Tower Records Files for Bankruptcy

There's a certain sameness to the testimonials in All Things Must Pass: The Rise and Fall of Tower Records, but it was actually better than I expected, mostly because of Russ Solomon. Glad I got a chance to work in a downtown record store for a couple of years just as vinyl was beginning to disappear ('86-88). For the decade before that, I spent half my waking hours in record stores; like Keaton in Sherlock Jr., I wanted to climb into the old footage of the store in the '70s and spend a few years browsing those $1.77 and $2.77 bins. I wish there had been even more time spent on the '70s--the film kind of blurs the years between the advent of the LP and the launch of MTV--but very good on the forces that brought everything to a close. Solomon visiting one of the still-thriving Japanese stores (with George Harrison's title song playing overtop) made for a nice ending.

By advent of the LP, I mean the moment in the mid-'60s when it starts to overtake 45s as a consumer object.

And RIP to the man. There are worse ways to bow out:

http://www.sacbee.com/latest-news/article203542104.html

oh wow, RIP

Indeed.

So many great memories of Tower Records in Boston and New York... Late night runs in desperate hope they have that album I just read about, in-store signing with Andy Partridge, many many "I can't believe they have this" CDs that still mean a great deal to me, most of my original Flying Nun discs from their incredibly well-stocked import section.

I love the modern convenience of Amazon, Discogs, etc but the tactile browsing experience was critical to my musical development.

92 years old.

Many fond memories of the DC store

We didn't get one in Toronto until the mid-'90s. Vinyl was finished by then, and I only occasionally bought used CDs. So I think I set foot in it--a pretty big space on Yonge St.--no more than once or twice. It closed down after around five years.

Crossposted from the US politics thread...

An anecdote from the 1990s that illustrates how Donald Trump thinks about money and his almost comical obsession with being cut in on profits he thinks he's entitled to. (Provided by someone who witnessed it)

— Chris Hayes (@chrislhayes) May 9, 2018

It’s back (I guess) – selling difficult-to-browse vinyl, CDs, etc. via mail order: https://towerrecords.com/

I love everything about this, including the late 90s site design

they have an entire category just for colored vinyl.

Surprised this popped up as "news" this week, did they have an official launch or something? This has definitely been up and going for at least six months, but I found it so clunky that I never did more than a quick peek at it in the past.

It's hella clunky... try searching for an artist w/a large discography, and enjoy an endless scroll of big, duplicative cover-art squares, with no info except price (until you click into each one).

also - Dylan's first album is credited to The Band: https://towerrecords.com/products/bob-dylan-bob-dylan-6

their database is probably full of errors like that (unless I really "got lucky" with my random pick).

Artist + album search seems to work fine

dece prices

*squints*

https://variety.com/2023/music/news/tower-records-brooklyn-pulse-magazine-1235546808/

Also, for history: the sandbox thread where we ran down the final days of the actual chain is here:

https://sandbox.ilxor.com/sandbox/ThreadSelectedControllerServlet?action=showall&boardid=142&threadid=84

it seems weird that they’d *start* the relaunch on the East coast since (to me) it’s such a west coast name? idk

(Cross posting myself from the podcasts thread)

I have been mainlining 2500 DelMonte Street - The Oral History of Tower Records. Capital-R Rockist and heavy on inside baseball talk and can often stray into a a therapeutic debriefs - especially when the guests talk about the end of the company. You could skip much of that, unless you want to know more about how 21st Century predatory capitalism works.

OTOH, the stories are totally insane. For starters, look for any episodes about the Sunset Blvd. store if you want to know more about situations like: Prince showing up and wanting to play a midnight show, Brian Wilson opening his bathrobe and peeing all over someone's Mustang convertible, Keith Moon really really wanting to drive the double-decker bus that's parked at the back of the lot. Don Rickles shows up to buy albums. So does Sinatra. So does the Shah of Iran. Iggy Pop is trying to make a collect call but the operator doesn't believe the name so Iggy is shouting "P-O-P POP"

Tower was the only record store I ever wanted to work at - all through the 1980s the El Toro store was my main hangout. An unimaginable number of times when is seemed that the best decision in life was to grab a carne asada burrito at Carmels at the other side of the parking lot and then walk it off inside Tower. I can detail, at length, my bike there from Laguna to get a copy of Scary Monsters when it went on sale. The hilarious pileup of fans when Pink Floyd's A Delicate Sound Of Thunder and Rush's Hold Your Fire were released on the same day. I saw the Dream Syndicate there in 1982. I wish I had video of the T.S.O.L. gig that was shut down by the cops. The 10pm to midnight crew played the best albums: The Dreaming, Avalon, Head Over Heels, A Kiss In The Dreamhouse, Big Science onandonandonandon. All of them I first heard on that monster 300W stereo system on demo from Pacific Stereo who conveniently just happened to be next door.

That line that folks use: we didn't know just how great it was? Good fucking grief...

My boss was in Tokyo and got me a bright yellow Tower Records Shubiya t-shirt (I guess the only remaining stores are in Japan?). Fun thing to wear...

I worked at the Tower at 4th and Broadway in Manhattan for a few months in the early 90s. As jobs go, it was easy, but paid almost nothing, especially for NYC. On the plus side, it was a great place for celebrity sightings, as well as in-store appearances. The highlight had to be an in-store performance by Nirvana just as Nevermind came out. They played for about 45 minutes, and the lasting impression I have of them was that they were really fucking loud.

Slash worked/shoplifted at tower

My boss was in Tokyo and got me a bright yellow Tower Records Shubiya t-shirt (I guess the only remaining stores are in Japan?).

I'm not very nostalgic about record stores but walking through Tower Records in Shibuya was awesome. Where I got my copy of Kalk Samen Kuri no Hana

On my first visit to Tokyo, I was delighted to have to walk past a mini Tower Records in the concourse leading to Shiodome Metro station every day for a week, it was very well stocked and I bought a bunch of Shiina Ringo there too!

I do have to say, I met Russ Solomon, and he was quite creepy.

Yeah, after listening to enough of these episodes I'm content to have been a happy customer