The End of an Era


Tower Records will soon be going out of business.

Part of this is due to the popularity of downloading songs off the Internet. The younger generation prefers to downloads songs from iTunes instead of buying a CD (which might have 2 good songs, and 8 songs to take up space)

Still, I'll really miss going to Tower's!

I remember when I was attending McKinley High School, I would sometimes walk to Tower's after-school! (side note: being able to walk to Tower's was one of the great benefits of attending McKinley High School)

I would go to Tower's and usually stay there for at least an hour. I can look at the new CD's, read the magazines, and sometimes buy the CD's.

But the BEST THING ABOUT Tower's was the listening stations. Listening stations had a group of CDs you can listen to before you buy them.

Sometimes, the listening stations had the really popular albums. Other times, they had albums that have been over-looked by the mainstream media!

The listening stations were separated by categories, so that there were listening stations for hip-hop, reggae, heavy metal/hard rock, jazz, techno, Hawaiian, etc. There were also listening stations reserved for musicians who were ignored by radio & MTV!

With listening stations, I could find out which CD was worth spending my limited funds.

Sometimes, I hear a good song on the radio, and I find out from the listening stations that the rest of that musician's albums is just junk!

Other times, the listening stations had albums that from musicians that have been over-looked by radio stations & MTV! However, when listening to the album, I loved it so much, I bought it!

Many of the other record stores, like Sam Goody's, either DONT have those listening stations or dont have as many as Tower's did!

I used to go to Tower's every week, but time limits have reduced how often I went to Tower's. Soon, I would no longer able to go there!

I would be really saddenned when Tower's is closed forever! It was such a big part of my teenage and young adult years! It was where I would sometimes run into my friends and acquaintances! It was a place which my family know I love! The staff members there recognized me when I went there! It was one of my favorite places!

To the folks at Tower Records, thank you for so many good years of service! I will forever miss you!