The First CD That Was Nothing But a Shock

My youth was in the latter half of the Showa era. Back when I was still busy with cassette tapes and 'air-checking' (an obsolete term), the cultural shock that was equivalent to what we now call 'switching from a feature phone to a smartphone' was the 'CD'.

At the time, I had a double-cassette stereo, but I preferred listening to the radio over music. Every Monday night at 10:00 PM, I would sit formally in front of the stereo, record Sanma-chan's shouting and talk from 'MBS Young Town!' flowing from the speakers onto a cassette tape, and I was the kind of student who would listen to it repeatedly every day until the following week.

I listened to music to some extent, but I had never been to a concert, and 'The Best Ten', 'Top Ten', and 'Yoru Hit (Yoru no Hit Studio)' were my music resources. I especially listened to Southern (Southern All Stars). The impression of them appearing on the spotlight corner of 'The Best Ten' in dirty T-shirts was so intense that I became a fan right then and there.

I would like to say that the first CD I bought was also naturally Southern, but that is actually not the case. It was related to Kuwata-san, but it was a rock band called 'KUWATABAND' that was active for a limited time while Southern was on hiatus, because Kuwata-san wanted to play the rock music he liked. I bought the first KUWATABAND album on LP, but my memory is a bit hazy, but I think the live album was released only on CD, not on LP (?). So, I ended up buying the CD, but

actually, I didn't even own a CD player yet.

So, although I bought the album, I couldn't listen to the contents yet. When I told a boy in my class about it, he dismissed me with a single word, 'You idiot. Buy one (a player),' so I saved up my New Year's money and bought a store-clearance CD player for about 30,000 yen. It had been several months since I bought the album. I could finally listen to it!

I connected the CD player to the stereo, put the 'KUWATABAND ROCK CONCERT' CD into the tray, pressed the start button, and stared intently at the speakers. The cheers from the venue gradually grew louder, and the moment the intro started, I recoiled.

Whoa! What is this?! CDs have such incredibly clear sound!!

You might think, 'What are you saying now?', but to my ears, which were accustomed to analog LPs at the time, I couldn't believe that the clear sound of this digital CD and the sense of presence and power, as if I were at the live venue myself, were packed into a thin, rainbow-shining disc. It was a shocking experience.

The world is amazing, isn't it? The progress of science is amazing, isn't it? It was my first CD experience, where I was just constantly moved by the power and brilliance of the sound. By the way, the first LP I ever bought was POTATO BOY'S NO.1 by Imo-Kin Trio.

#TheFirstCDIBought