There was a place called Record and Tape Exchange back in the '70's where I lived, and they had used records, bootlegs, magazines, you name it. The Washington City Paper started around '77 - that had all the music happenings and underground news. Ads were cheap, my brother used to advertise his bar when he had music. Waxie Maxie (record store) used to be like a warehouse they had so many albums. You could get concert tickets there too.

Quote
NoCode0680

Quote
71Tele

Quote
spsimmons
Pretty much it was Mtv or magazines for me. I remember the very first thing I looked up on the internet in 95 or 95 was The Stones. Found a bunch of lyrics to their songs and a biography of the band. Thought it was SO COOL!!!

You youngsters with the MTV...

MTV actually used to be a pretty good source of music news. I remember hearing the news about Pearl Jam's new album (at the time) "No Code", what it was called, when it would be released, etc, on MTV news, before I heard anything about it from the bands official fanclub which I was/am a member of.

Ah, the good old days...

Quote
MileHigh
Isn't there also a claim that the Stones were the first band to perform live on the Internet? It was sometime in 1994, must have been associated with the release of Voodoo Lounge.

I heard it on my home computer, very exciting. It might have been 1995, if not 1994. It was Mick saying a few words, and then the whole first song of the show, I think.
I've tried to find info about it, but ya know, the internet was so new then it's not covered there.

~"Love is Strong"~

thanks to nzentgraf.de - Dallas it was

941118A 18th November: Dallas, Texas, Cotton Bowl
(Not Fade Away/Tumbling Dice/You Got Me Rocking/Shattered/Rocks Off/
Sparks Will Fly/Satisfaction/Beast Of Burden/Far Away Eyes/Doo Doo Doo
Doo Doo/Love Is Strong/It’s All Over Now/I Go Wild/Miss You/Band
introduction/Honky Tonk Women/Before They Make Me Run/The Worst/
Sympathy For The Devil/Monkey Man/Street Fighting Man/Start Me Up/
It’s Only Rock’n Roll/Brown Sugar/Jumping Jack Flash)


Note: The following five songs were webcast live through the internet:
(Not Fade Away/Tumbling Dice/You Got Me Rocking/Rocks Off/
Sparks Will Fly)

HELL YEAH!!! STONES RULE!!!

I got it from Beggar's Banquet fan magazine , praise Bill German! Other than that the nearest leather clad hottie in pumps or any of my big sister's friends usually knew what was happening with our boys. peace.

.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2011-12-31 05:26 by treaclefingers.

It was way more exciting w/o the Net. Lot harder to find boots but so much more of a rush. Going into W Village stores and finding just masses of boots that I had NEVER heard of. Seeing these weird songtitles.Or in London on the street in booth I would find great boots. Slowly getting a network.So much was literally word of mouth.
Hot Wax was great; as was Miles' book, Roy Carr's and then the mags.

Lot harder to find boots but so much more of a rush......


YEP the rush .... ya don't get that no-more ....



ROCKMAN

Quote
Rockman
Lot harder to find boots but so much more of a rush......


YEP the rush .... ya don't get that no-more ....

This might not have happened to everybody, but I caught the reverse of that many times. I got the huge rush of finding some obscure bootleg, dished out like $25 a single CD, and then it turned out to be really sub-standard crap and the rush was replaced by being hugely let down. I bought a couple of bootlegs that sounded like it was recorded from the back of the arena on an answering machine.

finding some obscure bootleg, dished out like $25 a single CD, and then it turned out to be really sub-standard crap and the rush was replaced by being hugely let down.

TRUE and ya quickly learnt that ya can't tell a boot by it's cover.....
BUT when ya hit pay-dirt geez man the RUSH was glorious......



ROCKMAN

Quote
Rockman
finding some obscure bootleg, dished out like $25 a single CD, and then it turned out to be really sub-standard crap and the rush was replaced by being hugely let down.

TRUE and ya quickly learnt that ya can't tell a boot by it's cover.....
BUT when ya hit pay-dirt geez man the RUSH was glorious......

I got to say though that all this was part of the deal: it made the boot-thing much more of a mystery.
Also back then my standards were not high, LOL. You took what you got. I recall "Mick's Birthday Party" which wasn't very good in sound, but I loved the performance.
I had the very first version of the Paris '65 shows (which are nowadays available in impeccable sound and speed) on vinyl, and it was flatout unlistenable. The quality to gin with was horrible; but it was the speed problems. As if someone was slowing down the record, and then speeding it up again. "Hey Crawdaddy" was torture, LOL!
But like the Rockman says - when you hit it big - wow. The triple "Black Box"; the "Trident Sessions"; "All Inside Our Crazy Dreams"; "the "Jean Clarke Mamorial" - and all those 78 shows: Passaic, Memphis, Lexington.

Hmm... pre-history...

It was rather difficult - even I didn't know that at the time because I couldn't imagine an alternative - to collect info and rare stuff (bootlegs) for a teenager with limited economical possibilities in Finland in the early 80's. To get the whole official catalog was a tough task alraedy. Lots of mail orders. For example, I needed to order by mail EXILE and BEGGARS since they weren't in my local record stores at the time. When the remastered series with the "original" toalet cover of BEGGARS was released, I remember buying that in Stockholm, Sweden (Stockholm was a good place to go to buy things and it was an easy and cheap ferry from my town Turku to get there.) Then I got to know one guy in Finland who was trafficking bootlegs and VHS tapes (180 minutes - one could fill the content as one wanted by picking up items from a booklet). That opened a new world to me. I get to know BRUSSELLS, LIVE AT LEEDS, etc. through him, and all those AUX ABATTOIRS, GIMME SHELTER, etc. The guy got later caught up, and I think even sentenced. So shame. When I finally got to London in 1986, that was a heaven to me. Not just to visit the 'tourist sites' a'la Cheyne Walk, but to visit all these music stores, second hand shops, market places... I put all my travel budget there.

About the info. Of the past, reading every possible Stones-related book or paper from my local library, and of the present, reading all the national and inernational magazines and papers I could get. Of course, it was different than now when the whole world is present by pushing a button, but at least to my judgment, there was quite a lot Stones news going on through the 80's, and I didn't feel like being "out" of what's going on. Maybe I was late for a month or a two, but that was not important at the time (more time to listen the records). Well, it is rather funny to reflect now how little I actually knew at the time. The 'official' truth of the 80's was rather different than what we know now. The Stones were very much in control of their public picture. It was not until the late 80's when the Mick/Keith controversy stared to make things ugly. By a hindsight, the 80's was the decade when Mick Jagger seemed to get all the crap from the music press, and Keith Richards all the praisal. It was really black and white - Keith was the hero no matter what he did. That was the climate I grew up and developed my "Stones-consciousness". Well, to an extent it is still like that even now, but I think Keith's star is not so bright any more, and Jagger's so bad.

By the time net really started to work - for myself not yet until in 1997 - I was kind of tired of the Stones (I didn't even bought BRIDGES TO BABYLON but just borrowed a copy and listened it few times, and gave it back), but little by little the net re-established my Stones-fandom. I think what really stroke me was to find a "Stones community" - for years I was listened and thought the band just by myself, I didn't know anyone who was such a huge fan like I was. So it was really psychologically rewarding to get to 'know' you all- that I am not the only crazy one, and that there are actually crazier ones! Yeah, it is nice to get all the info immediately now, and 'following' the band is easier now (and bootleg stuff is free and easy to get plus we have youtube, etc), but I think the best thing is the site like ours. I have met in real life some great people via our forum. And hope to see more in future.

- Doxa



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 2011-12-31 13:06 by Doxa.

I had to start drinking at the age of 11 and frequent pubs, wearing a false beard so I could speak to older people about this pop phenomenon, The Rolling Stones.

before the internet? We all got crappy and sticky pornmagazines!

I'll say this- proliferation of word processing ease significantly opened the doors for many!

MTV - Music Television had good segments on music news

The Village Voice and Rolling Stone Magazine were good.

If any of you lived in NYC at the time, the 8th Street record shop in the Village had a great selection of Imports.

Gazza is right, by the time monthly magazines hit the newsstands the articles were stale, hard to believe Gazza didn't get onto the net til B2B.

Before the net, we didn't get show reviews with set lists, there was no comparing the show you saw to shows in other cities either.

I like the internet and all the new electronic communication gadgets some i use and some not. What I find funny is the culture it has somewhat created,instance gradification, need it right now,or how important some people think thier daily tweets and twits are makes me LOL.

I try to explain with frustration once and a while to my young relatives. That before all this stuff things got done, bills paid , products made and sold, Trash got picked up, Broken things got fixed and the World was somewhat tolerable.They look on with amazement as I horrify them with BC stories from the 70's and 80's.

I used to get a magazine called Sticky Fingers and I always liked Rolling Stone pre-2000 for music info their politics well I won't go there all I need to hear is they love the occupy movement that is enough for me not to listen to RS on politics. Woops I said something political this thread could get closed soon. Sorry!

Quote
Sam Spade
Gazza is right, by the time monthly magazines hit the newsstands the articles were stale, hard to believe Gazza didn't get onto the net til B2B.

The thing that a lot of people forget is that the internet was incredibly expensive in the UK until British Telecom lost their monopoly on the phone networks around 1998-99 or so and other providers were able to offer competitive services - so as a result the US was WAY ahead of the rest of the world when it came to the % of the public who had internet access.

My quarterly phone bill before I got the internet was about £40. The first one AFTER I got it was over £300!



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2011-12-31 19:24 by Gazza.

Quote
Rik
before the internet? We all got crappy and sticky pornmagazines!

and then we had 'left handed websites'......

Beggars Banquet
Hoffmann's Basement News
Rolling Stones Office Fan Club, Copenhagen
Bootleg Bible (Volker Kluge)
Hot Stuff Records, Germany
and a German fanzine which name I can't remember

I was often at the library reading bios and listened to albums I didn't have or couldn't afford. I learned a lot there and the funny thing is I have had to re-learn a couple of things on the internet since some of those bios contain a lot of BS. Other than that there was a very nice old shop in the city I live in that sold candy, newspapers, tobacco and...foreign magazines. In there I found NME, Mojo and Record Collector. Happy times really and something my kid will never have the pleasure to experience. There were myths and adventures to discover back then. Today there's nothing left but money.

Quote
Rik
before the internet? We all got crappy and sticky pornmagazines!

Yes, magazines left in the woods by older kids (or creepy adults). That's how I learned about sex at an early age.

Not sure when I started on the Internet at home, think it was around '97 speed was 12KB/s if I was lucky my download speed was 8 KB/s it took minutes to download picture as shown below. Now my download speed is 10 MB/s

And before the internet use BBS with a very slow modem

It was amazing back then downloading a 256 colored picture


__________________________

Quote
71Tele

Quote
NoCode0680

Quote
71Tele

Quote
spsimmons
Pretty much it was Mtv or magazines for me. I remember the very first thing I looked up on the internet in 95 or 95 was The Stones. Found a bunch of lyrics to their songs and a biography of the band. Thought it was SO COOL!!!

You youngsters with the MTV...

MTV actually used to be a pretty good source of music news. I remember hearing the news about Pearl Jam's new album (at the time) "No Code", what it was called, when it would be released, etc, on MTV news, before I heard anything about it from the bands official fanclub which I was/am a member of.

Ah, the good old days...

Quote
Gazza

Quote
Sam Spade
Gazza is right, by the time monthly magazines hit the newsstands the articles were stale, hard to believe Gazza didn't get onto the net til B2B.

The thing that a lot of people forget is that the internet was incredibly expensive in the UK until British Telecom lost their monopoly on the phone networks around 1998-99 or so and other providers were able to offer competitive services - so as a result the US was WAY ahead of the rest of the world when it came to the % of the public who had internet access.

My quarterly phone bill before I got the internet was about £40. The first one AFTER I got it was over £300!

Oh! My ignorance on that pricing issue Gazza. Now I see why at those prices

The case of Greece:
A fan since 1976. Trying to find LPs.Pretty hard most of the time. Books about the past.Even harder. Magazines (imported) regarding up to date info. For example, I found out that they launched the 1981 US tour late in September 1981 through 'Creem' magazine. National press was really slow on catching up, if none at all. FM radio stations (1 or maybe 2 of them) provided some - late - info too.MTV in late 80's. Internet was an option not sooner than late 1995.That's were I found out about IORR. Prior to IORR I was a member of an English fan club, called 'Tumbling dice' if I remember well (no web site, just a small periodical twice a year or something like that). I also have some 1983/84 'Beggar'a banquet' issues. Yes, it was quite a quest really! Much simpler and quicker now, but I cherish those times.

Quote
71Tele
There were these things called "record stores". You had to go to them and you could actually purchase music on these circular disc thing made of vinyl. Then there were things called "magazines". Every month or so, a new one would come out and you could read it to see if there was any news about your favorite band. I don't know how we survived.

There were the good old times
but how come I can't make it without internet now ?


:-)

Quote
Gazza

Quote
Sam Spade
Gazza is right, by the time monthly magazines hit the newsstands the articles were stale, hard to believe Gazza didn't get onto the net til B2B.

The thing that a lot of people forget is that the internet was incredibly expensive in the UK until British Telecom lost their monopoly on the phone networks around 1998-99 or so and other providers were able to offer competitive services - so as a result the US was WAY ahead of the rest of the world when it came to the % of the public who had internet access.

My quarterly phone bill before I got the internet was about £40. The first one AFTER I got it was over £300!

Oh, yeah, thanks for the reminder. I recall how when visiting a friend in London I had met online in the later 90s, he told me he was charged for each time he went online, if I remember right. Much, much more expensive, as you say.

~"Love is Strong"~

Quote
angee

Quote
Gazza

Quote
Sam Spade
Gazza is right, by the time monthly magazines hit the newsstands the articles were stale, hard to believe Gazza didn't get onto the net til B2B.

The thing that a lot of people forget is that the internet was incredibly expensive in the UK until British Telecom lost their monopoly on the phone networks around 1998-99 or so and other providers were able to offer competitive services - so as a result the US was WAY ahead of the rest of the world when it came to the % of the public who had internet access.

My quarterly phone bill before I got the internet was about £40. The first one AFTER I got it was over £300!

Oh, yeah, thanks for the reminder. I recall how when visiting a friend in London I had met online in the later 90s, he told me he was charged for each time he went online, if I remember right. Much, much more expensive, as you say.

Oh yes - the days when IORR access was via a dial-up connection shared with my phone line, and downloading one audio track took half an hour, paid for by the minute at BT rates. Seems hard to believe that was (for me) only five years ago.