What Was The First 45 You Ever Owned?

noah | March 31, 2009 1:30 am

Thanks to Nashville Cream for letting us know that today is the 60th birthday of the 45-rpm single, a format that debuted with Eddy Arnold’s “Texarkana Baby” b/w “Bouquet Of Roses” on March 31, 1949. They’re having readers delve into their record collections to find their favorite examples of that format, but I figured it would be fun to share our first vinyl-single purchases, and where they occurred. My first crush of 45s—all of which were purchased at Pathmark, back when grocery stores thought music was a viable income stream and back when I thought “b/w” was some weird code for the song on side “b” being in black and white (I was young, I dunno)—after the jump.

Dolly Parton, “Nine To Five”

I was not allowed to watch the movie, and would not see it until some 20 years after the fact.

Irene Cara, “Fame”

See above.

Eddie Rabbitt, “Drivin’ My Life Away”

Not sure where I heard this song first. On the radio? I think the New York-area station that was broadcasting Mets games at the time (WHN) was a country station back then.

Billy Joel, “Big Shot”

[Embedding disabled, because Sony thinks it’s … yeah.]

The a-side was actually “My Life,” but I liked this song better. Plus it used the b-word.

Happy Birthday, 45-RPM Records [Nashville Cream] [Pic via Collector’s Quest]