Stars on 45 came to mind on my way back from the gym. The instructor, L is a good bit older than me and extremely fit. I like his classes because he shows us what is possible with effort and he plays music I know and love. Lot of disco, some Eurythmics, Kraftwerk and the occasional Beatles. Even what I don't recognize is in well within the range of what I enjoy. That afternoon he played something that sounded a lot like Stars on 45 but it wasn't. Listening to that album takes me back instantly to thirteen years old. It was a birthday gift I chose for myself from local cassette shop in town. My parents wanted me to get something I liked from that store and I chose this after some consultation with the owner who was used to helping kids like me find their way around the music they had passing familiarity and were curious about. I knew some Beatles songs but was not able to decide on a specific album.
So this guy wisely pointed me to a medley that he said would help me figure out which songs I liked best and maybe next time I could buy the album that had the most of them. To this day, I remember the exact moment one song transitions to the next in Stars on 45 - that is now much I played this tape. I came to have my favorite songs over time and then albums. There was this miraculous feeling of escape into a world far away from mine in every way imaginable. It was not the music my parents had any interest in but they learned to grow familiar with it and even recognized some tunes.
Many years later when Pandora started the music genome project, I was able to understand how formative that one tape was in my life and how far it shaped my taste in western music. The guy who sold me that tape on my 13th birthday had transformative influence on me. Imagine he started me off on Black Sabbath or Kiss that day, my trajectory could have been quite different.
Comments