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What was your first Buffett album? When did you get it and what memories does it hold? Was it a gift from another Buffett fan? Was it part of that 10 albums for 1 penny that Columbia Records used to advertise? What format was it? Vinyl, cassette, cd or even 8-track??
I actually have what I consider to be 3 Buffett first albums. Each one marked a chapter in my life but I wasn't a huge fan when any of them were acquired. The true first one was “You had to be There”, purchased in 1984 on vinyl . I bought it back in college at good ol’ WCU in Cullowhee NC. My girlfriend at the time was from south Florida and was a fan. She lived just off A-1-A near Boca and was familiar with him from local radio. Her sorority also had this fun dance they did at parties to "Fins". I bought "You had to be There" because it had most of the good songs that were out then. She had Volcano so I sprung for the other. It is the best of his live albums and one of the best live albums by any artist.
After graduating and going our separate ways, I didn’t listen to Buffett much anymore. He wasn’t getting any airplay and I was going through an embarrassing stage of listening to dance music and going to clubs. One day in ’89 I was browsing through a record shop – remember those?? – and came across “Hot Water”. “Oh yeah, that Jimmy Buffett guy”, I thought. I was burning out on club music so I bought it on vinyl without ever hearing a song. I came home, fired up the grill and listened to it over and over. It is still my favorite Buffett album. “Bring back the magic” and “Prince of Tides” are some of the best song’s Jimmy’s ever written. That album helped me get through some pretty rough times in life and I practically wore it out.
Not long after that came the ‘90’s and I went back to college. I really got into REM, Bodeans, and other music of the time and once again stopped listening to Buffett. After graduating college a second time and entering the work force for a few years too long, my wife and I walked into Sam’s Club and prominently displayed in their limited music section was the brand-new Buffett CD “Far Side of the World”. I bought it on the spot and listened to it constantly. Although it’s not considered one of his best, it started me on a path to discovering some of his older music. My wife had SYKBH on CD so I dug that out and started jamming again. Since then, I have become a huge fan. I have a great Buffett collection now and from listening to his music and Radio Margaritaville, I have discovered other great artists and some great literature.
I've still yet to see him in concert but I feel like I've been to many from listening to them on RM and hitting Margaritaville-Myrtle Beach and CIP a few times a year.
Hope this turns out to be a fun thread.

Hi Jerry, welcome aboard.

My first was SYKBH--a friend of mine made a copy for me from her CD. I was in high school at the time, and discovered JB's music during our Homecoming celebration week. The senior class had a Margaritaville theme one day and I loved the music, so my friend made me a copy of her CD. After I was hooked on that, I wanted more, so the first one I ever bought for myself was "Feeding Frenzy."

Songs you know and Love...


I am sure I will bust that out...I am on a collision course for MArgaritaville!

White Sport Coat & A Pink Crustacean
September 1975

I heard WDWGDAS at a party and went out and bought the vinyl album (paid full price of $4.99)

Bought Living and Dying in 3/4 Time later that year, then didn't get another until I picked up Beaches, Bars, Boats and Ballads CDs about eight years ago.

I have all the studio CDs except two at this point.

Welcome. When you make it to your first concert, you'll be able to do that special little FINS dance with about 15,000 others!

It's pretty amazing to watch and be part of.

My first album was also You Had To Be There. A friend gave me the vinyl after he made tapes of it. That friend moved away and I didn't listen to the album much.

My second album was Floridays on cassette. Jimmy was coming to Houston to an outdoor venue at Astroworld and that album had just come out. I really didn't even remember the songs...it was just background music...something to have on to listen to. I was more into Willie, Waylon, Kris Kristofferson, (ya KNOW the Texas stuff) and top 40 stuff to do aerobics to. Or dancing to exercise...whatever we called it.

I also started buying CD versions of Beatles stuff instead of new CDs. I bought a CD each month. Woooo hoooo! You would not believe the other vinyl and CDs I bought. Glad I have some of it tho.

In 1994 a friend gave me Fruitcakes and One Particular Harbour and I started listening to words, stories, and not just music. I guess I have just about everything BUFFETT there is to have. I made a running tape from the You Had To Be There albums in 1994. It has always been my favorite LIVE one and OPH is my other favorite followed by Barometer Soup.

The CD collection has grown to over 2,000 and most of that due to someting Buffett related.

Unlike other folks, I can turn on my favorite local radio station here in my hometown and hear Buffett quite a bit, along with Jerry Jeff, Todd Snider, Robert Earl Keen, etc etc. I think the owner was a friend of Buffett's in the past. (He just died, but his son will continue with Texasmix.)

(Sorry for writing a book!)
Are you related to Steve? Fins UP!

My dad has a huge collection of vinyl albums he used to play when I was little, which included several Buffett albums. His favorite was and still is Living and Dying in 3/4 Time. I remember him singing along to Nautical Wheelers in the living room at a very young age. However, I didn't really know who Buffett was in those days.

What got me hooked was when my Uncle, who is a big parrothead, dubbed a copy of Feeding Frenzy on a cassette tape for my dad. I don't remember Dad ever listening to it, but at one point I found it and added it to my collection around 9 or 10 years old. I loved to listen to it when we were traveling to the beach each summer in the car with my Sony Walkman. That did it for me, the rest is history. Now I own over 30 JB albums and can't get enough of it. I still love FF. Everytime I get in the car to head to somewhere warm, that's the first CD I listen to.

my first was SYKBH...

my most precious - SOSOAS. we found it in my grandma's album collection after she passed. i had no idea she had it... its framed in my home office... i look at it everyday and think of her... sniffle

CILCIA- yeah babe.

Last Mango in Paris me thinks... Followed extremely closely by CILCIA.

I have TWO "first" albums.
I bought S.Y.K.B.H. and Volcano at the same time at the Tower Records Store in Honolulu in 1985. I've got seven vinyls, and, of course, all the C.D.s & cassettes (for the car).
I think the first C.D. of Jimmy's I got was "Living & Dying In 3/4 Time" sometime around 1992 just after I bought my first C.D. player. I think I got it from K-Mart or somewhere.
Nothing really significant about those purchases-I knew someday I'd own them all, and had to start somewhere.
These days I enjoy getting "Buffett Buffet" bootleg C.D.s that people send me.

My first cd was "Don't stop the carnival"......it was approx 7 yrs ago, the phriend that turned me on to Jimmy, had made me a bunch of cassetts w/various songs on them....i feel in love instantly, bought DSTC and was hooked for a whole summer.....after that....I just had to have them all....Lets just say I fell hard fast....and to this day I thank that phriend....the last 7 yrs have been the best ride of my life....Tons of Jimmy's music, as many concerts as i've been able to go to, and a bunch of great Phriends

thats my story and im sticking to it

Feeding Frenzy

txaggirl91 wrote:my first was SYKBH...

my most precious - SOSOAS. we found it in my grandma's album collection after she passed. i had no idea she had it... its framed in my home office... i look at it everyday and think of her... sniffle

That is so awesome Janice! You grandma must have been great!!!!!

Boats, Beaches, Bars, Ballads came out when I was in high school and it was also my 1st purchase.

SYKBH I admit it!!!!!!!! and then Fruitcakes and then Tuesdays,Thursdays,Saturdays!!!!! And then I don't know what I bought next!!!!!!!

SYKBH then coconut telegraph...

Very cool topic!

Des and I were working and she told me to take this cd and listen to it on the way home. She knew with over an hour drive, that wasn't a problem. That was Riddles in the Sand. I did as I was told. LOVED IT!! Kept it for a few weeks.

For my birthday that year, just a few weeks after the Riddles incident, she gave me Fruitcakes. Christmas was 2 weeks afterwards and I asked Hubby for Riddles and the Eagles Hell Freezes Over. Got both and the rest is, as they say, history!

A1A

Great post/question.

I grew up listening to buffett. My mom and dad had plently of albums on vinyl. But I remember when I really started liking Buffett on my own. I was 16 years old on a band trip (yes.... band trip) To Mytrle Beach, SC. This was my first trip outside of the midwest, and the first time I ever saw the ocean. So I took my mom and dads CD - One Particular Harbour. I remember sitting on the balcony of our hotel, listening to the CD and hearing the waves crash. Truly magical moment for me. I haven't been to the ocean execpt those few days in High school. But as jimmy says, the Mississippi runs right into the gulf which takes you to the sea. So growing up in a river town in Iowa, I guess I always had a connection to the sea.

No clue really - my ex was a PH, went to my first show in 1996, and he alredy has several of JB's CD's, so he made me my own copies.