Spotted the photo at the bottom of this entry posted by the great Mykola Mick Dementiuk on the Facebook group Greenwich Village Grapevine today, and it was like being stabbed in the heart with a fork.
I've already spoken about my love for the Tower Records formerly on 4th & Broadway many times (see links at the end of this post), so while I don't need to rehash any of that, it's worth repeating that even though it was technically a 'big chain,' Tower was an amazing place that I continue to sorely miss.
Word came down recently from EV Grieve that the former Tower space (which, until fairly recently, played host to the lamentable MLB Mancave), is next to become a studio for AOL, which begs the following crucial questions...
- Who the Hell needs that?
- AOL is still a thing?
In any case, judging from the albums being zealously advertised in this photograph (notably Synchronicity by the Police and Principle of Moments by Robert Plant), I'd suggest this image was captured in 1983.
Take me back.
Tower hung on for so long, they tried...they tried...I miss it too
Posted by: MEK | September 16, 2016 at 12:24 PM
On-Topic-Kid with new (to me) Cop Shoot Cop DOUBLE YELLOW vinyl.....3rd row down.....ON SALE!
http://cleorecs.com/store/product-category/vinyl/page/2/
Got some interesting t-shirts too!
Posted by: DrBOP | September 16, 2016 at 01:36 PM
AND third row down here TOO:
http://cleorecs.com/store/product-category/vinyl/page/11/
Posted by: DrBOP | September 16, 2016 at 01:47 PM
Ah...Tower. Seems like only yesterday it was there...that is if yesterday was 2006. I spent a lot of time in the cassette department in the late 80s and early 90s because I didn't have a turntable or (believe it or not) a CD player back then. I fondly recall being down there around hmmm, 1991-92 and hearing some powerful raggedy-ass version of Little Richard's 'Tutti Frutti' done by a band that I had heard of but didn't really know much about called The MC5. The track was from a ROIR cassette called 'Babes In Arms'. I bought it immediately, been a huge fan ever since. Other landmark cassette purchases of note around that time or a little earlier were Mudhoney 'Superfuzz Big Muff' and the mini-revelation of Sonic Youth 'Daydream Nation' which I think I played every damn day for a month after I bought it.
Other than Tower, let's just for fun recap all the record stores that were also around then but are no more:
Venus Records
Smash
Sounds
Rockit Scientists
Final Vinyl
Wowsville
Kim's
Norman's Sound & Vision
Bleecker Bobs
Rocks In Your Head
Second Coming
Gimmee Gimmee
Subterranean
Other Music
and some others I'm forgetting..RIP
Posted by: URLBrenner | September 16, 2016 at 04:57 PM
I still sorely miss Tower. When I was pretty broke (most of the 80s and a lot of the 90s) the "listening stations" were an oasis: a chance to hear lots of stuff for the first time.
Posted by: David George | September 18, 2016 at 01:35 PM