The Rise and Fall of Tower Records

Nightfall

So this is coming out Tuesday, still available for preorder. It was shown in a very few select theaters so most people, unless they drove a considerable distance, weren't able to watch it yet. Just thought I'd pass this along as it deals with one of our favorite things. Music. $17.49 on Bluray

http://www.amazon.com/All-Things-Must-Pass-Records/dp/B017WLX1Q4/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1453093110&sr=8-1&keywords=all+things+must+pass

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DAepjF6_N68

Nightfall

Just preordered it myself. If anyone is curious I'll let you guys know how it is, looks like an interesting documentary to me though.

mantis

You know as much as technology moves forward, it really takes steps backwards.
All young people today will not have the experience of walking around a huge record store like Tower and enjoy the experience of hunting for new music.
I miss many things and this is one of them.

BlueMDPicker

+1 Dan

The Tower in downtown DC had some great mini-concerts on a regular basis and TWO floors of music to wander through.

HHStuart

I remember the Tower in DC and I did discover new music there. The knowledge available from the people working there was valuable.

MrBuhl

Yep, I remember Tower, the other thing the young people of today will miss is the reasonable prices on Vinyl that could be had then. New vinyl has become ridiculously priced IMO!

pitdogg2

Never been to a Tower but we did have a local "Appletree" records here in central Illinois. It was also two floors with wonderful hi-fi on the top floor with incredible brands I wished at the time I could own. By the middle of the 80's it was all but gone barely had any music left no audio of any kind and was relagated to 3 rows of selections. Man I miss those days. Article in the new sterophile talks about the Japanese got it going on over there with tons of shops of everything audio. They are big into physical media and the rest of the world is pushing downloads. On another note record sales are out pacing downloads I find that good to hear.

honestaquarian

BlueMDPicker wrote: »

+1 Dan

The Tower in downtown DC had some great mini-concerts on a regular basis and TWO floors of music to wander through.

HHStuart wrote: »

I remember the Tower in DC and I did discover new music there. The knowledge available from the people working there was valuable.

I used to L O V E the Tower records in DC.It wasn't downtown though.It was on the campus of George Washington University.
They had a HUGE selection of Laserdiscs!
I miss that place.

BlueMDPicker

@honestaquarian

Right you are! My bad. I confused the location with the book/record store on 9th I used to walk to during lunch (I worked at 9th & Mass NW). That was a great place for vinyl, too. Is it still in operation?

Emlyn

honestaquarian wrote: »

I used to L O V E the Tower records in DC.It wasn't downtown though.It was on the campus of George Washington University.
They had a HUGE selection of Laserdiscs!
I miss that place.

I used to walk there at lunch time once a week, but eventually started ordering things online in the years before the company went under. There was another location I used to visit out past Fairfax. I view it as similar to Borders Books. The small in store band performances were fun, and their selection was fairly wide and introduced me to a lot of different worldwide genres. But, it was a company that expanded at the expense of local stores until their business model was overtaken by another product delivery method. Would have been nice if the two ways of doing business could coexist, but that location was in a high rent area and there was no way the company could compete with online selection, pricing and no sales tax. My all time favorite record store was an independent used store near my college campus in a small town. The folks there really knew what they were talking about.

The Tower documentary was made by one of Tom Hanks' kids who is from Sacramento where Tower got its start.

honestaquarian

@BlueMDPicker
Nope
It's gone

Polkie2009

Used to go down on South Shepherd near Kipling here in Houston to the old Tower Records and Tapes back in the 70's . They had a ton of stuff in there and if you couldn't find what you were looking for, they would get it for you eventually.

honestaquarian

I'm originally from Hartford,CT and used to love driving to Boston to that Tower Records. For some reason it took me years to find the one in New York City.

gudnoyez

Me and friends use to hang out at the Tower records in San Diego the one not far from the college cafe. I still have most of the vinyl I purchased there lots of good times hanging out and meeting and making friends there. I was not living in the states when the Tower chain folded but, would enjoy seeing this when it comes out.

Nightfall

Has anybody bought the on sale Bluray yet? Releases tomorrow. Great deal, especially if you have Amazon Prime free 2 day shipping.

SCompRacer

We had a Crow's Nest in Crest Hill, IL. Right between Joliet and Plainfield. Closed in 2005.



Every now and then you run into a used record with their stickers on the plastic wrap.

Nightfall

I'll watch it after work and let you guys know if it's good or not.

BlueMDPicker

Cover draws you in, for sure.

At least half of all the vinyl I still own came from this great shop in the KC burbs run by the brother of actor Ben Asner (who actually was the owner and, at one point, boasted he made $500k annually from it). Cool place to hang out. Always something hilarious or slightly shady going down.

rooftop59

Tower was always too corporate to me, and by the time I was in college they were super expensive and seemed to be focused on mainstream music. The two stores I frequented in college in the Phoenix area were Zia records and Stinkweeds. I just looked them up and I am surprised and delighted to see they are still open (I have been in central TX for 15 years). Stinkweeds was my fav. I discovered lots of independent music there, and saw some great shows (all indie bands of course).

Luckily we actually do still have a Hastings in Waco. I should frequent them more but the selection of used CDs is pretty lame...

Toolfan66

I'm still glad we have this in my backyard..

http://youtu.be/MHcnTXMZpxc

Twist and Shout Records is totally worth the trip when your in town here in Denver..

warren

Another national chain is moving into the old Tower location on Keeaumoku street -- drugstore giant Walgreens. And the beat goes on, and the beat goes on...

gce

We had a Tower in Brea that is still there. For some reason they can't sell or rent the building. So they sale halloween crap once a year. Kinda sad driving by and seeing it.

Nightfall, how was the BD?

scottyboy76

I really enjoyed the doc. although I never set foot in a tower.

More than afew tears from the former employees, and stars who loved it, and a couple who started working there when young.

2-tall

Great doc. My wife thought it was very good also.

codycatalist

I had a tower records that I purchased from a few times before I really got into music. Bring 24 yrs old that's pretty good. I met Randy Johnson there one time (AZ Diamondbacks Pitcher), and that is where I took my change to buy Shaun of the Dead without someone carding me.

Libertyc

just watched it.
http://123movies.to/film/all-things-must-pass-the-rise-and-fall-of-tower-records-11465/watching.html#mv-info

afterburnt

Virus link

Libertyc

It is not

txcoastal1

It does have adware malware attached

Msabot1

In 82 I saw Billy Idol and Alan Vega at a Tower Records in Frisco...Ended up with Vega signing a copy of Saturn Strip that had just been released..cool as heck..

StantonZ

pitdogg2 wrote: »

Never been to a Tower but we did have a local "Appletree" records here in central Illinois.

And we had a "Peaches" records...ailes and ailes of LPs/cassettes and storage crates; they used to host autograph sessions for (most jazz) groups that came through town. Even better, there was a great used store right across the street which made for some nice weekend scavenging!