Author Topic: The Compact Disc turns 25. What was your first long box buy? (Read 2500 times)

somunny · « **on:** August 19, 2007, 12:49:20 am »

My family was the "wait and see" type so we didn't get our first cd player until 1985. My first purchase was Oingo Boingo's "Dead Man's Party". Still have it.

koolmoecraig · « **Reply #1 on:** August 19, 2007, 02:16:07 am »

ZZ Top Eliminator.

danny_galaga · « **Reply #2 on:** August 19, 2007, 04:10:56 am »

divinyls, although i seemed to have misplaced it...

whats a 'long box'?

Justin Z · « **Reply #3 on:** August 19, 2007, 10:52:35 am »

CDs used to come in boxes taller than they were wide, instead of jewel cases.

DaveMMR · « **Reply #4 on:** August 19, 2007, 10:58:02 am »

Quote from: danny_galaga on August 19, 2007, 04:10:56 am

divinyls, although i seemed to have misplaced it...

whats a 'long box'?

CD's use to come in cardboard boxes the same width and double the length of the actual jewel case. Environmentalists (including R.E.M.) opposed this but the record industry insisted on using it to help curb theft. A couple of CD's were released in a specialized cardboard package (INXS's "Welcome to Wherever You Are" comes to mind) that were left opened and shrinkwrapped to mimic the longbox on the rack, but folded up into the size of a jewel case when unwrapped.

They were eventually done away with in the early 90's. They were usually pointless and wasteful, I agree, but the longbox also served it's purpose (e.g. - the "cutouts" for Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Heart's Club Band album originally found in the vinyl gatefold version were on the back of the longbox).

I used to actually save my longboxes and used them as school locker decoration.

BTW my first CD gift was Pink Floyd's "The Wall". My first two CD purchases were Nirvana's "Nevermind" and They Might Be Giant's "Flood". All came in longboxes. As you can tell, I got my first CD player in 1991 (I was 15).

(Justin Z beat me to the explanation).

(EDIT: I learned more about the reasoning behind the longbox, assuming this info is accurate http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Longbox)

Zero_Hour · « **Reply #5 on:** August 19, 2007, 01:17:07 pm »

There was another purpose to the longbox - It allowed retailers to use their existing fixtures for LPs to merchandise cds. One of the reasons the longbox lasted as long as it did is because retailers didn't want to have to spend money for new fixtures. When the longbox finally started being eliminated, retailers replaced it with a reusable plastic harness, similar to ones used for cassette tapes.

And then I see DaveMMR has posted the wiki link.

Well, at least you know wiki isn't pulling your leg.

My first 3 CD's (I wasn't an early adopter)
The Cure - Kiss me, Kiss Me, Kiss me
Metallica - Kill Em All
3rd Bass - The Cactus Album

patrickl · « **Reply #6 on:** August 19, 2007, 02:00:51 pm »

Quote from: somunny on August 19, 2007, 12:49:20 am

My family was the "wait and see" type so we didn't get our first cd player until 1985. My first purchase was Oingo Boingo's "Dead Man's Party". Still have it.

Actually the birthday was a few days ago. When Danny started a thread on the birthday of the CD

somunny · « **Reply #7 on:** August 19, 2007, 02:48:06 pm »

Quote from: patrickl on August 19, 2007, 02:00:51 pm

Quote from: somunny on August 19, 2007, 12:49:20 am
My family was the "wait and see" type so we didn't get our first cd player until 1985. My first purchase was Oingo Boingo's "Dead Man's Party". Still have it.

Actually the birthday was a few days ago. When Danny started a thread on the birthday of the CD

Right! But this is the EXCLUSIVE cd birthday thread. I wasn't implying that the 19th was the birthday of the cd. I simply saw a blurb about it on another website and thought I'd pose a question to the board.

koolmoecraig · « **Reply #8 on:** August 19, 2007, 03:24:23 pm »

Quote from: Justin Z on August 19, 2007, 10:52:35 am

CDs used to come in boxes taller than they were wide, instead of jewel cases.

It was actually in addition to the jewel cases. The CD's were still packed in jewel cases inside of the long box.

CheffoJeffo · « **Reply #9 on:** August 19, 2007, 04:05:05 pm »

I got my first CD player in 1986 (family had one previously, but it's not the same).

First gift CD was Heart - Heart (my Dad had a thing for the Wilson sisters, but then who didn't) and my first purchase (same day) was Dire Straits - Brothers In Arms and The Cure - Staring At The Sea.

bfauska · « **Reply #10 on:** August 19, 2007, 06:37:58 pm »

Digital Underground- Sex Packets

Purchased so I could listen to it in my parents car, our first CD player, a 1991 Ford Torus. I was 13.

What boggles my mind is that when I worked at a High School a few years ago kids would still bring in music to use in their dance class performances and the talent show on tape, when we rebuilt our audio mixing booth in the performing arts center we had to buy a tape deck, in 2003.

ArcadeMaze · « **Reply #11 on:** August 19, 2007, 08:32:04 pm »

TOK · « **Reply #12 on:** August 19, 2007, 10:11:59 pm »

LPZ · « **Reply #13 on:** August 19, 2007, 11:02:28 pm »

Everybody's talkin, all this stuff about me.....

My first------>Bobby Brown--My Prerogative

koolmoecraig · « **Reply #14 on:** August 19, 2007, 11:36:40 pm »

Some good taste here.

Digital Underground Sex Packets and 3rd Bass's Cactus Album are classics.

SavannahLion · « **Reply #15 on:** August 20, 2007, 12:06:18 am »

I missed the long box craze. My first CD was Arrested Development

I didn't actually buy my first CD player until about a year later.

ChadTower · « **Reply #16 on:** August 20, 2007, 12:36:58 pm »

Quote from: koolmoecraig on August 19, 2007, 11:36:40 pm

Digital Underground Sex Packets and 3rd Bass's Cactus Album are classics.

Yes! I have Sex Packets in my car right now. Track 4 is still a favorite.

Can't say I ever bought a long box CD. Got my first CD player in '94 and by then they weren't in long boxes anymore. Even then I rarely if ever bought new CDs, always used.

RayB · « **Reply #17 on:** August 20, 2007, 01:25:38 pm »

I got into the CD market when long boxes were disappearing. I think I bought Depeche Mode "Violator" in a long-box but that's it.

Justin Z · « **Reply #18 on:** August 20, 2007, 03:17:45 pm »

Quote from: koolmoecraig on August 19, 2007, 03:24:23 pm

It was actually in addition to the jewel cases. The CD's were still packed in jewel cases inside of the long box.

Good point. I didn't phrase that well at all.

somunny · « **Reply #19 on:** August 20, 2007, 07:26:14 pm »

Maybe I'm dating myself with the "long box" comment. At any rate, first cd purchase, boxed or not.

boykster · « **Reply #20 on:** August 20, 2007, 07:41:02 pm »

I honestly cannot remember the first CD I bought...I remember my first CD player.....

shmokes · « **Reply #21 on:** August 21, 2007, 01:55:41 am »

Long boxes were still pretty common for me, but I never had them because I got all my CDs by signing up for Columbia House and BMG under fake names and then never buying the discs I was supposed to buy. Man, I must have done that five or six times. Got quite a small collection built-up. Anyway, they just sent me the CD and the jewel case.

RayB · « **Reply #22 on:** August 21, 2007, 02:04:11 am »

Oh, if we're talking just CD, it was The Cure's "Pictures of You" single. And I hadn't even bought a CD player yet at that point. Then I bought a player and got NIN's single "Sin" and Dee-Lite's "World Clique".

And from that point on I think I bought a new CD once a week.

danny_galaga · « **Reply #23 on:** August 21, 2007, 05:35:05 am »

Quote from: somunny on August 19, 2007, 02:48:06 pm

Quote from: patrickl on August 19, 2007, 02:00:51 pm
Quote from: somunny on August 19, 2007, 12:49:20 am
My family was the "wait and see" type so we didn't get our first cd player until 1985. My first purchase was Oingo Boingo's "Dead Man's Party". Still have it.

Actually the birthday was a few days ago. When Danny started a thread on the birthday of the CD

Right! But this is the EXCLUSIVE cd birthday thread. I wasn't implying that the 19th was the birthday of the cd. I simply saw a blurb about it on another website and thought I'd pose a question to the board.

CCM · « **Reply #24 on:** August 21, 2007, 10:25:00 am »

First CD for me was in a long box.. Iron Maiden - Seventh Son of a Seventh Son.

delta88 · « **Reply #25 on:** August 21, 2007, 11:17:50 am »

ugh, Dangerous minds soundtrack

clanggedin · « **Reply #26 on:** August 21, 2007, 12:56:21 pm »

SNAP - World Power.

After watching "Perfect Weapon" with Jeff Speakman and training in American Kenpo (Ed Parker's). This CD never left my player for months. I used this for every one of my forms that I did to compete until the Mortal Kombat soundtrack came out.

ChadTower · « **Reply #27 on:** August 21, 2007, 01:05:19 pm »

So please - stay off my back! Or I will attack! And you don't want that!

Such great lyrics.


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