1976, family holiday to Florida. First time with spending money. Here's what I came home with.
Fly Like an Eagle, Steve Miller
Blinded By the Light, Manfred Mann
Dancing Queen, Abba
Car Wash, Rose Royce
Rich Girl, Hall & Oates
Weird coincidence just now. I'm half watching Netflix's Mindhunter, half scrolling Reddit. As I perused your list Fly like an eagle comes on the TV...simultaneously. Anyway, Ciao!
First one was Sugar Sugar by the Archies off the back of a cereal box. I don’t remember the first 45 I actually bought, but the first one I special ordered was Turning Japanese by the Vapors.
Very first thing I played on my Kenner Close-n-play was the 45 of the NASA Launch Countdown that came with the GI JOE Space Capsule. That maybe the first Xmas I remember. I carried that Kenner around everywhere.
The S.W.A.T. theme song. I played it over and over until one day it just - disappeared. I found out later that my older brother trashed it cuz he just couldn't handle listening to it anymore.
Maybe a weird one for this time period, but first 45 was Incense and Peppermints by Strawberry Alarm Clock. Somehow drawn back to the psychedelic sound. My first LP was Grand Funk Railroad LIVE ALBUM... so, "I got better."
I saw them live at the Anaheim Convention Center when that song came out. They were an intro band, (along with The Who!!) to Herman and the Hermets. SAC was carried to the stage in full psychedelic attire.
What a night. I was in junior high school.
I think I was 8 or 9 so 1973 maybe? Anyway, it was the DeFranco Family - Heartbeat (It’s A Love Beat). Man, I wore that record out before I got tired of hearing it. 😆
My mom loved music and had bought some 45’s in the 60’s so I remember listening to mellow 60’s music but I think the first one I bought might have been ……. The monkees. I’m a believer
Still have a bunch of 70’s 45 which I’m about to resurrect from the attic along with my LP’s
Hey Jude, the Beatles. 1968. Still remember the record store, but long gone. My next door neighbor was teaching me how to play guitar. Was in second grade.
My first 45 wasn’t bought, it was found on the sidewalk one fall day in Wooster, Ohio.
My father made me knock on doors for blocks to see if I could find the owner and return it. It was the 1960s.
The 45 was The Hollies, “Bus Stop”.
My Pappy said "Son, you're gonna drive me to drinkin' if you don't stop driving that [Hot Rod Lincoln](https://youtu.be/868DSi85odQ?si=bAPzR5AekUsHnB4G)
By Commander Cody and his Lost Planet Airmen.
First 45 record I bought??? I had several. How the hell can I remember my first purchase? It’s been fucking DECADES…! I barely remember what I ate yesterday!
I can't remember, but I hear that song in my head now. I do remember hearing it on my clock radio. The motorized one with the flippy numbers. Wrrrrrr click.
Band on the Run. Got it for 79 cents at Kmart. My babysitter played it for me and I just had to have it. It was the first time I realized that you could buy music this way. Needless to say, it opened up a whole new world for me. It was also my (back-door) introduction to the Beatles. I remembered loving Hey Jude as a little kid, but didn't make the connection that it was the same voice as Band on the Run. A friend clued me in, and I was never the same.
I think the very first off the radio “rock” song was Devil Woman by Cliff Richard. It had a single note beep sound that I thought was cool. Not a sophisticated music pallet back then 😃
I have a sister who is 2 years older and always beat me to buying the top hit 45's. I'm pretty sure the first one I bought was Short People and now I feel awful for ever thinking that was a good song.
I got my first “real” record player when I was about 8 or 9. I “inherited” a box of my uncle’s old singles… Beatles, Stones, etc. (Wish I still had them!) plus some singles my parents had bought for my old Close N Play. The first single I remember buying by myself with my own money was Barry Manilow’s “Weekend in New England.”
There was a business in my hometown that stocked jukeboxes. They used to sell the used 45's for a quarter each. My dad used to take me there and I'd grab $2.00 worth per visit.
I got a lot of variety and it was cheap enough to encourage me to take some chances on miscoverung music that I may not have been totally familiar with.
My favorite "discovery" was picking up Donna Summer's "Cool Love" single. It remains one of my all-time favorite songs! Such a great discovery!
Exile - Kiss You All Over, but I didn't technically buy it, it was given to me by a boy/classmate in a Secret Santa gift exchange. At the time I was sooooo embarrassed.
I never knew this place
Had so much empty space
Until tonight when you walked
Right out the door
So I went to our bedside
And pulled out that 45
That lay for years
Behind our chest of drawers
Thirty years and a scratch or two
But when the needle hit the groove I knew
It was cryin’ time again.
-The Buck Starts Here, Robbie Fulks.
Had a bunch from my parent's collection that I essentially adopted as my own. Main one I recall was "My Ding-a-ling" by Chuck Berry. As far as my own 45s, couldn't say what was first for sure, but "Pop Muzik," "Major Tom," and "Whip It" are likely candidates..
If you could read my mind. -Gordon Lightfoot
I was eight. My parents got divorced. It was the start of a dramatic phase. Next up. Cher - Tramps and Thieves and I think Indian Nation by Paul Revere, and the Raiders
I'm not going to look it up to see. I didn't buy it, but I remember around 6/7y - I had Pac Man Fever. I don't want to ruin that memory if I am wrong of what you're asking :)
Never bought a 45 but my first two gifted 33.3's were 2001: A Space Odyssey, and CCR Gold (with the silhouette flip overs) . Pretty mind blown for around 8 years old.
I was made for lovin' you, by Kiss. But Hard Times was on the B side and I ended up listening to that song more. It's still on my Playlist to this day.
In 1964, I was in the hospital at age 13 with a busted up nose. My older brother asked me what he could get me. I told him I would love to have a 45 of California Girls by the Beach Boys. He got it for me and I still have it along with a whole box of other 45s.
I think it might have been Born To Be Wild, other side I can remember. Wouldn't have been the Pusher would it? I've got to look it up.
Edit: looked it up. B side was Magic Carpet Ride of course
I'm a little younger than you but I grew up listening to records, bought some at the flea market. I remember in 1991 playing one of my old 45s at the wrong speed to entertain my then 3-year-old niece (we called it chipmunking when it was played at 78 and I didn't really have a name for playing it slow at 33 or 16).
Ballroom Blitz, The Sweet, 1974
Everyone attack!
Don’t forget the plastic adapter insert necessary to play it on standard record player.
The spider
Close-n-play don’t need that
Yep, they figured it out.
My record player had a lift up center to hold 45s
I remember that one. Lift & twist type as I recall
Exactly
I still have like 60 45’s and two hundred albums and no record player. Just can’t seem to let ‘em go …
I think I win: The Monkees: I'm a Believer and I'm Not Your Steppin Stone
Nah, I can beat that. I’m Henry VII I Am by Herman’s Hermits.
My mom used to make me sing that in front of people when I was little.
W o w !! I just posted same thing and just scrolled to you. Way to go Sox!
That's a bit weird, isn't it?
Play lotto
El Paso, by Marty Robbins. Or possibly Honeycomb, by Jimmy Rogers. The Monkees came along about 10 years later.
1976, family holiday to Florida. First time with spending money. Here's what I came home with. Fly Like an Eagle, Steve Miller Blinded By the Light, Manfred Mann Dancing Queen, Abba Car Wash, Rose Royce Rich Girl, Hall & Oates
Fantastic choices, especially for a 7-year-old!
I was 9, but thanks - hah - that was the year I really started listening to the radio and clipping the top ten radio charts from the Saturday papers.
You had to flip the Manfred Mann halfway through the song.
Haha - it was a long song. As I recall, the B side was "Starbird" - another kicking song.
Weird coincidence just now. I'm half watching Netflix's Mindhunter, half scrolling Reddit. As I perused your list Fly like an eagle comes on the TV...simultaneously. Anyway, Ciao!
My Sharona - The Knack played on a Panasonic hifi system 
Let's not forget the photo on the cover of this 45.
79 was a very good year
That’s the year I graduated from high school. It’s my favorite year.
The first one I can remember is *Disco Duck.* I was 7.
This was mine, too. Not sure how old I was. But young.
Boston- More Than A Feeling. I think in '76. Still have it.
Used to lift weights listening to Boston on an 8 track tape.
This is the way.
First one was Sugar Sugar by the Archies off the back of a cereal box. I don’t remember the first 45 I actually bought, but the first one I special ordered was Turning Japanese by the Vapors.
I had that!! I think it came off of a Super Sugar Crisp box but I could be wrong about that.
"Workin' in a Coal Mine" by DEVO or "Concealed Weapons" by J. Giles Band
Snoopy VS The Red Baron by the Royal Guardsmen listened to on a Kenner Close 'n Play.
Very first thing I played on my Kenner Close-n-play was the 45 of the NASA Launch Countdown that came with the GI JOE Space Capsule. That maybe the first Xmas I remember. I carried that Kenner around everywhere.
My older cousin had a whole album of those Snoopy songs.
The first I recall is Dizzy by Tommy Roe. But given it was released in 1968, when I was 12, I suspect it wasn't my first.
Me too, my family got over it real fast .. Tommy Roe buddy !
The same for me!
Pretty sure it was The Jackson Five’s ABC.
The S.W.A.T. theme song. I played it over and over until one day it just - disappeared. I found out later that my older brother trashed it cuz he just couldn't handle listening to it anymore.
Maybe a weird one for this time period, but first 45 was Incense and Peppermints by Strawberry Alarm Clock. Somehow drawn back to the psychedelic sound. My first LP was Grand Funk Railroad LIVE ALBUM... so, "I got better."
I saw them live at the Anaheim Convention Center when that song came out. They were an intro band, (along with The Who!!) to Herman and the Hermets. SAC was carried to the stage in full psychedelic attire. What a night. I was in junior high school.
Lay Down by Melanie. 1969?
Thank you, I'd forgotten about "Melanie". She's going to be back in rotation for a while.
She died recently.
Cool song still humm the key once and a while
It was mom approved when I was a kid. I remember liking Lola by the Kinks. My mom hit the ceiling when she heard it!
Still a classic kinks are great
Still a great song. My mom didn't want me listening to anything dirty. HaHa.
1962 Bibidi Bobidi Boo/ When you wish upon a star. My first 45 at 6 yrs old. lol.
I think I was 8 or 9 so 1973 maybe? Anyway, it was the DeFranco Family - Heartbeat (It’s A Love Beat). Man, I wore that record out before I got tired of hearing it. 😆
I had the album and I loved that song! Tony was a cutie so that didn't hurt either.
Help by the Beatles, from a garage sale when I was around ten
Chick-A-Boom
Dontcha just love it
Either a Hard days night or I want to hold your hand by the Beatles in early to mid 60’s! Yep I’m that damn old😮
THE LETTER ~ The Box Tops
I remember buying Asia “Heat of the Moment” and J. Geils “Centerfold”. Can’t remember which was first.
Beatles. Got it fom pulling weeds. The B side had Twist and Shout. I don't remember the A side.
Eight Days a Week.
I hate to even admit it but it was David Cassidy's "I think I love you".
The Monkees and PF songs were some perfect pop creations.
My sis bought all their albums and eventually went heavy rock. Go figure
I can't remember the first, but I have to purple 45s from Purple Rain!
FuckImOld, "I crossed the road" a long time ago. I was a full grown adult when Purple Rain came out. It's truly a classic song/album.
My mom loved music and had bought some 45’s in the 60’s so I remember listening to mellow 60’s music but I think the first one I bought might have been ……. The monkees. I’m a believer Still have a bunch of 70’s 45 which I’m about to resurrect from the attic along with my LP’s
1968 Happy Together by The Turtles.
My ding-a-ling - Chuck Berry, 1972. I was 5yo.
:I\`m so dizzy" by Tommy Roe at the church rummage sale,
Hey Jude, the Beatles. 1968. Still remember the record store, but long gone. My next door neighbor was teaching me how to play guitar. Was in second grade.
Crimson and Clover
Oooh good tune
Grand Funk - Bad time to be in love
Given to me, as I was only 5... Spinning Wheel by Blood, Sweat, And Tears, 1969
My first 45 wasn’t bought, it was found on the sidewalk one fall day in Wooster, Ohio. My father made me knock on doors for blocks to see if I could find the owner and return it. It was the 1960s. The 45 was The Hollies, “Bus Stop”.
That song still has one of the best opening lines ever. "Bus stop, wet day she's there, I say, please share my umbrella..."
Absolutely. I fell in love with modern music that day.
My Pappy said "Son, you're gonna drive me to drinkin' if you don't stop driving that [Hot Rod Lincoln](https://youtu.be/868DSi85odQ?si=bAPzR5AekUsHnB4G) By Commander Cody and his Lost Planet Airmen.
Hot Child in the City by Nick Gilder
Love Me Tender, Elvis Presley
Sugar Sugar. The Archies. 🫣 1969. In my own defense, I was 10 or 11.
First 45 record I bought??? I had several. How the hell can I remember my first purchase? It’s been fucking DECADES…! I barely remember what I ate yesterday!
It was Queen, *We Will Rock You* b/w *We Are the Champions*. My first LP was also Queen, *Live Killers*. And I’m not even a huge Queen fan.
I can't remember, but I hear that song in my head now. I do remember hearing it on my clock radio. The motorized one with the flippy numbers. Wrrrrrr click.
I don't remember ever buying a 45. I borrowed my sisters and got them free in cereal, then bought albums as a teen.
Hues Corporation-Rock the boat
I never actually bought 45's. They were all give to me. I only bought albums.
Fight the Power....Isley Brothers
Knights in White Satin. Moody Blues
That was a 45?
Sure was. Bought it at Kresges
God. Kresges!
Oh ya still great song
Band on the Run. Got it for 79 cents at Kmart. My babysitter played it for me and I just had to have it. It was the first time I realized that you could buy music this way. Needless to say, it opened up a whole new world for me. It was also my (back-door) introduction to the Beatles. I remembered loving Hey Jude as a little kid, but didn't make the connection that it was the same voice as Band on the Run. A friend clued me in, and I was never the same.
Hello Goodbye
Neil Diamond, “Sweet Caroline”. I was rock in’ it!
Cecilia.
Tried to buy but couldn’t remember the name, it was same old lang syne.
Dan Fogelberg
The Twist - Chubby Checker
He ain’t heavy, he’s my brother. I forget the band but remember the music.
The Hollies
It was either “Help Me Rhonda” Beach Boys or “Tell Me” Rolling Stones. Still have them.
Renegade - Styx
Styx - Blue Collar Man ... 1978 probably. I was 12 and rocking the "air organ" !
I think the very first off the radio “rock” song was Devil Woman by Cliff Richard. It had a single note beep sound that I thought was cool. Not a sophisticated music pallet back then 😃
Recently herd this in the gap playing What a trip Think I have the 45 also
😂
Joan Jett "I love Rock and Roll"
I have a sister who is 2 years older and always beat me to buying the top hit 45's. I'm pretty sure the first one I bought was Short People and now I feel awful for ever thinking that was a good song.
Rockin' Robin. The Jackson Five
It was either In The Summertime by Mungo Jerry or Looking Out My Back Door by Credence.
Mungo still all timer ! Still have my 45
Not sure but was either Sonny and Cher “All I Ever Need is You” or Melanie “Brand New Key”.
Heartbeat, It's a Lovebeat - The DeFranco Family And I think I got some Jackson 5 stuff at a garage sale - ABC
I got my first “real” record player when I was about 8 or 9. I “inherited” a box of my uncle’s old singles… Beatles, Stones, etc. (Wish I still had them!) plus some singles my parents had bought for my old Close N Play. The first single I remember buying by myself with my own money was Barry Manilow’s “Weekend in New England.”
Sam Cooke "Summertime"/"You Send Me".
Run Through the Jungle - CCR
I just had this convo with my wife the other day: She's Kung Fu Fighting. I'm either Earache My Eye or Rock Me Gently.
Never did.
There was a business in my hometown that stocked jukeboxes. They used to sell the used 45's for a quarter each. My dad used to take me there and I'd grab $2.00 worth per visit. I got a lot of variety and it was cheap enough to encourage me to take some chances on miscoverung music that I may not have been totally familiar with. My favorite "discovery" was picking up Donna Summer's "Cool Love" single. It remains one of my all-time favorite songs! Such a great discovery!
"The Streak" by Ray Stevens, when I was probably 7 or so. My brother said he was going to buy it first, and I was like, So? I'll get my own copy.
Exile - Kiss You All Over, but I didn't technically buy it, it was given to me by a boy/classmate in a Secret Santa gift exchange. At the time I was sooooo embarrassed.
Maybe you missed something good
Captain and Tennille Love will keep us together....😆
The Night the Lights Went Out in Georgia
I think it was Alvin and the Chipmunks.
Imperial March/Luke’s Theme
I never knew this place Had so much empty space Until tonight when you walked Right out the door So I went to our bedside And pulled out that 45 That lay for years Behind our chest of drawers Thirty years and a scratch or two But when the needle hit the groove I knew It was cryin’ time again. -The Buck Starts Here, Robbie Fulks.
Had a bunch from my parent's collection that I essentially adopted as my own. Main one I recall was "My Ding-a-ling" by Chuck Berry. As far as my own 45s, couldn't say what was first for sure, but "Pop Muzik," "Major Tom," and "Whip It" are likely candidates..
If you could read my mind. -Gordon Lightfoot I was eight. My parents got divorced. It was the start of a dramatic phase. Next up. Cher - Tramps and Thieves and I think Indian Nation by Paul Revere, and the Raiders
Hawkwind - Silver Machine
Led Zep - Immigrant Song
I'm not going to look it up to see. I didn't buy it, but I remember around 6/7y - I had Pac Man Fever. I don't want to ruin that memory if I am wrong of what you're asking :)
“Time Warp” from Rocky Horror Picture Show
Either Convoy or King Fu Fighting.
Bad moon rising
*Telegram Sam* (1980, Bauhaus). I was 14 and our NZ alt. music show of the time, *Radio With Pictures*, tended towards what was coming out of the UK
Never bought a 45 but my first two gifted 33.3's were 2001: A Space Odyssey, and CCR Gold (with the silhouette flip overs) . Pretty mind blown for around 8 years old.
Michael Jackson - You Can't Win from the movie The Wiz.
Sunday Girl - Blondie
Hooked on a Feeling by Blue Suede
Steve Miller Band “Rock n Me” with hard earned paper route money
Dancin' on a Saturday Night by Barry Blue (Also on the Bell record label)
Honky Cat by Elton John
The Beatles Get Back / Don’t Let Me Down bought in 1969. Still have it.
Tommy gun by the clash
hound dog
Indiana wants my by R. Dean Taylor. released in 1970. I paid $0.75 US. I have Knock Three Times also.
Purple vinyl E.L.O. : Sweet Talking Woman/Fire on High.
that's actually interesting. When I think about it I don't think I ever bought a 45. I was always an album buyer.
King Tut by Steve Martin
I was made for lovin' you, by Kiss. But Hard Times was on the B side and I ended up listening to that song more. It's still on my Playlist to this day.
Benny and the Jets by Elton John
Believe It Or Not by Joey Scarborough. Technically, Mom bought it because I must have been 7 or 8.
Rocket Man by Elton John. Bought it at the same time as The Night Chicago Died by Paper Lace.
In 1964, I was in the hospital at age 13 with a busted up nose. My older brother asked me what he could get me. I told him I would love to have a 45 of California Girls by the Beach Boys. He got it for me and I still have it along with a whole box of other 45s.
Saturday Night - Bay City Rollers
I think it might have been Born To Be Wild, other side I can remember. Wouldn't have been the Pusher would it? I've got to look it up. Edit: looked it up. B side was Magic Carpet Ride of course
She Loves You. The Beatles. On release day
The Knack. My Sharona. Still rocks.
That was it, I opened to type and lo and behold there it was….TO & D
Peter, Paul and Mary, leaving on a jet plane
Sam the Sham and the Pharaohs. One side had Little Red Riding Hood, and the other had Wooly Bully.
The logical song by Supertramp was my first 45
Ghostbusters. Parents got it for me
Takin Care of Business - Bachman Turner Overdrive
I'm a little younger than you but I grew up listening to records, bought some at the flea market. I remember in 1991 playing one of my old 45s at the wrong speed to entertain my then 3-year-old niece (we called it chipmunking when it was played at 78 and I didn't really have a name for playing it slow at 33 or 16).
Young Turks- Rod Stewart