💿 What CDs did you buy today? | 1991-1993: YMO Edition | Technopop encountered by a middle school student |
The other day, I wrote about the game music CDs I bought when I was in middle school.
This time, I will try to write about the YMO-related items I purchased before graduating middle school, tracing back my memories.
After school and on holidays, I was always visiting used CD shops. I felt like the next "encounter" was waiting on every shelf.
I will look back on the YMO-related items that I, as a middle school student, purchased along with my memories.
💿 CDs
Yellow Magic Orchestra US
Solid State Survivor
Public Pressure
Zoshoku
BGM
Technodelic
Naughty Boys
Service
Hi-Tech / No Crime
Faker Holic / YMO World Tour Live
Complete Service
Technodon
Technodon Live
Cubic-YMO CD Single Box
📚 Books
Technodon
Period - The Ultimate Visual Data Of YMO 1978-1984-1993
📼 VHS Video
Hurrah
Y.M.O. Legend
TV-YMO
Live At Budokan 1980
Except for the 'Technodon' related items and the 'Cubic-YMO CD Single Box', all CDs were purchased used. The videos and books were bought new.
I don't remember every purchase, but the one that stands out most is the first video I bought, 'Hurrah'. I remember buying it at Uny in Chiyodabashi. The picture was dark, but I was deeply moved to see 'YMO in motion' for the first time.
Also, I bought 'Faker Holic / YMO World Tour Live' and 'Complete Service' at a local used instrument shop. It was through this 'Complete Service' that I first learned the name Brian Eno.
I bought the 'Cubic-YMO CD Single Box' at Shinseido in Hoshigaoka. I still remember it well, but honestly, I regretted buying it quite a bit. Because it was a CD single box set, I had to swap discs after every two songs, and it took up space.
Above all, 7,000 yen for 19 songs was expensive...
🎧 Solo works by members
Haruomi Hosono
Philharmony
Omni-Sight Seeing
Ryuichi Sakamoto
B2-UNIT
Media Bahn Live (CD and video as well)
Miraiha Yaro (Futurista)
Beauty
Gruppo Musicale
Yukihiro Takahashi
LIFE TIME, HAPPY TIME
Snakeman Show
Yankomaritai
I loved the cute sound of Haruomi Hosono's "Philharmony," and I often listened to the pop-oriented "Sports Men" and the mysterious-sounding "LUMINESCENT/HOTARU." I borrowed "Omni-Sight Seeing" from my art teacher, and because it piqued my interest, I later bought the CD myself.
I really listened to Ryuichi Sakamoto's "Futurista" a lot during my middle school years. I especially loved "Odo Kogen." I was also shocked by "B2-UNIT" and listened to it often, but perhaps it was too early for me to understand its profound appeal back then.
And finally, with the best-of album "Gruppo Musicale," I was able to listen to "Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence."
As for Yukihiro Takahashi's solo work, I first got my hands on the pop-style "LIFE TIME, HAPPY TIME," and it is a bit of a shame that I didn't follow his work until I bought "Blue Moon Blue" in 2006.
I remember buying Snakeman Show's "Jiseiki ~ Hirake Kokoro" because I wanted to hear it, only to be shocked that all the tracks were connected into one single track. (I couldn't afford the 10,000 yen Techno Bible.)
Looking back, I think I collected quite a lot of CDs during my middle school years. At first, I focused on game music, but there were very few game music CDs available at the time, and the number of those I actually wanted to listen to was even more limited. Because of that, I often bought YMO-related or Western music CDs.
Most of my allowance and New Year's money back then went toward CDs. I feel like once I started buying CDs, I spent less money on things that didn't leave anything behind, like snacks or arcades.
I also bought some Sega Mega Drive games and old comics. There was a small used game shop in the neighborhood called "Famicom Shop Mario" that had a system where you could trade in games you had finished playing for a few hundred yen. I remember being able to enjoy many different games thanks to that.
...Thinking about it now, I wonder if that was legal? (laughs)