Music is My Life...

It's Saturday afternoon so I am going to go a bit self-indulgent, and may seem a little off-topic, businesses wise...but it's really not...

As it's International Record Store Day, I am celebrating with the thing that I love most in the world - Music. 

The music industry, an industry I've worked in, off and on, for 30 years now, has certainly changed dramatically over the past few decades.

I've personally held positions in venues, record stores, at major and minor record labels, launched a music magazine, and of course been on the radio. 

All of these areas have been disrupted, sometimes for the better, sometimes not so much...

Maybe you're like me, and old enough to remember buying music on vinyl (ahem or even 8-tracks), cassettes, (cassingles anyone?), CDs, or MDs - before arriving at the digital format that is now so common place...MP3.

For me, Old's Cool!

While we live in a time of instant gratification, and I love that I can hear a song somewhere while out, or maybe on TV -- Shazam it, and own it within a minute -- I have to admit, I do miss the old days, sometimes.

Sure it's great my Amazon library currently has 52,387 songs and counting (yes, really). It's brilliant that I can "access any time, any device anywhere" I am in the world...

In some ways, it's lost what made it all so special.

In fact, I even feel a little sorry for the kids of today who will never really know the excitement of an album's release (for us in the US it was a Tuesday), dashing out to the local record store, buying it, rushing home, unwrapping the prized possession, holding the album in our hands and gently placing the album on the turntable and the needle on the record.

Maybe you'd even let out a little sigh of pleasure as the first crackles came through your speakers. Remember that? It was an experience. Now, well, not so much.

That said, vinyl has slowly been making a comeback, and I am glad I still have 1000 records (even if I don't own a turntable!)

My Musical Career Began in the '80s

Within hours of graduating high school, I landed a dream job working at large Tower Records in Northern California. To this day, some decades later, it remains one of the best jobs I ever had. I got paid (minimum wage) to listen to music, talk about music, host in-store concerts, and received discounts on all the music I bought. It was heaven. 

Incidentally, I was so excited to receive my autographed copy of the documentary about the legendary Californian music chain - All Things Must Pass: The Rise and Fall of Tower Records (2015) (Not only that but to see my own name in the end credits - after I contributed to their Kickstarter campaign). Here's a great TV interview with its director Colin Hanks (Tom's son).

As I type these words, the classic Simple Minds rendition of "Don't You (Forget About Me)" off the thirty-year-old soundtrack, bellows out my bluetooth Rukus speaker. A perfect pairing of old and new musical eras for me. Because I could never play any actual musical instruments myself, I went to university and came out with a degree in Radio (Well "Communications", but my emphasis on radio...).

Not long after I moved to Scotland where the first job I had when was at a small commercial radio station in Paisley called Q96. (My sort of "claim to fame" was that I was the only presenter to be there on day one, as well as its last day in 2006 when it was sold).

Radio, I think, is the closest I could get to being a part of the music scene. It is, perhaps above all, my bliss. So I am pleased to report I will be returning to the airwaves (locally) and everywhere else via the www soon.

Celebrate Your Music

Do you miss those days where you were excited about a band's new record, going to the music store, buying it, getting it home? Do you remember what the first vinyl record you bought was? (Either 7" or 12"?) I've been trying to remember my first - all day.

You can hear me, occasionally on Celtic Music Radio or Radio Six International.