Quoting:
First album I owned (that I bought with my own $$) was Prince's Purple Rain. Bought it from the Harmony Hut at the mall the day it was released, bought a tape and vinyl copy too(even though I didn't have a working turntable at the time). The vinyl had a fold out poster, couldn't miss out on that  ;D
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Quoting:
I didn't actually own any records until I bought

Culture Club: Kissing to be Clever
(I bought it at Ames Dept. store in Milford, NH,
just before we moved.  Ames was one of our regionals
followed closely by
A Flock of Seagulls: Listen
The Fixx: Reach the Beach
and not necessarily in order--
The Police: Synchronicity
The Human League: Fascination E.P.
Men Without Hats: Rhythm of Youth
David Bowie: Let's Dance
A Flock of Seagulls: s/t
Talking Heads: Speaking in Tongues
The Human League: Dare
The Fixx: Shuttered Room
Duran Duran: Rio
Real Life: Heartland
those are the ones I remember buying in '83.  I didn't buy my first Depeche Mode record until 1984.  I bought the "People Are People" compilation and loved every song on it, so I the bought "Some Great Reward" which had just come out.

Oh, I couldn't talk about the music I liked at school.  Only girls were allowed to like pop.  Guys had to listen to hard rock and heavy metal, or get called a fag and punched in the halls.
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I bought almost all of those too! To this day one of my favorites is still 'The Human League: Fascination E.P.' !  :)

Quoting:

Oh, I couldn't talk about the music I liked at school.  Only girls were allowed to like pop.  Guys had to listen to hard rock and heavy metal, or get called a fag and punched in the halls.
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Exactly my high school in suburban Maryland!
If you were white it had to be a metal head or Bruce Springsteen, black guys were supposed to like Kurtis Blow or maybe Prince for the adventourous.
I mentioned to classmates about this great band U2, and got those cold resoponses "oh, one of those weirdo/music guys" and was lableled a freak until my senior year.

Quoting:
Exactly my high school in suburban Maryland!
If you were white it had to be a metal head or Bruce Springsteen, black guys were supposed to like Kurtis Blow or maybe Prince for the adventourous.
I mentioned to classmates about this great band U2, and got those cold resoponses "oh, one of those weirdo/music guys" and was lableled a freak until my senior year.
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Maryland, eh?  Did you live in a John Waters movie?  
U2 was neutral at my high school.  They played 'em on the hard rock stations and what not.  I remember walking past a knot of idiots in the hall and the one big idiot points at me says, "See that kid, he likes the Talkin' Heads!," then he does the David Byrne head-hitting move from the "Once In a Lifetime" video, and they crack up like all get out.  in such company, it became very important for me NOT to fit in.  My guidance counselor gave me the same lecture as in "Pretty In Pink."  Something about "If you send signals that you don't belong, people are going to make sure that you don't."  I was like, look, if I have to participate in state coerced suburban pathology, the least I can do is oppose it.  

Quoting:
Oh, I couldn't talk about the music I liked at school.  Only girls were allowed to like pop.  Guys had to listen to hard rock and heavy metal, or get called a f*g and punched in the halls.
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BTW, I don't mean to offend by the use of the word f*g, but that's what those guys liked to call people.  Probably still do.