First music

Part of last night's conversation centered on the first 45s, LPs and CDs we each bought. The other guys all bought wacky 70s tunes like "The Night Chicago Died" to start their vinyl collections. I should mention that the four of us were 35 or 36 years old, so my first vinyl should have been something equally 70s rock/pop.

But noooo. I was a little gay boy hopelessly out of step with my peers. I was a shy little homebody perfectly content to dance around the living room all alone, listening to my parents' albums, especially Herb Alpert's Whipped Cream & Other Delights, the West Side Story movie soundtrack and the original Sound of Music Broadway cast recording.

(And yet somehow, my parents were surprised to find out I was gay.)

The first albums I bought were just as gay, and I got them from one of those school book-and-record order forms. They arrived together, so I don't really have a "first" album. And—quel surprise—they were the original cast recordings of Annie and A Chorus Line. I seem to recall I got them in sixth grade with my paper route money.

To be honest, I don't really remember the first 45 I bought. But I think it was either "Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go" or Miami Sound Machine's "Conga"—which, for those of you who are paying close attention, weren't even recorded until the 1980s. Which further underscores just how out of step I was with my peers.

I do remember my first CDs, which I also bought together: Carl Orff's mighty Carmina Burana and Meatloaf's operatic Bat Out of Hell. Neither of which earns me any butch points.

And while I'm on the topic, I do remember my first illegal Napster download as well: that dance-a-delic 80s remix of "Oh What A Night (December 1963)."

And in case I need to remind you: Yes, I am gay.