I'll Still Be Thinking of You...and the Times We Had

The other day I asked you about your favorite bands and first albums. Of course, I failed to ask how your paid for those first albums when you were young.

Some people, like my dear Christian, provided the answer. His way of paying was apparently "shoplifting." Having just spent several days with Christian at Rocklahoma, I can safely say he's been making amends for that ever since. I mean, I've never seen anyone buy more band merch in my life! 

Like most teenagers, I had a job - but it wasn't very strenuous. I did some light filing for my dad at his place of employment. No, I didn't work everyday. No, I didn't sling French fries, or bag groceries like my husband. See, my Eric had a pretty taxing job. He swears up and down he worked 40 hours a week during high school bagging groceries and pushing carts at the local Kroger. I remember going into Kroger and seeing him bag on occasion, but I don't know if his parents would have allowed a full time job during school. I digress.

My job paid just enough to keep me in new music. I can't remember buying many clothes, makeup or things like that - nope, it was always music. Back then (and we're talking about the 90s here) you could get good, unedited discs at Kmart. At that time, my one-horse hometown also had an independent music store, but the albums were more expensive there. Still, they had cool stuff like box sets, vinyl, CDs, rare cassettes, T-shirts, posters and more.

By the time I graduated high school I had a sizable music collection - it was the envy of my friends! During college, my music purchases plummeted to the lowest of my life. I didn't really have the money to buy music or go to shows, even though I had jobs then, too. I suppose I was responsible and chose food over entertainment. Now that I'm a full fledged adult, I've realized it's more important to be completely immature. As I write this, I have a case of Diet Coke and expired milk in my refrigerator. No, I'm not exaggerating. It's all about what is important in life.

So, how did you afford your music as a kid and teen? Did you beg, borrow, steal...or buy?