Hangin' Around

[eastmidswhizzkid]

i must have spent a vast part of my time between the ages of 12 and 16 lurking around Revolver,Ainsleys,St.martins Records,HMV(which sold new stuff) and Cank St,Oddity,Boogaloo and Archers(second hand) in leicester.of these only HMV remains.of course this was in the halcyon days of vinyl when you could spend hours browsing all your fave bands' entire back catalogue at differing prices before deciding what to buy,and from where.now its not even possible to find 99% of what i'ld like to buy anywhere(except online)so what was once an inexpensively enjoyable passtime is an utter nightmare.

when "this corrosion" was due to be released i found out the monday morning distributer's route around the different stores so as to be at the first one when it opened(so was probably the first person in the city to buy it-in all formats;by 9.15am the day of its release.an enormously important event back then!)

[Francis]

Yes. Every Saturday morning after I'd got paid for my paper round. It was called The Sound Of Music and was run by the mother of a distanced friend - Mrs Peck. Not exactly in the McLaren mold. More a cross between Julie Andrews and Mrs Bucket. But a very cool lady.

It's not there anymore, but I still walk past when I can, just for auld lang syne.

[MrChris]

Volume Records, next to the smelly pizza place round the back of the Milburngate Centre in Durham. Never pulled there, but given my appalling hair-cut and total lack of social skills that shouldn't be a surprise to anyone. The Volume chain was big in the NE, but vanished years ago. There's still a record shop on the site, but it's not _mine_ in the same way.

Pet Sounds in Newcastle (they had three seperate premises at one stage, Old Eldon Square was 'the one' for me) was another haunt, but spoiled by some shocking taste in football. Would have minded less if there'd been any interest in the game pre-Keegan, but I really dislike plastic mags. They had the best range of bootleg t-shirts, though.

Couple of stalls on Durham Market (both no more) taught me that you can't make money from your tape collection if you keep buying more and more new ones.

But most of my formative experiences, musically speaking, came hanging around the school annexe as a skiving sixth-former. Not many places where you could hear Bolt-thrower, the Nephilim and Shostakovich in swift rotation. Not in Durham, anyway!

A bit worried at the number of people noticably younger than me who are getting nostalgic. If you're still at school you cannot possibly be nostalgic. It's one of the rules.

Aaaah, Volume Records, I remember it well. I went to Uni in Durham and that was indeed the only place you'd find any interesting music. Although I do remember buying a lot of stuff from Our Price when they used to sell cassettes they'd lost the boxes for for 50p. When it's only 50p, you can afford to be eclectic and try something new. Oh, those days moozing around the indoor market... apparently one of the stall-runners I used to buy things from is very active in the national front movement. I wish I'd kept my money now.

[James Blast]

It's not there anymore, but I still walk past when I can, just for auld lang syne.

similar story Francis, local shop was Hamilton Road Records (not very r'n'r). Then mainly the original Listen in Cambridge Sreet. Come the Punk Rock explosion in '76, Listen down at Central Station was thee place, it even had a basement that had a colour photocopier and they sold not only obscure records but bootlegs, t-shirts and 'hand-knitted' punk rock badges made on that colour photocopier. Upstairs was new releases, back catalogue and imports. The cool thing about Listen was that they also encased your latest purchase in a clear 12+" polythene bag before inserting it into their branded plastic bag.
Then there was Virgin Records down at the other end of Central Station and a long to the right. This was an altogether different experience :
very dark, dank at best, stank of patchoulli and only sold stuff on the Virgin label or weird continental imports plus the obligatory hippie 'paraphenalia'. They were always playing something you couldn't identify as proper music and their reciepts, instead of having something like 'Virgin Records, Glasgow' said 'Shug Barr Is Cool'.

[andymackem]

Aaaah, Volume Records, I remember it well. I went to Uni in Durham and that was indeed the only place you'd find any interesting music. Although I do remember buying a lot of stuff from Our Price when they used to sell cassettes they'd lost the boxes for for 50p. When it's only 50p, you can afford to be eclectic and try something new. Oh, those days moozing around the indoor market... apparently one of the stall-runners I used to buy things from is very active in the national front movement. I wish I'd kept my money now.

That would be the Our Price in the Milburngate, rather than the newer one in the market place, then? A huge store of discontinued tat. Some days we'd go in with a quid and pick up 10 random LPs. My God, they were s**t!

On the bright side I also picked up SGWBM on vinyl for £3.99 in there, and a clear vinyl pressing of Laura (the album) by the Nephs for sod all as well.

Nowadays its a budget bed-linen store, and the restaurant where I first took a girl on a 'proper' date (ie no snogging at the cinema and trying for a quick grope somewhere on the riverbanks) is long gone as well. At least the riverbank is still nice and wooded, plenty of privacy.

[markfiend]

I'll bet the cinema's gone too. Ours has.

[andymackem]

The cinema went when I was still at school. I never mentioned watching any films

[markfiend]

Nor did I...

[Red Orc]

Yeah, Pet Sounds (on Grainger Street, in those days. Or was it Grey Street? The one on the way into town from Malborough Cresent/The Doll/The Dog and Parrott). And Volume round the back of the City Hall. Then Eldon Square and the Gearbox...

And Volume in Durham, and stalls on Durham Market, before the Angel/the Castle.

Then moved to Leicester and lived in Rockaboom for a bit. And Ainley's, Archers, St Martins... at least two of which are now gone.

[Mrs RicheyJames]

Then moved to Leicester .

Poor soul! A week on thursday we're outta here!!

The only decent thing about this place is the Firefly pub!! Off there tonight as it happens

[eastmidswhizzkid]

Then moved to Leicester .

Poor soul! A week on thursday we're outta here!!

The only decent thing about this place is the Firefly pub!! Off there tonight as it happens

used to be the lamplighters?still,ok,but your post reminds me why i left,never to return (except to do our techno free-parties,but they always end up pulling down every empty building that we librate in the name of the chemist...)

[Mrs RicheyJames]

Apparently is was known as the Lamplighters yes.

A week today!!.........................Woo-hoo!