My first record: Mike Flanagan

· Apr. 7, 2014, 4:37 am

In the days leading up to this year's Record Store Day on April 19, the OpenAir hosts will share the story of their first-ever record purchases, however memorable or misguided they may have been. First up is program director and afternoon host Mike Flanagan.

We want to know what your first record was too! Be sure to enter the Record Store Day contest on our Facebook page by telling us your first ever record purchase (vinyl, CD, digital, or whatever!), and you could win a brand new record player and a collection of vinyl records!

First record ever owned is probably "The Bear Went Over the Mountain" that my mother actually took off the machine and broke after however many spins I could give it in a two hour period, my first experience with hot rotation a major fail. (I managed to hide "Never Smile at a Crocodile" from Disney's "Peter Pan" so that it would avoid the same fate.)

Another family dispute came when she purchased some horrible zero charisma covering "Hound Dog" for a quarter because the Elvis version was 99 cents.

True, I was very young, but at this early age I realized that leaving music discovery to the older generation meant my own pocket book was about to take a direct hit. And so, I saved my nickels and dimes until they totaled the magic one-penny-under-a-dollar number, and bought "Cathy's Clown" by the Everly Brothers at Parks Drug in Seminole, Oklahoma.

I'm not sure what drew me to it. As far as the subject matter, I probably thought it had circus connotations, not the real life implications of a female not only breaking a guy's heart but mocking him in the process. I had no idea it was selling eight million copies worldwide, spending five weeks in the top position on the Billboard Hot 100, influencing the Beatles "Please Please Me," and ultimately becoming the Brothers' last Number One.

All these years later, I still have it. The Everly Brothers possess a delicious harmony, yet the brother Don solo portions are pointed and darkly determined and grumpy and beautiful at the same time. I die each time, I hear this sound. Here he comes. That's Cathy's Clown...

Click here for all the OpenAir "My First Record" stories

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