What were the most common albums you'd find in the used CD/cassette/record section?

I think I spent half my adolescence perusing used CD sections.

Today I heard Chubb Rock's "Treat 'Em Right" on the radio and it reminded of all the used copies of his album "The One" I'd see at the music store. That cover is forever embedded in my mind. I still haven't heard it, I guess people thought there would be more of the same hits. "Just The Two of Us" was a pretty big hit too though so maybe the rest of the album was big trash.

I wonder how many of those are still around...seems like that franchise still has 8 locations, good for them.

Anyway, that job was kinda nuts and I miss it some days. You never knew what was gonna come through that door (except for somebody's Beatles CDs almost daily) and it was a fun job to profile people at. I'll never forget the dusty old white dude who came in with two boxes full of Def Jam and Loud Records discs and had no idea what any of it was, he just pulled it out of a dumpster he was passing by.

The most common disc we had in our store was definitely Hotel California though. All kinds of pressings and remasters. It was also the first place I heard Mama's Gun (one other fun part about that job was picking what discs to play/promote because there was NOTHING new to choose from and it had to be something we could sell not a personal disc)


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"This is the streets, and I am the trap." � Jay Bilas
http://www.popmatters.com/pm/archive/contributor/517
Hip Hop Handbook: http://tinyurl.com/ll4kzz

my copy of aceyalone's /all balls don't bounce/ has a big "for promotional use only" superimposition over the jewel case. i'm fairly certain that a local radio dj part timed at that cd warehouse branch and sold or traded in promo cds

almost all of my used CD/vinyl shopping was done in little rock ~25 years ago when i was in high school (!) at a few locations. selection usually wasn't that great due to little rock's small population that skewed older but i was still at arkansas record and cd exchange (ARCE) and been around records every saturday morning digging through the stock hoping for gems. i always went right to the electronic sections but rarely found anything good. been around had electronic music lumped in with misc/va/world music, like 1/3 of a row of cds. ARCE didn't even have an proper electronic section as i remember and almost no hip hop. they did however order stuff for me so i was able to get records i would read about in URB magazine or videos i would see on mtv's "amp" like latyrx's /muzappers remixes/ and we™'s /as is/. ARCE's and been around's vinyl stocks were wild — especially the jazz sections — and i wish i had the foresight and motivation to get into vinyl collection back then

i found the nothing records release of autechre's /LP5/ at a tiny and pretty awful (selection-wise) spot in memphis that i happened upon as i was driving home from an errand. probably the coolest moment in my limited preowned music digging experience. 2nd place is probably the volume 10 /hip hopera/ cassette at been around. got it because i liked the "pistol grip pump" video but i really fell for "first born" once i heard the album

is in every used record bin in the country

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I remember the local shop having an entire end display full of them. Around 2002 mind you. Must have been fifty copies.

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used copies in the used section of the record stores I would visit. The most. That was album or Michael Jackson "History" is probably the most used cd's I've seen at one time. But I remember 2 Legit 2 Quit more.

"Just the Two of Us" is the best song on it, but the majority of the rest of it slaps as well. It gave the Trackmasterz their first real break. Also features what I believe is the Lady of Rage's first appearance on record. Or at least a major release.

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In college, I worked as an intern at a newspaper, and I was a record reviewer for my college paper. So, I had access to a ton of promotional copies.

Some record companies would send multiples, so I always made sure one went to the features department, and the other I'd sell. Many times after a record was reviewed, they would get set out for grabs. I got those too.

My local used record store loved me because I might bring them something hot, before it came out. They'd pay a little extra for those. I remember coming up on the several copies of the second Arrested Development album, Zingalamaduni. The used shop paid me top dollar, since it was highly anticipated.

Turns out that album wasn't a hit, so they ended paying top dollar for CDs they ended up getting MANY copies of later.

ephemera, tradition, history, discovery, identity, artifacts, culture

even though CDs lacked the tangible connection to history and the past vinyl did (and still does), there was something special about browsing used CD bins.

we don't have all of the music ever made a click away but it does feel like it. there is a whole discussion around what will be lost to history in the move to digital media, there actually is a LOT of stuff thats just not available anywhere.

while there is a direct line to upcoming artists and fans and while we're no longer tied to a limited view or limited stock by way of curators and tastemakers working the stacks in music shops...we've lost an important intersection where music, media, artifacts and culture once met. Record stores were like a living pandora music algorithm. If you found that you liked one thing you were able to find other things you liked and those things were not always music.

When I was a teen I used to go to record stores JUST to read the magazines or look at merch.

A bit before the begining of the end of physical media, we were wowed by the introduction of listening stations. It was through listening stations that I discovered SO. MANY. DEFINING. ALBUMS. and it was all by chance. Some of my most favorite and enduring albums were found by "reading" the album art. You could very much tell what was going on in the contents of an album by the art.

Our lives are filled with instant gratification. You no longer have a moment to look over album art to ponder what the album even sounds like. You do not find music via visual means, you listen and then discover if the music in question is for you or not. I wonder how many old albums would be flops if they were released today.

Discovery in todays world does happen and it happens where we're able to find more faster, but at the same time...something major has been lost.

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https://soundcloud.com/swageyph/yph-die-with-me

YES.

So many beloved albums would've flopped or been less popping in today's situation. I think the big killer would've been those albums that had slow burn but eventually big appreciation. Reasonable Doubt for instance. UGK Ridin Dirty for another. I'm not sure if people would've taken the time to 'go back to' those records and be like 'oh, yeah...this is really dope. Whatever this act makes next, I'm gonna be all over it'.

And now, so many folks are in ruts cuz there's so much to listen to even if you 'only like certain stuff'. IE: keeping up with Griselda means like 8 albums in the last year. And that wasn't even a heavy year for them.

So the rut folks either just don't listen to new music much at all. And unless it shows up on a 3rd party playlist or radio (for whoever is still doing THAT), they're not gonna do it.

And even for me, there's times where something just doesn't 'make it to me' for 1-5 years. And by that time, the rando artist is already back working in somebody's office or something. For instance, I was openly late on Roc Marciano and he's pretty much my favorite rapper right now. Rosebudd's Revenge makes me happy. Move Dope plays in my head all the time.



>ephemera, tradition, history, discovery, identity, artifacts,
>culture
>
>even though CDs lacked the tangible connection to history and
>the past vinyl did (and still does), there was something
>special about browsing used CD bins.
>
>we don't have all of the music ever made a click away but it
>does feel like it. there is a whole discussion around what
>will be lost to history in the move to digital media, there
>actually is a LOT of stuff thats just not available anywhere.
>
>
>while there is a direct line to upcoming artists and fans and
>while we're no longer tied to a limited view or limited stock
>by way of curators and tastemakers working the stacks in music
>shops...we've lost an important intersection where music,
>media, artifacts and culture once met. Record stores were like
>a living pandora music algorithm. If you found that you liked
>one thing you were able to find other things you liked and
>those things were not always music.
>
>When I was a teen I used to go to record stores JUST to read
>the magazines or look at merch.
>
>A bit before the begining of the end of physical media, we
>were wowed by the introduction of listening stations. It was
>through listening stations that I discovered SO. MANY.
>DEFINING. ALBUMS. and it was all by chance. Some of my most
>favorite and enduring albums were found by "reading" the album
>art. You could very much tell what was going on in the
>contents of an album by the art.
>
>Our lives are filled with instant gratification. You no longer
>have a moment to look over album art to ponder what the album
>even sounds like. You do not find music via visual means, you
>listen and then discover if the music in question is for you
>or not. I wonder how many old albums would be flops if they
>were released today.
>
>Discovery in todays world does happen and it happens where
>we're able to find more faster, but at the same
>time...something major has been lost.
>
>

it reminded me of what it used to be like. He could listen to Micheal Jackson on Spotify, sure, but he was stoked to make his mom come listen to it on a record player. Seeing him check out different covers, reading random liner notes or lyrics. That shit brought back memories.

Random stuff like too like seeing what an Ohio Players LP cover looks like. Ohio Players had some of the wildest album covers out.

I don't hate digital, but there are definitely some tradeoffs and you give up some really good stuff in that tradeoff.

Also - i worked at a 2nd hand record store for a few years in the late 90's early 2000's. We had like a 1000 copies of Green Day's Dookie album. Crackheads and heroin addicts would get pissed when they'd steal a copy from Tower Records and half the time we wouldn't even buy it from them.

In a generation of swine, the one-eyed pig is king.
-Hunter S. Thompson

as a kid I before i learned about sex I used to feel like i was breaking a rule by seeing those covers

"is that boner? whats a boner? i can't stop looking at this"

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https://soundcloud.com/swageyph/yph-die-with-me

That visual relationship to music is so needed. Speaking of which, music videos and music video stations need to make a comeback.

>That visual relationship to music is so needed. Speaking of
>which, music videos and music video stations need to make a
>comeback.

I’m shocked at how many songs have videos still. There’s just no centralized place where everyone goes for them. Well, there’s YouTube but that’s so personalized based on what the individual had watched before.

TV stations seem to be a dime a dozen, especially public tv. I wonder how it would cost to bring back JukeBox.

it's still in my notes, i would LOVE to do it (i have a very specific format around it where the focus is falling in love with music videos again and NOT having the system gamed)

i backed away from it becuase it would be a legal fucking hell and I'm no activist thats doing things "for the people"

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https://soundcloud.com/swageyph/yph-die-with-me

This day and age kids are speeding up or decreasing speeds of vids and music to get around blocks and in the process create new sounds. Then again maybe it’s for the younger gen to flip, revive and renew music videos beyond the system.

usually never bought anything, would start browsing genres I was familiar with r&b and rap, then venture to other stuff like soul and jazz, the rock artists I had seen on MTV, in the 80's we used to watch hours of rock videos just to see one Michael Jackson video and that was an intro to rock music for a lot of people

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"Take the surprise out your voice Shaq."-The REAL CP3
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Music is a lot cheaper and more convenient now.

But it also feels more disposable. I get flooded with music now. It feels like there’s too much to keep up with. Even if I like something I will forget about it after a week when I add 10 more new albums. When I traveled to a store and paid $15 for an album it was a bit of an investment. I wanted to spend time absorbing it, and it stayed in the rotation much longer. Now it’s whatever.

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http://www.soundcloud.com/sectachrome

>Music is a lot cheaper and more convenient now.
>
>But it also feels more disposable. I get flooded with music
>now. It feels like there’s too much to keep up with. Even if
>I like something I will forget about it after a week when I
>add 10 more new albums. When I traveled to a store and paid
>$15 for an album it was a bit of an investment. I wanted to
>spend time absorbing it, and it stayed in the rotation much
>longer. Now it’s whatever.

Yep. One of my best friends has prescribed to the concept of 'if you haven't listened to an album at least 5 times, you haven't heard it'. It takes him to longer to get to and through stuff but he feels like he 'knows' the album after that much time with it.

I like the theory in theory. In practice, I'm inconsistent. I want to believe that if I listen to any album in earnest 2 full times with little to no skips, I will have a base idea of whether I like it or not.

And then, on listens after that, I'll start putting songs into my 'I'm not listening to this again after this time' type category. I now just thumbs up things I like and leave the rest blank.

I like that more artists are not as worried about 'making singles' as they were 20 years ago. But I know there were folks who couldn't bother to listen to a whole album 30 years ago when CDs became far more common. So I don't where we're at now. I know the 2000s had a bunch of artists who focused on having hit singles and the ablums were whatever. IE: I usually couldn't tell you which Rihanna songs were on which album. But I think I can tell you which album basically any JayZ or even Drake song is on.

i have a giant playlist that includes any and everything I've ever remotely liked. its about 7000 songs collected over a 7 year period and it would be a lot longer if I included obvious stuff I play all the time but never think to include.

I always hit random when I play it.

I discover shit I forgot about or I hit moments where a song will lead to diving into a genre. Last year I had some cool moments from this method, like, a week of turkish funk, a week of jump blues, a week of boogie woogie, a week of regional African rock, etc.

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https://soundcloud.com/swageyph/yph-die-with-me

Like with a lot of technology / social media, it connects people but does not foster community or add emotional depth to consumption.

It goes without saying that music is a sensual experience. And for as far as music streaming/sharing has evolved over the years, it hasn't duplicated the sensory experience of physically holding the media, the smell of the plastic wrap, and the crackle it makes when tearing it from the holder.

Then there's the notion of the communal experience of going to a store and seeing the different people in the physical space meandering through the stacks and shelves to find something new.

And music discovery seems odd with the streaming services. I know for me, the moments of discovery that stand out the most are when I heard a song while riding in the car and having my focus commandeered by something dope on the radio. Or watching a commercial and hearing something unexpected. With Spotify or YouTube I get overwhelmed by the sheer variety that I don't know where to start. So, I just end up sticking close to my typical patterns.

For as solid as the algorithms are for finding songs that are similar to my favorites, it hasn't mastered finding music that matches my tastes that I wouldn't normally find on my own.

<--- Me when my head hits the pillow

They'd sell promos and it was the ONLY place I could find these singles:

Distortion To Static
Distortion To Static REXMIES
Proceed (Pts. 1 & 3)
The Roots W / Roy Ayers - Proceed II
Silent Treatment

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Gone: My Discogs collection for The Roots:
http://www.discogs.com/user/tomhayes-roots/collection

Pre-rona, they had shit perfectly categorized and easy to find but now, all the bins are Rock/Pop, Jazz, or Soundtrack.

The CD’s were all Rock/Pop. I didn’t see any gems that I didn’t already have.

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Twitter & IG: @rulerofmyself
SC: rulerofmyself17

Yes! She's on the drugs. (c) BoHagon

For some reason I'd always see that CD in the used section, which was a shame, because it was solid

Crazy to me, though maybe the returner was in dire financial straights.

I feel like Heavy D’s “Heavy” album was common to find in that section. Puff’s “Forever” album too.

If said artist had a flop album then you would see even more of their cd's.

Some of that stuff is almost impossible to find on vinyl, but a lot easier on CD. Grabbed a Jane's Addiction CD not too long ago.

But that 'X' album? ALL THE TIME..and like right after it came out. It was insane how quick people moved off of that CD. And duh, by that time, almost everyone had a comprooter, a solid CD burner, and a stack of CD-Rs.

That used CD section is responsible for a large amount of my CD collection no lie from like 96 to 2005.

I remember having to buy Al Green's Still In Love With You a 2nd time cuz my college roommate's brother 'borrowed' my shit and just never brought it back. He was kinda wild so I figured $7.99 was cheaper than keeping it real/trying to hunt dude down over it. Judge me however..I didn't want no funk over a damn CD! Looking back, I should've made my roomdog get me another 'Wicker Chair Al' CD. Oh well.

>What were the most common albums you'd find in the used
>CD/cassette/record section?
>
>I think I spent half my adolescence perusing used CD
>sections.
>
>Today I heard Chubb Rock's "Treat 'Em Right" on the radio and
>it reminded of all the used copies of his album "The One" I'd
>see at the music store. That cover is forever embedded in my
>mind. I still haven't heard it, I guess people thought there
>would be more of the same hits. "Just The Two of Us" was a
>pretty big hit too though so maybe the rest of the album was
>big trash.
>
>

Jewel - 0304

Those come to mind because I liked a couple of songs from all of them.

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Days like this I miss Sha Mecca

For once I don't have the time to ramble on about that job, but we had a 6-CD stereo we'd use to play albums we wanted to sell and I could never move Badu's Mama's Gun from the tray to the parking lot.



~~~~~~~~~
"This is the streets, and I am the trap." � Jay Bilas
http://www.popmatters.com/pm/archive/contributor/517
Hip Hop Handbook: http://tinyurl.com/ll4kzz

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I check for: Serengeti, Zeroh, Open Mike Eagle, Jeremiah Jae, Moka Only.

Omar’s For Pleasure sat in a used bin for a year and I’d always pause and keep thumbing through. Finally copped it and mind was blown. Had never heard of him. A few years later, he found his audience in the US.

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"I'm so glad I got my own
I'm so glad that I can see
my life's a natural high
the man can't put no thing on me" (c) Curtis Mayfield