h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Just saw your post on the random song lyrics thread, thought you might be interested in this perhaps? A4199556

Hey!

Thanks for the link! I haven't logged in for about a week and didn't see it 'til just now, but I am going to sign me up for the fan club. I proudly tell people that my two children (aged 13 and 10) can recognize a Beatles song when they hear one, and 9 times out of 10 they can name that tune. Fairly often, they can also name the Beatles movie in which the song appeared, if any.

On top of all of the other benefits of having children, it's good to be able to warp your kids (in a good way, of course)

I think my parents must have done that to me too, though I can't name the movies, bar "Yellow Submarine"

Glad you've joined

I'm waiting for the festivities to begin!

My mum has just bought the "red album", so I'm now familiarising myself with their early stuff. Just learnt the lyrics to Help! and Yesterday

Those "collection" kind of best-of albums are great, but nothing beats having the originals and hearing the songs in the order the Beatles intended. Back when vinyl was on its way out and CD's were on their way in, I bought a box set of all their British album releases, and it was the greatest investment. I still have a turntable, so I get to listen to them any time I want. Of course, I have about 1,000 albums altogether, so I listen to plenty of other things too, but the Beatles make it there pretty often!

1000 albums, that's... that's quite a lot. I have about 20, the rest I "borrow" from my mum (including some of her Beatles CDs)

Yeah, I guess 1000 sounds like a lot or records, but I started buying them back in 1972, so it didn't happen overnight. That was about fifteen years worth of collecting, until I switched over to CD's.

I keep all of my CD's in my office at work so that I can listen to them all day. I have about 500 (just a rough estimate). I work in a high school, so when students walk in and see them, their jaws usually drop. It's like a young teenager's dream come true to have all those CD's. It's really funny to see them poring over them, and being amazed to find a lot of their own favorites in there. Kids are funny. That's why I enjoy working with them, I guess. You know, they think it's funny that I like Audioslave and Ludacris, and I think it's funny (and great) that they like Zeppelin, The Who, and the Beatles. I probably see more Doors t-shirts on a given day than any of the modern groups. You can't beat the classics, I guess!

I can confirm, it is a teenager's dream

I guess kids aren't used to teachers/superintendants being up to date with todays music. I generally stick to the past now, as you say can't beat the classics, though there are some major albums missing in my mums CD collection (No Who, Doors, and only recently got Led Zep). Though there are some good bands around today, its just I don't have enough money to buy all their albums

You're right. Money is a HUGE impediment to collecting music these days. If you are opposed to illegally downloading, then you have to pay through the nose. At the risk of sounding like an old geezer, I'll say that when I was buying my first records I shopped at two record stores that were right around the corner from each other and used to have price wars. One was called Peaches Records, and the other was called (I kid you not) Brother George's House of Good Vibes. The height of hippiedom!

Their regular prices for albums were $3.50 apiece, or 3 for ten bucks. I used to save my money, take two buses to get there, and stock up. They used to have sales every now and then, and I'd REALLY go wild.

The advantage of CD's, of course, is that you can buy them used and the sound quality is not diminished. I have bought used vinyl albums in my travels and it's always a crap-shoot as to how many pops and hisses you're going to end up with. I buy almost everything used now, through either eBay or Half.com. Only been ripped off twice and always get good bargains.

You, sound like an old geezer? Never!

Well I'm not sure how much $10 is in proper money, but here for 3 CDs its £30, about $45 I think except in the sales

I don't think I've ever bought a second hand copy, don't know why. Guess I like having my "own" copy.

Still, just ordered the white album of amazon, should be getting here soon

Ya gotta love the white album. Long ago, I knew someone who ran a mail-order record shop out of her home. She decided to go out of business and liquidate her stock. I managed to pry from her TWO special-edition copies of the white album. They were audiophile imports from Germany and were pressed on white vinyl. One was for me and the other I gave to my brother for Christmas that year. I never took the plastic off of mine, but he opened his immediately. It looked so funny, going around on his turntable with that white vinyl. Sounded just the same though!

I also have no idea how to convert my 1971 $10.00 into modern-day British money. If it gives you a sense of perspective, though, I can tell you that four years later I got a job at minimum wage, and minimum wage at the time was $1.85 per hour. Ten dollars, then, in 1975 was about a day's pay.

So, back in in 1971, you'd probably have to work a day and a half at minimum wage to earn ten dollars. So, how much would you make these days in the UK in a day and a half at a very low-paying job?

Not fair, I want one!

Well minimum wage is £4.85/hour, so I'd get about £40 per day. If I worked, which I do not. So its actually still about the same price for 3 CDs