Giving the gift of Music.
When was the last time for you?
Pondering the Holidays coming up, I got to thinking about all of the Christmases long ago when most of the gifts I got were music related. Does anyone even give the gift of music anymore?
When it all started for me.
I was 13 years old in 1976. I started taking guitar lessons at a music store three blocks from my parents house. I had an old, borrowed "Kay" acoustic guitar that was damned near impossible to play, because the intonation was terrible. The neck was bowed and the strings above the fifth fret were impossible to push down. However, I was still quite grateful to have a guitar to play, even if it wasn't mine. That Christmas, I got my very first portable cassette tape recorder. It was a magical box that literally opened up a whole new world for me. With this tape recorder, I also got three Scotch blank cassettes to record on. I also got my very first pre-recorded album on tape. That album changed my life forever. “Frampton Come Alive!” came out in 1976, and I was the biggest Frampton fan in the world. I had hair back then, and I even tried to grow it long, just like Frampton had his. I played and practiced to that tape every day for the next several years.
Building my music collection.
In 1977, I wanted to learn how to play "Stairway to Heaven" on my guitar. Back then, this particular song was not considered the legendary classic rock song of all time. It was simply a famous song on a famous record album by a famous band. I asked my guitar teacher, Tony, if he could teach Stairway to Heaven to me. At first, he was somewhat dubious about my request, but he agreed to at least show me what he knew. He brought the vinyl album, “Led Zeppelin IV” to my lessons, and we listened intently to all of the parts as he wrote out every chord. I told him that I had no way of practicing this song, because I didn't have the tape. He then said, "You can have this copy, for five bucks." I handed him the money and I had my very first vinyl record album. My younger sister let me use her record player to listen to the album. Can you believe that I still have that album?
My aunt Kathy had her own home stereo that played both records and tapes. I was fascinated by this machine. She agreed to put a few albums onto cassettes for me. One of those albums was "History - America's Greatest Hits", a fantastic album for anyone wanting to learn how to play acoustic guitar. She also made a tape with Barry Manilow's "Even Now" album on it. Still, one of my all-time favorite albums to listen to, especially during this time of the year. Then that Christmas, my cousins gave me "Aerosmith - Toys in the attic" on vinyl. I still have that record too. One of my friends from school, John, gave me the "Boston - Don't look back" album for my birthday. I still have that album as well. As a paperboy, I always had cash in my pocket, but it was never quite enough for me to go and buy more record albums. I could afford 45’s. I did, however, save up to buy "Fleetwood Mac - Rumours".
My Monster Stereo System.
Since I didn't have a quality turntable or stereo system of my own yet, I played everything on my Panasonic boombox. I saved my money and bought dozens of blank cassette tapes. I recorded everything from the radio. My best friend, Curt, and I had the same tastes in music. His older brother Pete (RIP) had a huge stereo system in his bedroom in the basement. One day, Pete made a tape copy of "Steely Dan - Aja" and handed it to me. Little did I know at the time that "Aja" would eventually become my all-time number one favorite album. Pete will always be remembered for giving that gift to me. Some of the guys I was in bands with would make tape copies of albums for me from artists like Jean-Luc Ponty, Al Di Meola, Yes, Genesis, Rush, and many others. This was what we did back then. Everybody shared their music and put it onto cassette tapes. This was a way of giving someone a gift of music to remember them by. Christmas 1980, I got more blank cassettes and two albums: "Eagle Live" and "Seals and Croft - Greatest Hits". Yup, I still have those too.
Some of my CD’s a tapes collection.
For many years, people used to lend/borrow CD's from one another. Some made it back home, most of them didn't. I was not one to lend my music out to anyone, unless I knew that I could trust them to give it back to me. My vinyl collection grew to hundreds of albums and dozens of 45's. My cassette collection now stands at nearly 600 tapes. I have about 120 CD's. I think that one of the last CDs' I purchased was in 2007. It was "Tori Amos - American Doll Posse", a fantastic album. I even got the chance to see Tori play that concert tour the following November at the Hard Rock Live in Orlando. It was absolutely magical. I know that I also purchased "Joyce Cooling's new CD’s a few years back, but I don't remember when that was. I couldn't even begin to tell you which was the last vinyl record album I bought. I'm guessing that it might have been Van Halen when Sammy Hagar was in the band. Same with cassettes. It's gotta be 20-25 years since the last time I purchased any cassettes.
Giving the gift of music was what I grew up with. Everyone gave music to their friends:
"Take this album, I just bought it. Listen to it when you get home, and make a copy cassette - that way, we'll both have it."
What do people give in the way of gifts of music nowadays? Does it come in the form of a prepaid digital card for Spotify or Google Music? Honestly, I'd rather have something a bit more tangible. That is why I have held onto my entire music collection all of these years. It's my music, it's the soundtrack to my life...and I can hold onto my music whenever I want to.