Surveying the Gen X landscape and the origins of geek
Two more from the Tower Records Project. The location is Mountain View, California. I don’t recall many of these demo centers inside record stores at the time; Tower certainly had the floor space. There’s a list of games on the Entertainment Sale sign, including Raiders of the Lost Ark, released in 1982.
All photos are from the very worthy Tower Records Project. Locations are, from top to bottom, Seattle, Mountain View (CA), La Mesa (CA), Greenwich Village, and New York City. My Tower was in West Covina, California, and I miss it a lot.
Love the interactive “Wall” in the first shot. That album changed my life in about ’86, the first time I heard it all the way through.
Check out my record store archive here.
I heart The Runaways. Brilliant photo that comes from Advocate magazine courtesy of Kirby Warnock, who directed a short film called When Dallas Rocked (2013) about the area music scene in the 1970s.
The record store is Peaches. Have you forgotten Two of a Kind? Shame on you!
(Photos are via the Miami Herald)
Just before grand opening, August 3, 1972
Grand opening, August 3, 1972
Swimming pool demo, 1974
Car show, 1975
Christmas shoppers, 1977
Mall centerpiece, 1981
Mall centerpiece, 1981
The Gap, 1981
Record store, circa 1984
All of the photos are via MLive, where you can see more, including the original floor plan. Jackson, Michigan’s Westwood Mall is still around.
Can anyone see what the poster is on the record store wall—just to the right of mom’s head? I have another shot of a mall Gap store here.
UPDATE: Thanks to all who identified the Cyndi Lauper poster. The Welsh Piper found the actual item (below).
I found the photo at Michael Poulin’s Flickr and subsequently discovered the Middle Earth Records Memorial Page. The music store and head shop opened in 1969 and closed in 2007. Business card below.
Lovely. This was taken during the filming of The Breakfast Club, a movie that means more to me than most. Ringwald and Hall dated briefly after filming wrapped.
The photographer is Steve Kagan via Getty Images.
HMV Records was the UK equivalent of Tower Records—even bigger than Tower, probably. I put the date at early 1985 based on the The Smiths’ Meat is Murder LP in the third shot, released in February 1985. You’re also going to see Bowie, Floyd, New Order, Siouxsie, Thriller, the Ghostbusters soundtrack, Black Sabbath, Men at Work, Flock of Seagulls, Springsteen, Tears for Fears, The Police, U2 (when they were good), The Jam, Simple Minds.
The photos are from a Flickr pool called HMV Norwich in the 80s.
More record stores here.
Sam Goody, Visalia Fair Mall, California, 1987
You can see promo posters for Michael Jackson’s Bad on the top right. Yes, those are cassettes lining the walls. They were put into long plastic containers to deter theft, and the containers stacked in wall units. There was a key at the register that allowed sales staff to pop the tape out.
Polliwog Records and Tapes, 1981. (Photo: Charles Curtis/Duluth Herald)
That’s not how you spell Reggae.
Tower Records, Tacoma, Washington, circa 1986
Tower Records, New York, 1984. (Photo: Edward Hausner/NYT)
The New York Tower is state of the art for the time period. Compare it to the Washington store. There are some TVs mounted next to the Purple Rain poster.
Hegewisch Records, Chicago, 1985. (Photo: Kim Tonry)
It looks like the metalheads are in line for concert tickets. First Megadeath tour? Slayer?
I have another good record store shot here.
(Images via Historic Happenings, News Tribune Attic, Murdockinations, The New York Times, Metal Psalter)
Press photo: August 24, 1979
Peaches was the biggest national music chain from the mid-’70s until they went bankrupt in ’81 or ’82. I remember the logo and the distinctive crates, but by the time I became obsessed with music, the place to go in my neighborhood was Tower Records. I also made frequent stops at Music Plus and The Wherehouse.
The poster on the left wall is from a 1979 Dolly Parton album, Great Balls of Fire. And check out that gorgeous diagonal wood paneling.
Just for the hell of it, here are some shots of ’70s rockers doing signings in Peaches.
KISS, 1976
The Runaways, Circa 1977
Van Halen, 1978
(Photos via Lexibell/eBay, KISS Online, The Runaways Message Board, and The Gear Page)
2 Warps to Neptune 