CDs were sort of the new thing at the time. Most of us were still coming off the days when we popped a tape into the deck and pushed play as soon as our favorite song came on the radio. Of course, we missed the start, had a DJ talking over parts of it, and probably had another song blending in at the end. But hey - with a little rewinding and no precision whatsoever, we could listen to our favorite tunes again and again. Pretty high tech, no?
So then come CDs. And the machines won't eat them like they do tapes (awesome!) but you can't record your pirated radio music on them (boo!), so we're still working in dual formats. In fact, I remember the first CD player I ever had in my car. It was a portable, walkman-type number that mounted on the dash. The power cord plugged into the cigarette lighter and to get sound, you slipped a cord-connected tape into your tape player so you could use the car speakers. You could only listen to the 1 artist/band whose CD was in the player. Meaning (especially on road trips), you listened to all the songs whether you liked them or not. Of course, with CDs came the ability to quickly skip and repeat songs, so that was a bonus.Just writing all this makes me feel like a dinosaur! Heck, I wouldn't know what do without iTunes now. Forget CDs; if it's not on my iPhone, I don't need it or want it. But I guess there's still one thing I have in common with today's teens: a love of music. It doesn't matter what the format, teens love listening to music -- the louder, the better. Hopefully, that's something I'll never be old to relate to.
And for a parting thought... my husband told me he saw a commercial the other day that asked: Now that grunge rock is 20 years old, is it considered "oldies"? I'm now going to run away screaming and pretend like I never heard that. Pass the Nirvana. Who's with me?
