Post by Fatal Rewind on Jul 4, 2023 17:56:06 GMT -5
When a local Media Play opened in Houston, it didn't look like that huge a deal at first. It was a fair-sized store (Sound Warehouse was way bigger) with music, movies and maybe more (looking it up on the Wikipedia page it said they also carried board games, although I'm pretty sure the one I went to didn't) and the prices were ok.
However, the big deal behind it all was when you got a cd you were thinking of buying. You would head to the listening center, a clerk would see how many you had (if I remember correctly), you'd sit down at a station, put on the headphones and--of all things--you would break the plastic seal on the not yet paid for cd (!) and listen to it to see if you wanted it or not. This was pretty innovative and cool.
Not that being a dead-end store clerk would be the best job in the world or anything, but I'll bet seeing peoples' expressions as they listened to stuff would've helped. Because Skyclad was one of the earliest, if not the very first band(s) to combine heavy metal with folk. I got and played their first cd to death, then for some reason cds 2-3 weren't available here in the States (although I'd get them years later once several mail order companies started distributing them). I'm sure the expressions on my face was something to see, as when the hell did they sell out and soften their sound?! (Hint, it was on their second album!) But then the violin came in. Then upon hearing "The Truth Famine"; wow. I snapped that up and it became one of their favorite releases after all, even though it was nowhere as heavy as their debut.
I remember my eyes popping open upon hearing Hypocrisy's debut as well. I'd seen their "Left To Rot" video (hence why I was interested in them) and they were one of the earlier death/thrash metal bands with the harsh vocals (although guitarist Peter Tägtgren would take over as vocalist too and he could also sing) but then they'd throw in these surprise keyboards out of nowhere. On their Abducted album though, not so much, that didn't measure up to their other three previous releases. But I ended up buying it anyway. Seemed wrong to crack it open, listen to something and then not buy it, ha ha. But I guess that would've been ok too.
They didn't last for long though: there wasn't really competition for other stores letting you listen first that I knew of at all, but even those of us on dialup could still listen to those 30-60 second soundbites from the online Tower Records site with no problem. You could stay in the comfort of your home and listen to those for an hour (which I remember doing). There was that, Best Buy, streaming, Amazon and others to try to deal with. They were bought out and spent more on advertising to try to stay afloat and all but the ship had already sunk.
Even if they had come out a few years earlier with their newfangled business plan, all the stuff in the previous paragraph--including Bandcamp--still would've killed them anyway. A nice try at an innovative store (at the time) though.
However, the big deal behind it all was when you got a cd you were thinking of buying. You would head to the listening center, a clerk would see how many you had (if I remember correctly), you'd sit down at a station, put on the headphones and--of all things--you would break the plastic seal on the not yet paid for cd (!) and listen to it to see if you wanted it or not. This was pretty innovative and cool.
Not that being a dead-end store clerk would be the best job in the world or anything, but I'll bet seeing peoples' expressions as they listened to stuff would've helped. Because Skyclad was one of the earliest, if not the very first band(s) to combine heavy metal with folk. I got and played their first cd to death, then for some reason cds 2-3 weren't available here in the States (although I'd get them years later once several mail order companies started distributing them). I'm sure the expressions on my face was something to see, as when the hell did they sell out and soften their sound?! (Hint, it was on their second album!) But then the violin came in. Then upon hearing "The Truth Famine"; wow. I snapped that up and it became one of their favorite releases after all, even though it was nowhere as heavy as their debut.
I remember my eyes popping open upon hearing Hypocrisy's debut as well. I'd seen their "Left To Rot" video (hence why I was interested in them) and they were one of the earlier death/thrash metal bands with the harsh vocals (although guitarist Peter Tägtgren would take over as vocalist too and he could also sing) but then they'd throw in these surprise keyboards out of nowhere. On their Abducted album though, not so much, that didn't measure up to their other three previous releases. But I ended up buying it anyway. Seemed wrong to crack it open, listen to something and then not buy it, ha ha. But I guess that would've been ok too.
They didn't last for long though: there wasn't really competition for other stores letting you listen first that I knew of at all, but even those of us on dialup could still listen to those 30-60 second soundbites from the online Tower Records site with no problem. You could stay in the comfort of your home and listen to those for an hour (which I remember doing). There was that, Best Buy, streaming, Amazon and others to try to deal with. They were bought out and spent more on advertising to try to stay afloat and all but the ship had already sunk.
Even if they had come out a few years earlier with their newfangled business plan, all the stuff in the previous paragraph--including Bandcamp--still would've killed them anyway. A nice try at an innovative store (at the time) though.
I don't recall there being a used cd section but I assume there was one. They didn't last long at all, I don't think they were even in Houston for a year. When you're not doing well, opening up new stores isn't exactly the answer.