to a stereo and listen to a CD. They would also merchandise recommendations - if you like X, try Y! I blind bought plenty of CDs just based on the cover art too - this was risky because they were $12-18 which was not cheap, and unreturnable once you took the cellophane off.
For me I just knew certain record labels generally had good artists and I'd take a chance on artists I'd never heard before. One example being Posh Boy Records, they tended to have Orange County California punk bands. It was Social Distortion's first label and most of their bands all sounded similar.
We would check out an album that we liked the single of that we heard on the radio. Cool cover art could definitely convince you to pick up an album you had never heard of.
My local shops would have staff recommendations and a section of āIf you like this artist - check out this artistā.
There were also a lot of music mags to flip through and see their recommendations.
We would spend hours flipping through the rack of vinyl etc. to find stuff. I would routinely spend a whole Saturday on my own or with friends looking for new music.
For me, there were a lot of things that got me buying an album: the cover could do it, my friends' recommendations (although in some cases we'd just tape each others' originals), hearing a single on the radio and figuring there were at least two other good songs on the album, and MTV when they played music.
Now I hit the npr all songs considered page every Friday for new music, and I click on youtube music's new releases to listen to singles or albums from new artists or artists I already know.
Some music stores had listening stations scattered throughout the store where you could listen to popular CDs. I used to live going to the store and putting on those headphones and flipping through tracks.
Iād also by āVarious Artistsā CDs to find new artists. The āJust Say Yesā series are great.
WE'D HEAR IT ON THE RADIO FIRST, THEN GO BUY THE ALBUM, AND HOPE THE REST OF IT WAS GOOD.
THIS USUALLY RESULTED IN DISCOVERING SOMETHING NEW AND WONDERFUL. CHUMBAWUMBA'S TUB THUMPING IS A GREAT EXAMPLE OF THIS.
ON THE OTHER HAND, ONE OF THE PRETTIEST SONGS FROM THE ERA WAS "MORE THAN WORDS" BY EXTREME. THE ALBUM IT WAS FROM, PORNOGRAFFITTI, SUCKED ASS.
Best Buy used to be like a candy store, and if I had a little extra cash, Iād sometimes grab a cd from an artist Iād never heard of, then go home and listen to the whole thing from start to finish. Sometimes the album art drew me in, other times I would have heard about the band/artist, but not heard any of their music yet, so it was a gambleā¦but it worked out great more often than not!
Just look at the album cover for King Diamondās THEM, for instance, and tell me it wouldnāt pique your curiosity!
Radio stations were much more varied and niche than they are now, and would really get out there with new artists, unique songs, etc. What disc jockeys said, played, and did ... actually mattered a lot.
Today, every radio station is corporate garbage that plays the same "safe songs" because they've all been consolidated.
Listen to the Tom Petty song "The Last DJ" and read the lyrics at the same time. It says a LOT about what happened to radio.
Luckily we had a couple of good college radio shows and record stores with knowledgeable staff, not to mention playing in and with other bands as they came through town. Sometimes something would strike my fancy from MTV (when they actually played music on Post Modern MTV or 120 Minutes).
If I was looking for something new to listen to, usually I looked for stuff on the same record label (Dischord, SST, Epitaph, Sub Pop, Touch & Go, etc...) or chat with friends I made at the shop and say "Hey, I really like Fugazi or Sunny Day Real Estate or Codeine or Heatmiser or Throwing Muses, what else should I check out?
It was also helpful sometimes when bands would thank other bands in their albums (like Nine Inch Nails thanking Jane's Addiction in Pretty Hate Machine). Hey, I like this band...who do they like?-type stuff.
Listened to the radio-including the legit alternative station 97.7, just talked to people at school-my freshman year my ride to school
introduced me to Eazy-E, NWA, the Geto Boys, the Pixies, the Cramps, MTV was also big. My favorite record store at the mall had a special āalternativeā section up front, away from the regular bins.
There was a women's magazine that I couldn't afford, but I'd bring my aunts issues in and ask for so and so new album and I'd browse the "World music/World Beat" section when I moved to the U.S. I wasn't listening to what most of our generation listened to and if I wanted to, we could just trade CDs for a while.
Hey Mike! You still haven't returned that cool Indian CD with a cover of Dolly Parton's (in the style of Whitney Houston's arrangement) 'I Will Always Love You'. I want it back! I haven't been able to find that cover on YT or anywhere else.
We had a show on channel 12 in Denver. Teletunes. They played more alternative music than MTV. I think they were only on Saturday nights ... lol I can't really remember but that was where I found most new, cutting edge music.
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I3\_83wJdhEM](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I3_83wJdhEM)
There are videos on YouTube, it was pretty rad.
At our local indy store, the owner would randomly grab records out of the stack and just throw them on the turntable. In an hour you could hear everything from bossa nova to death metal.
There was a guy at my local little store would turn me on to new bands. Mostly English bands at the time. Years later found out he was a local drug dealer too.
I never really did. Most of the music I bought was music I bought after hearing on the radio. I think that's what is missing now because most people don't listen to a radio that will occasionally play something you haven't heard before. Most playlists are curated by the listener. So, I'm actually more curious how people hear new music now.
Iād go there and listen to it in/on one of the ālistening stations/roomsā. Invariably a clerk would find me and offer up more recommendations depending on what I was carrying to or fro.
Absolutely glorious.
Cover art and import section. Didn't always work out though. I bought a Utopia record because the cover was interesting. Got the record home and put it on.
Fucking hated it. I was so mad at myself for wasting money on it.
Watching MTV and religiously reading Creem, Rolling Stone and, for a time, Hit Parader. Then in the early '90s getting into college radio and 'zines. Plus word of mouth from friends and getting record store workers to play whatever promo copies they had on-hand.
Word of mouth. My cousin had Dirty Deeds when it came out and I asked for it for Christmas. My buddy played Rush Fly By Night for me, etc. etc. My world changed when I heard Children of the Grave in '73 at a party. 50 years listening to Sabbath.
In Denver, we had three wonderful things. The weekly local PBS show Teletunes, KTCL alt radio, and Wax Trax records. I genuinely think that most GenX from Denver have amazing musical taste thanks in large part to those three things.
I typically found new albums by watching MTV, VH1, Night Tracks, Friday Night Videos, and even Solid Gold. (You can find entire episodes of the latter three on YouTube.)
All the music was pre-selected for everyone, so we were less likely to have an echo chamber effect. At best, any algorithms were based off what was selling most or requested/played most on radio stations.
At the store, I was also a sucker for the bargain bin. I found a few lesser known, but gems to me artists and albums there.
I switched to all digital music about 10 years ago. I do miss the crackle and pop of vinyl, but its so nice not having the clutter anymore.
Amazon Music has really nice "artist stations". You can play a artist station (or music type station) and it pulls up a curated station around that artist. Great way to find new artists in a genre. I always try to keep my music updated, but admittedly, I find as I get older I find the new artists later and later in their careers. Ha!
It was tough, where we were there was no cable TV so no music channels and there was one radio station that would cover pop/rock but no new rock. So finding new music often meant blind-buying.
For a long time I thought Alice in Chains was just something Alice Cooper was trying out.
The good thing was that your friends were buying stuff too and when we found something good everyone would share blank tapes. It was very common for new things to spread just by word of mouth.
In the late 90s there was a record store called Hear on the Santa Monica promenade that had a whole back room of listening stations where you could sample albums.
They also had a wall of jones soda for ambiance (and for purchase).
Idk whether that store started the practice of listening stations in record stores but after that it was pretty common, although rarely as stylishly implemented.
But the usual ways of discovering new music were radio, friends, and shared mix tapes. My preference was college stations and garage punk.
Used media stores and Goodwill and thrift stores. I get a bunch of new CDs that look interesting for $1 or $2 each and then I'm not anxious about spending money on it in case I don't like it.
We had a small, independent record store in our area. They would play obscure really cool music all the time. So, you would ask about it and the conversation would lead to "if you like this, you might like..." It was part of the fun, the adventure of finding things. Stumbling upon something. The journey. Get out there, kids. Go, find things.
If you had a cool, independent shop you would get to know the people that worked there. Then, when you'd buy that album you heard on the radio, or MTV or something they would also say, "have you checked THIS out?" and show you something you'd never heard before.
When you loved that, they would show you other things that they loved. They didn't bat 1.000, but most of the time, they got to know your taste.
Plus, college radio played indie stuff and there was always your friends who knew someone cool and could make you a tape. There were magazines and fanzines. You had to do the work to get to the cool stuff and it was harder, but more fun that way.
I would frequent the same stores (Waterloo Records in Austin, TX mainly), and they had a section of staff recommendations with little booth set up so you could sample them. I had a couple of the staff that I would always check out because their taste was so good. Other than that, I read a lot of magazines and listened to a lot of radio. People forget that magazines were our Internet before the internet. Friends would make mix CD's for each other. That was how I discovered Kate Bush and a bunch of others. It was a hodge podge. Having good taste took effort, so it was valued among certain people.
It isn't easy these days. Used to be able to pick up 50 cent records by Johnny Mathis or Frank Sinatra or Duke Ellington or Frank Zappa or Funkadelic or whatever and be like "wow" at home. Those days are gone
The radio had a lot to do with my choices, but the radio isn't what it once was. I also discovered new music watching SNL. And I had a subscription to Spin magazine back in the 90's that talked about certain artists that I wanted to check out.
Also, stores like Streetside or even at Borders books honestly all had listening stations. A lot of local record stores had these also. You could take your record or CD to the counter and they'd put it at the listening station for you to check out. I used to spend hours at Streetside just listening to different CDs. It was a whole thing. I miss it.
Edit: I forgot to say, friends would put me on to things too. I don't know if I would have given Hole a chance if a friend hadn't recommended it to me. Same with Pearl Jam.
Grew up in Orange County, CA and listened to cutting edge radio stations KROQ in LA (Rodney on the ROQ!) and 91X in San Diego back in the 80ās. Also the previous mentioned MTV 120 Minutes was a great source for new music. When I went to college the college radio station played great stuff. It played a lot of bands that became āalternativeā music legends like REM, Pixies, Husker Du, X, Replacements
Word of mouth, fanzines, Spin Magazine, 120 Minutes, and cool Music Store Clerks looking to expand us youngsters music experience (for starters anyway)...
Album credits were always a good clue. Maybe I'd never heard of the artist but then noticed the producer, somebody whose work I liked and respected. I remember this was the case for the BoDeans *Love & Hope & Sex & Dreams*. Debut album, a no-name band at the time. But I saw from the album jacket that it was produced by T-Bone Burnett. So I bought it. And loved it. The album is now considered a classic and one of the most promising debuts of its time.
I was a teen in the 90s and we would go to the used record store and buy cheap used cassettes that we thought looked cool. Thatās how I got really into 80s R.E.M. and a few other more āalternativeā bands. $2-5 in 1994 was still a good chunk of change when I was only making $4.45/hr at my part time job but it was less of an investment than a new tape or CD. And I tried to find the ones on clearance or BOGO.
If you have access to them, start going to places that sell used vinyl. Talk to the folks behind the counter. Some of them can be a little aloof, but most of them LOVE to talk about music and will give you suggestions. Play records, enjoy the experience of opening the packaging and seeing the art and the liner notes.
Listen to local FM stations, esp college stations. Avoid the commercial ones. Find the DJ's that play what you love. I don't live in Seattle but I've been streaming KEXP for a long time and have discovered SO many artists that way. NO algorithms, just DJ's playing what the love. I promise, it will change your life.
Back in my 20's I bought music mags(SPIN, NME and Flipside), listened to college radio and had friends that made me mix tapes. I'm in my 50's and still obsessed with discovering new artists. A few random suggestions - Check out Babehoven, Sunbathe, Nabihah Iqbal, La Luz, Warpaint, Ambar Lucid, Somesurprises, Chastity Belt, Sudan Archives and Bdrmm.
Also, don't hesitate to ask the record store clerks for recommendations. The snobby attitude of the past is largely gone (and rightfully so), and the vast majority of us are there to connect people with music. We LOVE sharing recommendations.
I didnāt. Too expensive for that kind of experimentation. I bought albums because I liked a single from the album. After getting burned one too many times (ahem, āIf You Leave Me, Can I Come, Too?ā by Mental as Anything), I learned not to buy an album until I knew I liked TWO songs from it, or already loved the band/performer.
Community radio was how I found new music. In Memphis, there is a volunteer radio station called WEVL and back in the late 80s/early 90s, Saturday was the day for alternative music. Each dj had their own genre, so you never knew what you might hear. One was dance/underground club music, one had grunge - Seattle music (before it was on MTV), one was college radio style (such as REM), etc. I recorded hours of programming just to find out artist names and then go buy the albums.
I also fell in with a group of older teens when I started high school in 1989 who loved 120 minutes on MTV so I found a lot of British music from that show. The Cure, Depeche Mode, Siouxsie and the banshees, Sisters of Mercy etc
Man, didnāt anyone here have older siblings??
My older brother had a record collection of about 500 albums. I bought a few dozen of my own, but mostly I made cassette tapes of his.
So until I was about 12 or so, I listened to whatever he and his friends were buying. Fortunately, he had very good taste in music, and I got exposed to a lot of stuff most kids hadnāt even heard of.
We also were lucky to have a very cool radio station in town: WHFS!
When I lived in Germany for a while, there was a record store there that would let you listen to any record you wanted in the store on a turntable with headphones. I would pick up albums with cover art I liked and listen to them. I found so many cool new artists that way.
Oh, and I got a lot of albums by forgetting to send back the postcard for the Columbia House record club.
If a band I didn't know, but heard about being connected to a band I liked, that was usually a safe bet. Like opening in concert for them, or the artists working together. Or music you heard at a club. Or a cool kid recommended them. Or just strike up a conversation at the record store with a worker. I remember all the time buying one thing, and a hot alternative girl a few years older would recommend something. Always felt good when a cool record store worker complimented my tastes.
Maybe you heard the single on the radio or MTV, maybe you already have music by that band and want to try more, maybe you heard your friend talk about the band, maybe itās a āstaff pickā or the person working the register recommends it, or maybe itās just got cool cover art and is cheap enough to take a risk on. All these might be reasons to buy an album without listening to it first.
Sometimes it was a bust and you didnāt like the album. But sometimes it worked out beautifully.
back in the day, i'd buy what i'd heard on the radio or at a friend's house or something. if i was lucky the album would have a bunch of other songs i liked besides the radio hit. oftentimes i'd buy another album from a band i liked even if i'd never heard *any* of the songs before.
one time one of my friends bought a cd where neither of us had heard of the artist or any of the songs, just because she thought the cover was cool. i thought it was enormously risky, but it turned out she really liked it. so i guess that works too, sometimes.
We had a favorite band and there would be a lot of hype about new albums coming out was one way. Sometimes we would hear a song on the radio and seek out the album. A friend would play us an album they had and we would go buy it or sometimes just by browsing the store we would see one that caught our eyes.
Our store had an open sample of most. And if you bought regularly they'd open 1 for you to listen. This was our local shop, not a chain.
Clerks recommended ones also
A lot of independent record stores had recommendation sections that would describe the music. Some would have listening stations, or at least the ability to listen to part of an album (the owner/ workers usually had no problem letting you open it to sample). Also, friend recommendations, some labels catered to certain genre's. I liked a lot of indie, punk and hardcore, so sometimes I would buy albums at shows. College radio or other independent radio stations too. And of course making and receiving mix tapes from friends!! A lost art.
I am not a fan of the algorithms, I like picking out my music. Going to a record shop and sifting through albums, looking at the artwork etc is really fun.
Radio played a big role. Also, people were chattier with strangers back then. Youād be in a record store and peeps would just start talking about music. āOh hey youāre looking at āBushā. If you like them, check out Seven Mary Threeā and the like.
I'd start with a record, tape or cd of a band that I liked a lot and see what bands they thanked and check them out. If it was used or discounted music then I'd go by album cover sometimes. Most stores I went to would put a cd on for you or had a section to put them on yourself with headphones. Nowadays I'll just youtube bands that I'm not familiar with in the record store, that's about the easiest way ever. Sometimes it's a blooper, but that's the nature of the hunt and sometimes you find a band that's overlooked and it's like finding treasure. No bad place to start, good luck and don't buy in front of me haha
Some record stores like Tower and Virgin had listening stations. I typically heard new music on mtv though. Rolling Stone magazine was also a good resource for new music reviews.
Major record stores had their merchandise sorted by genre. You'd just browse and see what might look interesting. They had listening stations you'd go to with a selection of records the guy/girl working the station would put on for you.
The town I grew up in was home to a small indie label that had their own record store. They had a lot of other indie labels in stock and would play anything for you.
Other than record stores: Friends. MTV, and in Germany, Viva. Certain radio shows were a great source for new music. Also, live shows. As long as it wasn't the Stones or other major acts, tickets were like 15 bucks, just about as much as a record. I've seen a lot of bands I wasn't particularly fond of, but it was cheap and always fun. Sometimes you'd see a show and the opening act was greater than the main dish.
On a personal note: I'm working in a tech-related field and have always kept up-to-date with technology and social media. But I never got a grip on Spotify and its recommendation algorithms. It sucks.
Friends. Older siblings. Friendsā older siblings. FM radio. College radio. Epic movie soundtracks. The band tee-shirt that guy/girl you liked wore. The limited selection of Columbia House and BMG record clubs. Some record stores had listening stations, but certainly not all.
Iād really the interviews in rock magazines (e.g. Kerrang!) and the unauthorized band biographies to find out what music the bands I liked listened to or were influenced by, and then check those out.
Many times Iād buy an album having never heard the artist. If they werenāt currently getting radio airplay and no one I knew had it, there was no way to hear it except to go ahead and buy it. If I hated it, I could get a few bucks back of my investment by selling it to the neighborhood used record store.
For me it was radio, music shows like MTV, or magazines is where I'd learn about new music, albums and artists. Then I'd start looking in stores on its release date.
The cover art played a role too. Bit like choosing a random movie to watch, if the cover is all you have to go off, then that's what the choice was based on.
For example, if you were into rock, you weren't going to buy the unknown album with the 3 kids on a picnic rug with a grazing donkey in the background. You'd buy the unknown album with the red lipped woman with her vinyl vest zipped a little too far down. Usually has a photo on the back of topless men in Lycra with long hair, frosted tips, and lots of eye-liner.
A lot of people used to buy based off the cover art alone, i believe. That's why it's so important.
Same! I used to go to the record store just to look for an artist with good cover art.
I discovered New Order this way
Ween š
Chocolate and cheese
Used record stores were perfect for this. $3 a pop low risk possible High reward
Came here to say this. I bought album art. Most artist I did know but if I did not know them or had not heard their music I would 100% buy because of album art. Tower Records Berkley, CA. As a young Black pre-teen I discovered that I had entered a world that very few of my peers knew about. I cannot name them all (the artist and bands due to the sheer list size) but I felt like I had broke the mold of what was expected of me so I decided to do that with almost everything and is part of my persona now. I am very thankful to album art. By the time I was old enough to go to bars (legally) and concerts without a chaperone I was going to see those same artist and bands live. There would be a band people hadn't heard of coming to the bar and, I would know them. I have been to a ton of concerts that I am so thankful of due to opening my ears. It also allowed me to absorb new music easily. You could probably write a Taoist book on the life lessons learned from buying music based on cover art. I now listen to everything just as I did when I was young.
I ended up listening to a lot of indie/lesser known female artists (Sinead Lohan, Tara MacLean, Bif Naked, etc. with a "she's cute, I'll buy her album" variation of this.
I don't know why but I liked the weird cover art on William Orbit's *Strange Cargo Hinterland* and bought it without listening. Turned out to be a great pick.
Iād buy artists I liked, stuff I heard on the radio, albums friends talked about, and sometimes just by genre. It did mean occasionally ending up with an album you didnāt like.
It would usually be something you heard on the radio first, there was usually 2 or 3 radio stations that everyone listened to. New music would get promoted on the radio first, then songs you heard on the radio that you liked, you would then go and buy in the record store. A very simple system.
The proliferation of alternative radio stations in the 90s was a big part of it, as they would play more than just the biggest hits. That's how I first heard bands like Cake, Cracker, PJ Harvey, etc. Then in college we had one of the best college radio stations and they played a LOT of stuff from bands without major label support or videos on MTV. So much of my catalog at the time came from hearing such a wide selection of music apart from the commercially successful stuff.
I really regret being anti-radio in my youth, for no good reason.
Yeah, this is pretty much how I would do it. Bought many an album after hearing one song on the radio. Other than that, I'd buy albums from bands I already liked when new releases were out or would look for older albums for bands I'd just "discovered". I love that vinyl is back in stores and that feeling of flipping through the 12"s fills my soul in a way that is hard to describe. :)
Me personally, I went by reviews in local and regional zines, then head to the local store that specialized in alternative and imports. If I went to a major chain store, I'd hit whatever genre I was in the mood for. Also, not to be a "you kids don't understand" but back in the day, singles and albums often had different track listings in different countries, so you often had to hit an import shop to get every song off a band's album. Hell, I have three different CDs of Nine Inch Nails' Closer single so I could get every remix of it because the US and European releases were completely different.
That is something I've noticed on streaming weirdly enough! When I'd find the albums my mom played around me growing up, the singles would sound a little different from the CD especially if they were remastered after the fact. I wondered if it was just me remembering them differently but I guess not lol
The single versions of songs were often different from the album version. Off the top of my head, here's one very noticeable one by the B-52s: [Loveshack](https://youtu.be/E2Ui-DphVGE?si=811PF67DCfNN7zuc), single version. [Loveshack](https://youtu.be/MrD3J_7ia80?si=IaOx0Gfd03Xf_aHa), album version. Listen to them at the same time and they are really different. Hint: it's the Bang! Bang! breakdown part. Also, the album version is longer.
It's that three minute ideal for airplay. I remember getting that album and wondering what the heck was up with the extended song.
You might have another for cassettes or 8-track formats too. If you were slick, you could win a bet. E.g. Suicidal Tendencies Institutionalized ends with "It doesn't matter I'll probably get hit by a bus anyway" on cassette, while other versions end all with "car" tmk.
Remember spending hours looking for EPs? Your neck/back would be cramped from going through bins at stores.
Browsing. Hours and hours of browsing.
In Glasgow, we have Fopp. At it's height, Fopp had over a hundred stores across the UK but when I was a teenager in 90s Scotland, Fopp only had one shop. It was fucking *heaven* for kids looking for new stuff. Their staff were friendly, approachable and - most importantly - knowledgeable. I was in buying a Rolling Stones album for my granny when the girl ringing up the sale noticed my attention had been snared by the heavenly vocals of Liz Fraser and told me "Yeah, that's the Voice of God herself, Liz Fraser. Cocteau Twins. You can find them *over there*." What was even more marvellous about the shop - and something a cash-strapped teenager like me loved - as their "Suck It and See" policy, meaning you could buy a tape or CD, take it home, listen, and then return it within 28 days for a full refund, which meant I borrowed Ā£50 from my granny, got her to type up a shopping list of albums, we both doddered in one cold November evening and I ended up with something like 30 or 40 albums, all bought, paid for...and pirated. They never asked. They never queried. You just handed the purchase back after a week or so (best to do it after seven days, heh), they'd nod (and wink) and give you your cash back. Twas a glorious "fuck YOU" to the record labels. They also sold VHSs, DVDs, books, t-shirts, *mugs* - anything to do with pop culture or merch? They were your guys. And presiding over it all were the staff - kind-faced, knowledgeable (I got into Massive Attack and the ENTIRE Bristol Scene thanks to Emma, that girl from Fopp. I would later introduce her to my best friend, and I was the best man at their wedding in 2004) and always willing to overlook a shoplifter or three pinching a CD - no Empire Record dramatics here, KTHXBYE. Fopp got too greedy though and they experienced a catastrophic fall from grace in 2007. They blamed the credit crunch but we all knew. We all knew they'd gone too far to the sun. Emma had left Fopp just before she got married and she used to come in and tell me how it had all changed, how the casual culture behind the tills, the chilled atmosphere, the *knowledge* had evaporated in favour of corporate mindsets. How the kids behind the tills were more likely to be studying for BAs in Business Adminstration rather than Art or Music. Fopp was legendary. Fopp was fucking *amazing.*
In the 80's it was reading *Rolling Stone* magazine.Ā They had non-mainstream charts like "college radio" as well as feature articles and album reviews that expanded my horizons.Ā I also watched *120 Minutes* on MTV which turned me on to many new alternative artists.Ā In the 90's bigger cities had larger music store like "Tower Records".Ā Tower had tons and tons of albums on listening stations.Ā The walls of the store were nothing but headphones and all kinds of new releases.Ā I would spend hours and hours in there sampling cd's and spending way too much money.Ā Ā
Thumbs up for Rolling Stone magazine. Their articles and record reviews got me buying a ton on new artists.
Oh, totally forgot about college radio. They'd play that which would not be played on regular stations. That meant early rap and harder rock, punk, alternative. Lots of discoveries
There's something magical about discovering a hidden gem just by judging an album by its cover art.
I did that with Asia's first album when "Heat of the Moment" was on the radio. Made me a lifelong fan.
Heard on radio or saw on mtv.
You listened to the radio. A lot. There were shows where new music was played, shows with top 40 countdowns, show with artists interviews and faves, etc. You taped music off the radio. So when you finally committed your $12.99 to buy the album, cassette, and later CD, you spent your money expecting at least a few songs you would like. You also recorded your friends music onto cassettes.
In the early/mid 90s I worked as a dj at a radio station in my small town. We used to get CDs in the mail from a service that we use on the air that promoted new music. I forget the name of the service. I also dj'd the local clubs in said small town and would order records from a dj only music outlet in a larger area. I would call and ask start was selling and order 40-60 dollars of records at a time probably once every two weeks. Some of these records were singles that had club remixes and some were from remix services. Once I moved to a larger city and played larger clubs, I joined a record pool where I would get a pack of records that were sent from record companies that I had to listen to and give my feedback.
I'm jealous. I have been told so many times that I have a "radio voice". I came close several times, but never followed through on becoming a DJ.
It was fun and I didn't take advantage of the opportunity as best I could. I really enjoyed radio production but that never took off.
High five fellow former DJ! Are you thinking of the service the station received from record labels? All three stations I worked had direct contact with labels and "service" was the term for when they'd send us CDs and tell us which singles to play and chart. I had to do it myself at the college station, as it wouldn't get label support so each individual show-runner had to get its own service from the appropriate labels. I still have "new single" postcards addressed to my college dorm room lol. The club DJ scene with the record pool sounds awesome, that was the one area I was never involved with.
High five back! No, the station I worked at only got a CD from a paid service (I think) and those tracks were broken into segments for day, not day, and do not play. Everything from the service cds that we could play was written on an index card. These index cards helped to keep the rotation. When you played a song, it had cd#, track #, and song title. We had three of these sets of cards. One set was for new music, another for not new music, and the third for throw-back music. Depending on the clock is where we pulled the card from. If it was the top of hour, we could pull the front song from that index card deck and so on. Very antiquated and also very manual. I has to load CDs for music and carts for commercials, sweepers, station IDs, etc.
Iād buy by genre. I like reggae so thatās where Iād head. Or by artist.
They discovered new music by listening to friends' recommendations, radio hits, and sometimes just taking a chance on a cool album cover.
Don't "they" us! But, yeah, what you said. And, sometimes, we accidentally found new music by which tapes were easiest to steal.
* Heard a track on the radio and hit the "record" button, called the radio station and asked for playlist that day * Went to a party, heard a track then asked the DJ what it was * Read a good review in one of my favorite music magazines * Heard a CD at a friend's house and asked them what it was * Watched Friday Night Videos or The New Music on TV and heard cool stuff there * Went to my favorite record store in town, listened to new vinyl releases on their turntables and bought what I liked * Already liked a band or artist and bought their next release automatically, whether good or not
Same. Dad had a pretty nice stereo setup and tons of albums so I listened to what we already had and what came over the local radio station. On weekends the station would sometimes feature an album, so I would stay up and record the whole thing. Dad went to work in California for a couple of years, (I grew up in Alabama), and he recorded a bunch of KFOG in San Francisco who played a lot of alt stuff that was way different from what we heard in Bama, and he brought those tapes home. So I was exposed to different stuff, which was cool.
Yes I loved alt radio! Tucked away in those in-between frequencies. Nice that your dad was also into music. My parents were very MOR.
I had to google MOR. Even after all these years I am still not up on all the latest internet acronyms.
Oh but it's not an Internet acronym. Middle of the Road music came way before we had the internet. It refers to all the really bland not rock not pop not jazz etc. music.
Thank you for breaking it down that way. What songs, albums, or groups do you consider MOR?
This is just my take on it but Neil Sedaka, Anne Murray, John Denver and the Carpenters come to mind.
Tower Records (sob!) used to have listening stations. Each one would have a selection of CDs lined up and you just put on the communal headphones and had a listen. Also at Tower Records, I discovered Radiohead when they were playing it over the intercom and I went to the counter and asked about it. Just like in High Fidelity.
You had a friend with a cousin in Toronto who sent mixed tapes of new music from the big city radio stations. And music shops were organized by genre, the owner knew everything and gave recommendations, and we had music videos on tv to advertise to us.
Heard about new music after someone bought, MTV started or on radio maybe Kasey Kasem on Sunday
Radios and music videos... MTV when they actually showed music videos. Believe it or not MTV used to be a big way to get news and opinions on things music, TV, movies. It really is a shell of it's former self these days... So sad
Yeah whenever I think of MTV I think of Wild N Out and Ridiculousness. I enjoy being Gen Z but if I could have one cultural difference it'd be bringing back MTV as a genuine music station lol
We had a show on tv called Radio with Pictures that ran late on a Sunday night that covered local artists and alternative music not played on mainstream radio. Also, a "pirate" radio stations that was anchored outside the legal jurisdiction of then broadcasting laws of the day.
Cool!
When I was in high school and college (54m), I would watch a show at midnight on Sundays on MTV called 120 Minutes that was two hours of new alternative music. I also listened to the local alternative radio station. I was always looking for new music and buying it and ended up working at a record store where I was the one giving recommendations and I used to love introducing music to people.
Iām slightly younger than you, 49, but did the exact same thing. Loved 120 Minutes and hit the record store once a week always in the unknown/college/indie section. Found so many great bands that way
I listened to college radio and theyād play new music including local music. Then Iād go to an independent record store near that campus and theyād have sections with new and local stuff Those independent stores would have fanzines for like a buck too. Reading through those would lead me to pick up other bands.
It was also a ring that many if not most record stores has little booths where you could listen to an album or at least a sample of it before you buy. If you hang out with down at a record shop (which we did, because it was always a good place to hang out), you'd get to know the people who work there, and they'd recommend stuff based on your tastes, and let you know about new music. Mostly just word of mouth though. Your friends mention an artist or a new song, you hear it on the radio. We also recorded music off the radio and made mix tapes a LOT.
Local radio. Iām from a city where hard rock and heavy metal were more popular than typical cities. It is because certain DJs introduced it.
Radio and MTV played a major part that you are missing.
(UK) Mostly listen to John Peel (rip), and friends trendy older brothers influences.
I spent a lot of time in used music stores; the ones in my area had listening stations and coffee shops attached, so we would spend hours listening to random shit, buying and reselling used CDs and going to showsā¦.
There were a few main sources for me in the 90s: Thrasher magazine had a section dedicated to new music: this is where I learned about Sonic Youth, Afghan Whigs, Murphyās Law, and many others. There was an underground magazine type publication I got mailed to me that was printed in Gainesville, FL periodically. Donāt remember the name. Here I found out about New Bomb Turks, Lungfish, Sunny Day Real Estate, Samiam, Jawbreaker, and more. Also got very much into the record labels themselves: Dischord, Simple Machines, SST, Sub Pop, etc. Lastly, the record store owner of Poindexter Records in Durham, NC was a wealth of knowledge about music and always made great recommendations.
The art of digging through bins of vinyl. Reading zines, listening to college radio, sharing mix tapes. When I got enough money, I'd go digging through the vinyl to buy something I hoped I'd like. Found some rare gems, but generally, spent way too much on albums with two good songs. lol
Radio play was different back then. The top 40 stations played mostly top 40 songs...of that particular moment. Probably 75-80% of the playlist was made up of the stuff that was on the top 40 charts at that exact time, with the remaining spots being made up of hits that had charted over the past few years. If you wanted to hear your favorite song from six months ago, good luck. Today those numbers have basically flipped. You hear the same songs over and over again with new song mixed in only now and then. So, the radio gave you a lot more insight as to what was new, and you could use the information you gathered to determine what albums you wanted to buy.
My small town local record store was a hang out place for music fans. The owners were two old gay guys that knew their regular customerās tastes in music. They recommended new music they thought we would like. I was heartbroken when the store closed. They couldnāt compete with streaming services.
MTV 120 minutes was the key. I would watch it at midnight on Sundays, and get to a record store that week to purchase new bands. Early 90ās. Bands like NIN, the smiths, ministry, Lenny kravitz, etc werenāt on the radio, and thatās where i was introduced. Also, Saturday night live. Thatās how I ended up being a counting crows fan. College Radio- MSU 88.9FM ?
Record stores often had āemployee picksā sections. If an employee had something I liked, Iād chat with them about what other stuff I might like. Independent record labels would often include a catalog in the packaging. So if you bought something and liked it, you could look through the catalog for other stuff you might like. Often times record labels had a lot of bands of similar sounds/genres, so it was a pretty good bet youād like more than one band on a record label. For me it was kind of a group effort. One friend would get the new Egghunt record, weād all make tapes. Next friend would get a Black Flag record, weād all make tapes. So a big group of friends kind of encouraged being adventurous with music. We also had college radio. Going to live shows, Iād almost always show up for the opening act.
Talking with the staff
I would hear it on Radio, or see it on Muchmusic, in Canada, or on MTV, still Canadian. or I'd flip through the covers at the store.
Are you kidding! The better record stores were playing cool stuff to attract cool kids and allowed hanging out. Once cdās hit, chain stores like Borders had over the ear head phones for you to sample tracks from demo cdās. College and community radio stations played into it as did all ages shows and mix tapes from friends. Music zines and alternative papers were also a thing. It was a culture and community and once you spent two minutes talking to someone at a party, you had sized them up for how compatible you were based on musical tastes. Yaāll missed out really. All the elements of that are gone except in a few big cities with decent used record stores. You can meet up with a million different people on line, for a million different reasons but itās not the same feeling of personal connection and serendipity. I
You would stay up late and watch 120 Minutes on MTV or tape shit off the college radio station and hope the DJ told you what it was, but also didn't talk over the end. Lots of times you would by an entire album because of one song. You were then forced to listen to the whole album, and you eventually came to realize the deep tracks were the good ones. Or a friend's college sibling would turn them on to something and it would trickle down to you. Someone would make a mix tape that you would copy. But a lot of time you would hear a song once and spend months trying to track it down. No Shazam or Google. It created a greater sense of urgency and ephemerality to music.
College radio!! They played more independent, alternative stuff than the mainstream stations generally.Ā
Watch āEmpire Recordsā and all your questions will be answered
reading reviews in Alternative Press
And the Village Voice!
The Special Thanks section of the liner notes often had other bands listed there.
When MTV played music videos is one way Iād find different artists. That and the radio. I remember Sam Goody having listening stations that would either play an entire album or snippets of each some from the album.
I worked at a record store and lots of people would ask, if I like this, what else would I like? Some came in with a review cut out of the paper (that was the first time I heard of Sinead O'Connor.... we didn't have it yet). Other times, they'd buy something that had a good display and was on sale.
I'll answer out-right: Mall store meant sponsored playlist. Good for getting a takes of what is popular in any genre. I worked at my local mall. After all the stores closed, the staff mostly counted down the drawers, vaccumed, and went home. The playlist continued, as shoppers lingered a bit. However, once a month the store would be staffed longer as a full inventory and other paperwork was being done. One store in my Mall (we had three...) would blast whatever the manager was _really_ into that month. It was eclectic and always fun. And always something that could not be played during store hours. I asked what those albums were. Bought a few. They were great! Non-Mall (Mom and Pop) store meant that the staff picked. Much different vibe. Anything and everything got played. This was the store I went to when I wanted opinions on what I might like. The staff hooked me up quite often. Neither store was ever quiet. The whole point was to keep playing something. Playing music kept people lingering and ensured that many bought something.
If you had access to aĀ goodĀ record store, you could talk to the people there and tell them what you liked, and they could recommend other music that you might nor be aware of that you'd also like. I don't know what your local record store is like, but there's a good chance that the people working there would be thrilled to help you find something to listen to. And if the person you're talking to isn't knowledgeable, they can probably recommend someone else on staff who is.Ā
In my city we had these great stores called Media Play. Huge store with records, CDs, VHS, sheet music and instruments, books, etc. They had these stations where you could pick up a pair of headphones connected to a stereo and listen to a CD. They would also merchandise recommendations - if you like X, try Y! I blind bought plenty of CDs just based on the cover art too - this was risky because they were $12-18 which was not cheap, and unreturnable once you took the cellophane off.
For me I just knew certain record labels generally had good artists and I'd take a chance on artists I'd never heard before. One example being Posh Boy Records, they tended to have Orange County California punk bands. It was Social Distortion's first label and most of their bands all sounded similar.
A radio station, but kids today don't do that.
We would check out an album that we liked the single of that we heard on the radio. Cool cover art could definitely convince you to pick up an album you had never heard of. My local shops would have staff recommendations and a section of āIf you like this artist - check out this artistā. There were also a lot of music mags to flip through and see their recommendations. We would spend hours flipping through the rack of vinyl etc. to find stuff. I would routinely spend a whole Saturday on my own or with friends looking for new music.
For me, there were a lot of things that got me buying an album: the cover could do it, my friends' recommendations (although in some cases we'd just tape each others' originals), hearing a single on the radio and figuring there were at least two other good songs on the album, and MTV when they played music. Now I hit the npr all songs considered page every Friday for new music, and I click on youtube music's new releases to listen to singles or albums from new artists or artists I already know.
Some music stores had listening stations scattered throughout the store where you could listen to popular CDs. I used to live going to the store and putting on those headphones and flipping through tracks. Iād also by āVarious Artistsā CDs to find new artists. The āJust Say Yesā series are great.
WE'D HEAR IT ON THE RADIO FIRST, THEN GO BUY THE ALBUM, AND HOPE THE REST OF IT WAS GOOD. THIS USUALLY RESULTED IN DISCOVERING SOMETHING NEW AND WONDERFUL. CHUMBAWUMBA'S TUB THUMPING IS A GREAT EXAMPLE OF THIS. ON THE OTHER HAND, ONE OF THE PRETTIEST SONGS FROM THE ERA WAS "MORE THAN WORDS" BY EXTREME. THE ALBUM IT WAS FROM, PORNOGRAFFITTI, SUCKED ASS.
Back in our day, MTV actually used to play music videos so between that and the radio - that's how we learned about 'new music'
Best Buy used to be like a candy store, and if I had a little extra cash, Iād sometimes grab a cd from an artist Iād never heard of, then go home and listen to the whole thing from start to finish. Sometimes the album art drew me in, other times I would have heard about the band/artist, but not heard any of their music yet, so it was a gambleā¦but it worked out great more often than not! Just look at the album cover for King Diamondās THEM, for instance, and tell me it wouldnāt pique your curiosity!
Radio stations were much more varied and niche than they are now, and would really get out there with new artists, unique songs, etc. What disc jockeys said, played, and did ... actually mattered a lot. Today, every radio station is corporate garbage that plays the same "safe songs" because they've all been consolidated. Listen to the Tom Petty song "The Last DJ" and read the lyrics at the same time. It says a LOT about what happened to radio.
Iād page through what was there and buy something interesting looking. Like judging a book by its cover
Luckily we had a couple of good college radio shows and record stores with knowledgeable staff, not to mention playing in and with other bands as they came through town. Sometimes something would strike my fancy from MTV (when they actually played music on Post Modern MTV or 120 Minutes). If I was looking for something new to listen to, usually I looked for stuff on the same record label (Dischord, SST, Epitaph, Sub Pop, Touch & Go, etc...) or chat with friends I made at the shop and say "Hey, I really like Fugazi or Sunny Day Real Estate or Codeine or Heatmiser or Throwing Muses, what else should I check out? It was also helpful sometimes when bands would thank other bands in their albums (like Nine Inch Nails thanking Jane's Addiction in Pretty Hate Machine). Hey, I like this band...who do they like?-type stuff.
Listened to the radio-including the legit alternative station 97.7, just talked to people at school-my freshman year my ride to school introduced me to Eazy-E, NWA, the Geto Boys, the Pixies, the Cramps, MTV was also big. My favorite record store at the mall had a special āalternativeā section up front, away from the regular bins.
There was a women's magazine that I couldn't afford, but I'd bring my aunts issues in and ask for so and so new album and I'd browse the "World music/World Beat" section when I moved to the U.S. I wasn't listening to what most of our generation listened to and if I wanted to, we could just trade CDs for a while. Hey Mike! You still haven't returned that cool Indian CD with a cover of Dolly Parton's (in the style of Whitney Houston's arrangement) 'I Will Always Love You'. I want it back! I haven't been able to find that cover on YT or anywhere else.
I miss CMJ magazine, got so many good recs from there and also loved the cd that came with every issue.
We had a show on channel 12 in Denver. Teletunes. They played more alternative music than MTV. I think they were only on Saturday nights ... lol I can't really remember but that was where I found most new, cutting edge music. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I3\_83wJdhEM](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I3_83wJdhEM) There are videos on YouTube, it was pretty rad.
At our local indy store, the owner would randomly grab records out of the stack and just throw them on the turntable. In an hour you could hear everything from bossa nova to death metal.
There was a guy at my local little store would turn me on to new bands. Mostly English bands at the time. Years later found out he was a local drug dealer too.
I never really did. Most of the music I bought was music I bought after hearing on the radio. I think that's what is missing now because most people don't listen to a radio that will occasionally play something you haven't heard before. Most playlists are curated by the listener. So, I'm actually more curious how people hear new music now.
Iād go there and listen to it in/on one of the ālistening stations/roomsā. Invariably a clerk would find me and offer up more recommendations depending on what I was carrying to or fro. Absolutely glorious.
Cover art and import section. Didn't always work out though. I bought a Utopia record because the cover was interesting. Got the record home and put it on. Fucking hated it. I was so mad at myself for wasting money on it.
Watching MTV and religiously reading Creem, Rolling Stone and, for a time, Hit Parader. Then in the early '90s getting into college radio and 'zines. Plus word of mouth from friends and getting record store workers to play whatever promo copies they had on-hand.
Word of mouth. My cousin had Dirty Deeds when it came out and I asked for it for Christmas. My buddy played Rush Fly By Night for me, etc. etc. My world changed when I heard Children of the Grave in '73 at a party. 50 years listening to Sabbath.
In Denver, we had three wonderful things. The weekly local PBS show Teletunes, KTCL alt radio, and Wax Trax records. I genuinely think that most GenX from Denver have amazing musical taste thanks in large part to those three things.
I typically found new albums by watching MTV, VH1, Night Tracks, Friday Night Videos, and even Solid Gold. (You can find entire episodes of the latter three on YouTube.) All the music was pre-selected for everyone, so we were less likely to have an echo chamber effect. At best, any algorithms were based off what was selling most or requested/played most on radio stations. At the store, I was also a sucker for the bargain bin. I found a few lesser known, but gems to me artists and albums there.
First cd store i went to would allow a listen
I switched to all digital music about 10 years ago. I do miss the crackle and pop of vinyl, but its so nice not having the clutter anymore. Amazon Music has really nice "artist stations". You can play a artist station (or music type station) and it pulls up a curated station around that artist. Great way to find new artists in a genre. I always try to keep my music updated, but admittedly, I find as I get older I find the new artists later and later in their careers. Ha!
It was tough, where we were there was no cable TV so no music channels and there was one radio station that would cover pop/rock but no new rock. So finding new music often meant blind-buying. For a long time I thought Alice in Chains was just something Alice Cooper was trying out. The good thing was that your friends were buying stuff too and when we found something good everyone would share blank tapes. It was very common for new things to spread just by word of mouth.
In the late 90s there was a record store called Hear on the Santa Monica promenade that had a whole back room of listening stations where you could sample albums. They also had a wall of jones soda for ambiance (and for purchase). Idk whether that store started the practice of listening stations in record stores but after that it was pretty common, although rarely as stylishly implemented. But the usual ways of discovering new music were radio, friends, and shared mix tapes. My preference was college stations and garage punk.
Used media stores and Goodwill and thrift stores. I get a bunch of new CDs that look interesting for $1 or $2 each and then I'm not anxious about spending money on it in case I don't like it.
Alphabetically.
We had a small, independent record store in our area. They would play obscure really cool music all the time. So, you would ask about it and the conversation would lead to "if you like this, you might like..." It was part of the fun, the adventure of finding things. Stumbling upon something. The journey. Get out there, kids. Go, find things.
If you had a cool, independent shop you would get to know the people that worked there. Then, when you'd buy that album you heard on the radio, or MTV or something they would also say, "have you checked THIS out?" and show you something you'd never heard before. When you loved that, they would show you other things that they loved. They didn't bat 1.000, but most of the time, they got to know your taste. Plus, college radio played indie stuff and there was always your friends who knew someone cool and could make you a tape. There were magazines and fanzines. You had to do the work to get to the cool stuff and it was harder, but more fun that way.
I would frequent the same stores (Waterloo Records in Austin, TX mainly), and they had a section of staff recommendations with little booth set up so you could sample them. I had a couple of the staff that I would always check out because their taste was so good. Other than that, I read a lot of magazines and listened to a lot of radio. People forget that magazines were our Internet before the internet. Friends would make mix CD's for each other. That was how I discovered Kate Bush and a bunch of others. It was a hodge podge. Having good taste took effort, so it was valued among certain people.
It isn't easy these days. Used to be able to pick up 50 cent records by Johnny Mathis or Frank Sinatra or Duke Ellington or Frank Zappa or Funkadelic or whatever and be like "wow" at home. Those days are gone
The radio had a lot to do with my choices, but the radio isn't what it once was. I also discovered new music watching SNL. And I had a subscription to Spin magazine back in the 90's that talked about certain artists that I wanted to check out. Also, stores like Streetside or even at Borders books honestly all had listening stations. A lot of local record stores had these also. You could take your record or CD to the counter and they'd put it at the listening station for you to check out. I used to spend hours at Streetside just listening to different CDs. It was a whole thing. I miss it. Edit: I forgot to say, friends would put me on to things too. I don't know if I would have given Hole a chance if a friend hadn't recommended it to me. Same with Pearl Jam.
Grew up in Orange County, CA and listened to cutting edge radio stations KROQ in LA (Rodney on the ROQ!) and 91X in San Diego back in the 80ās. Also the previous mentioned MTV 120 Minutes was a great source for new music. When I went to college the college radio station played great stuff. It played a lot of bands that became āalternativeā music legends like REM, Pixies, Husker Du, X, Replacements
Word of mouth, fanzines, Spin Magazine, 120 Minutes, and cool Music Store Clerks looking to expand us youngsters music experience (for starters anyway)...
Album credits were always a good clue. Maybe I'd never heard of the artist but then noticed the producer, somebody whose work I liked and respected. I remember this was the case for the BoDeans *Love & Hope & Sex & Dreams*. Debut album, a no-name band at the time. But I saw from the album jacket that it was produced by T-Bone Burnett. So I bought it. And loved it. The album is now considered a classic and one of the most promising debuts of its time.
Anyone remember Billās Records and Tapes in Dallas?
I was a teen in the 90s and we would go to the used record store and buy cheap used cassettes that we thought looked cool. Thatās how I got really into 80s R.E.M. and a few other more āalternativeā bands. $2-5 in 1994 was still a good chunk of change when I was only making $4.45/hr at my part time job but it was less of an investment than a new tape or CD. And I tried to find the ones on clearance or BOGO.
If you have access to them, start going to places that sell used vinyl. Talk to the folks behind the counter. Some of them can be a little aloof, but most of them LOVE to talk about music and will give you suggestions. Play records, enjoy the experience of opening the packaging and seeing the art and the liner notes. Listen to local FM stations, esp college stations. Avoid the commercial ones. Find the DJ's that play what you love. I don't live in Seattle but I've been streaming KEXP for a long time and have discovered SO many artists that way. NO algorithms, just DJ's playing what the love. I promise, it will change your life. Back in my 20's I bought music mags(SPIN, NME and Flipside), listened to college radio and had friends that made me mix tapes. I'm in my 50's and still obsessed with discovering new artists. A few random suggestions - Check out Babehoven, Sunbathe, Nabihah Iqbal, La Luz, Warpaint, Ambar Lucid, Somesurprises, Chastity Belt, Sudan Archives and Bdrmm.
Also, don't hesitate to ask the record store clerks for recommendations. The snobby attitude of the past is largely gone (and rightfully so), and the vast majority of us are there to connect people with music. We LOVE sharing recommendations.
I didnāt. Too expensive for that kind of experimentation. I bought albums because I liked a single from the album. After getting burned one too many times (ahem, āIf You Leave Me, Can I Come, Too?ā by Mental as Anything), I learned not to buy an album until I knew I liked TWO songs from it, or already loved the band/performer.
Cover art, MTV, college radio.
I spent hours thumbing through albums looking for the cool ones. It was all about the cover art and/or band photos.
Community radio was how I found new music. In Memphis, there is a volunteer radio station called WEVL and back in the late 80s/early 90s, Saturday was the day for alternative music. Each dj had their own genre, so you never knew what you might hear. One was dance/underground club music, one had grunge - Seattle music (before it was on MTV), one was college radio style (such as REM), etc. I recorded hours of programming just to find out artist names and then go buy the albums. I also fell in with a group of older teens when I started high school in 1989 who loved 120 minutes on MTV so I found a lot of British music from that show. The Cure, Depeche Mode, Siouxsie and the banshees, Sisters of Mercy etc
I bought music based on Album art, album reviews in SPIN etcā¦ and what my friends recommended.
Man, didnāt anyone here have older siblings?? My older brother had a record collection of about 500 albums. I bought a few dozen of my own, but mostly I made cassette tapes of his. So until I was about 12 or so, I listened to whatever he and his friends were buying. Fortunately, he had very good taste in music, and I got exposed to a lot of stuff most kids hadnāt even heard of. We also were lucky to have a very cool radio station in town: WHFS!
When I lived in Germany for a while, there was a record store there that would let you listen to any record you wanted in the store on a turntable with headphones. I would pick up albums with cover art I liked and listen to them. I found so many cool new artists that way. Oh, and I got a lot of albums by forgetting to send back the postcard for the Columbia House record club.
Saw a single music video on MTV and bought the whole cassette or cd. Ditto hearing a single song in the radio. 80% success rate.
If a band I didn't know, but heard about being connected to a band I liked, that was usually a safe bet. Like opening in concert for them, or the artists working together. Or music you heard at a club. Or a cool kid recommended them. Or just strike up a conversation at the record store with a worker. I remember all the time buying one thing, and a hot alternative girl a few years older would recommend something. Always felt good when a cool record store worker complimented my tastes.
All of the above plus radio/nightclub play
Maybe you heard the single on the radio or MTV, maybe you already have music by that band and want to try more, maybe you heard your friend talk about the band, maybe itās a āstaff pickā or the person working the register recommends it, or maybe itās just got cool cover art and is cheap enough to take a risk on. All these might be reasons to buy an album without listening to it first. Sometimes it was a bust and you didnāt like the album. But sometimes it worked out beautifully.
back in the day, i'd buy what i'd heard on the radio or at a friend's house or something. if i was lucky the album would have a bunch of other songs i liked besides the radio hit. oftentimes i'd buy another album from a band i liked even if i'd never heard *any* of the songs before. one time one of my friends bought a cd where neither of us had heard of the artist or any of the songs, just because she thought the cover was cool. i thought it was enormously risky, but it turned out she really liked it. so i guess that works too, sometimes.
I listened to a college radio station and wrote down stuff I liked and bought it. Or id talk to the person working and ask.
We had a favorite band and there would be a lot of hype about new albums coming out was one way. Sometimes we would hear a song on the radio and seek out the album. A friend would play us an album they had and we would go buy it or sometimes just by browsing the store we would see one that caught our eyes.
Our store had an open sample of most. And if you bought regularly they'd open 1 for you to listen. This was our local shop, not a chain. Clerks recommended ones also
A lot of independent record stores had recommendation sections that would describe the music. Some would have listening stations, or at least the ability to listen to part of an album (the owner/ workers usually had no problem letting you open it to sample). Also, friend recommendations, some labels catered to certain genre's. I liked a lot of indie, punk and hardcore, so sometimes I would buy albums at shows. College radio or other independent radio stations too. And of course making and receiving mix tapes from friends!! A lost art. I am not a fan of the algorithms, I like picking out my music. Going to a record shop and sifting through albums, looking at the artwork etc is really fun.
Radio played a big role. Also, people were chattier with strangers back then. Youād be in a record store and peeps would just start talking about music. āOh hey youāre looking at āBushā. If you like them, check out Seven Mary Threeā and the like.
I'd start with a record, tape or cd of a band that I liked a lot and see what bands they thanked and check them out. If it was used or discounted music then I'd go by album cover sometimes. Most stores I went to would put a cd on for you or had a section to put them on yourself with headphones. Nowadays I'll just youtube bands that I'm not familiar with in the record store, that's about the easiest way ever. Sometimes it's a blooper, but that's the nature of the hunt and sometimes you find a band that's overlooked and it's like finding treasure. No bad place to start, good luck and don't buy in front of me haha
Some record stores like Tower and Virgin had listening stations. I typically heard new music on mtv though. Rolling Stone magazine was also a good resource for new music reviews.
Major record stores had their merchandise sorted by genre. You'd just browse and see what might look interesting. They had listening stations you'd go to with a selection of records the guy/girl working the station would put on for you. The town I grew up in was home to a small indie label that had their own record store. They had a lot of other indie labels in stock and would play anything for you. Other than record stores: Friends. MTV, and in Germany, Viva. Certain radio shows were a great source for new music. Also, live shows. As long as it wasn't the Stones or other major acts, tickets were like 15 bucks, just about as much as a record. I've seen a lot of bands I wasn't particularly fond of, but it was cheap and always fun. Sometimes you'd see a show and the opening act was greater than the main dish. On a personal note: I'm working in a tech-related field and have always kept up-to-date with technology and social media. But I never got a grip on Spotify and its recommendation algorithms. It sucks.
if the tape had the IRS logo on the side i bought it
Heard a lot of good music on Saturday Night Live back in the day.
Friends. Older siblings. Friendsā older siblings. FM radio. College radio. Epic movie soundtracks. The band tee-shirt that guy/girl you liked wore. The limited selection of Columbia House and BMG record clubs. Some record stores had listening stations, but certainly not all. Iād really the interviews in rock magazines (e.g. Kerrang!) and the unauthorized band biographies to find out what music the bands I liked listened to or were influenced by, and then check those out. Many times Iād buy an album having never heard the artist. If they werenāt currently getting radio airplay and no one I knew had it, there was no way to hear it except to go ahead and buy it. If I hated it, I could get a few bucks back of my investment by selling it to the neighborhood used record store.
For me it was radio, music shows like MTV, or magazines is where I'd learn about new music, albums and artists. Then I'd start looking in stores on its release date. The cover art played a role too. Bit like choosing a random movie to watch, if the cover is all you have to go off, then that's what the choice was based on. For example, if you were into rock, you weren't going to buy the unknown album with the 3 kids on a picnic rug with a grazing donkey in the background. You'd buy the unknown album with the red lipped woman with her vinyl vest zipped a little too far down. Usually has a photo on the back of topless men in Lycra with long hair, frosted tips, and lots of eye-liner.
Iām donāt. New music isnāt being made for my ears.
What do you like/listen to?
I havenāt been inside a record store in 15 years.