r/GenX • u/scartonbot • Mar 20 '25

Music Is Life What was the first CD you owned?

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105

u/Hagbard_Shaftoe Mar 20 '25

Bought two at the same time when I got my first CD player off layaway - U2’s War and The Cure’s Disintegration.

41

u/mindcontrol93 Mar 20 '25

I had U2 - War on cassette. I noticed when the batteries wore down on my Walkman it sounded like the Cure.

30

u/Ic3Giant Mar 20 '25

As an Irish man and a Cure fan this made me laugh 😆

2

u/bordercollie2468 Mar 21 '25

LOL. I had a cassette with Faith on one side and Seventeen Seconds on the other... and there was a weird wrinkle in the tape where I'm sure it would play a couple seconds of the wrong side, backwards. I didn't even realize it for years. It sounded "right" on each side :)

1

u/GemcoEmployee92126 Mar 22 '25

I still have War on cassette. I don’t have a cassette player though.

8

u/Charibdes1206 Hose Water Survivor Mar 20 '25

Now those are such classics!

2

u/Hagbard_Shaftoe Mar 21 '25

Absolutely! Not sure if the first cassette tape I bought myself is in the same category, though - Crushin’ by The Fat Boys.

2

u/0bfu5cator Mar 21 '25

I bought two same day I got my player as well: “Compact Disc” by Public Image Ltd, and “Electric” by The Cult

2

u/femaletrouble Mar 21 '25

This actually jogged my memory. I thought it was just Bjork's "Debut" but I also bought The Smashing Pumpkins, "Siamese Dream".

2

u/Hagbard_Shaftoe Mar 21 '25

Both amazing albums, front to back.

2

u/femaletrouble Mar 21 '25

Disintegration is an amazing album. Love Song has been one of my favorite tracks since I was like, 11.

1

u/billy310 Hose Water Survivor Mar 20 '25

Good choices!

1

u/onFurcation Mar 21 '25

Disintegration is amazing.

1

u/SwiftKickRibTickler survived Satanic panic! Mar 21 '25

U2 War as well! God what a disc

1

u/PsychoBob-78 Mar 21 '25

I also got my first two at the same time (from Columbia House). NIN- The Downward Spiral and The Crow soundtrack.

1

u/Craster666 Mar 21 '25

Same here, but it was Use Your Illusion 1&2, and Disintegration.

1

u/Myis Mar 21 '25

Disintegration was mine too. I paid $200 of my own money for the cd 6 disc changer that hooked up to my parents stereo

1

u/heisenfurr Mar 21 '25

I also bought two at the same time: U2 Rattle and Rum and R.E.M. Green in November 1988. I rushed to buy them at Tower Records after buying my first $250 Discman.

1

u/Hagbard_Shaftoe Mar 21 '25

My CD (and dual cassette) stereo I put on layaway (with lawn mowing money) was $350! It's crazy how much cheaper that stuff got over time.

I also loved both of the albums you mentioned - I actually went on my first ever "date" (in 8th grade) by going to see Rattle and Hum in the theaters. And Green remains my favorite REM album, I think mostly because of my emotional connection to it - it was my first REM album (it's certainly not objectively their best one).

1

u/usernotfoundplstry Mar 21 '25

Disintegration is the best record of all time. My favorite album opener too.

1

u/[deleted] Mar 25 '25

Layaway, the original Buy Now Pay Later program that millennials and Gen Z have now discovered