First Queen Purchase

Queen - Greatest Hits II on cd

Flash 7". 50p Ex Jukebox Edition from my local Newsagent because that's all this 10 year old could afford!

For my 10th birthday my mom gifted me a cassette of News of the World, and I listened to that endlessly in the summer of ‘93. (The other two tapes I got, Eric Clapton’s Unplugged and Happy Anniversary Charlie Brown, got significantly less play time.)

The first I bought with my own money (or at least with my own allowance) was probably Classic Queen. Another cassette I listened to endlessly. I’m fairly certain Live At Wembley ‘86 on VHS followed shortly thereafter, and I feel like The Game was next, but after that it’s a mishmash. The only albums I didn’t have on tape were Sheer Heart Attack, Live Killers, and The Miracle, as I’d gotten a CD player by that point, so those were probably the last of the run that I got. Naturally I also had to buy all the tapes I had on CD…!

Such a long time ago
It was the GHII. In fact, MY 1st purchase was the GH, the GHII was a gift for my 12.

Snap👍You have a good taste in music LF.

My 1st Queen purchase was the NOTW album, when my family and I were on a trip to Baltimore in 1981. I then asked for and received LK and GH for X-Mas that same year.

Ted

At the end of 2014 Santa got me black sweatshirt with Queen II cover photo on it. So simple, yet so brilliant, ocassionally wear it to this day.

Then in March 2015 I got the birthday present containing 2 Queen items: a mug with a photo from The Miracle video, and georg 's book which I was reading & using VERY intensively for the next 14 months.

My first purchase was in April 2015, and that was the complete studio albums (2011 remasters).

AKOM 7 " in about April 1986.

Then GH1 on cassette in about August 1986

The Works and Live Killers for Christmas 1986

Great Pretender 12" when it came out.

Then things started to snowball....

The first one I had was a pirate CD of Queen Rocks, in the early aughts. Shame on me, but regardless that album is a fantastic introduction, perhaps especially for a teenager.

I listened to it a lot. My Mum noticed, and some time later she spotted a proper copy of Queen I somewhere and got it for me.

It had a couple of titles I knew from that compilation, plus a lot of other tracks with intriguing names, so I went into that one with just as much enthusiasm.

After that, I was officially hooked.

I think the first one I bought for myself was a second-hand Queen II LP (I was a hipster before it was cool), and yes I did eventually get a legit copy of Rocks.

A Night at the Opera on cassette in 1992, then Live Killers and News of the World (also on cassette).

Live Killers was the first album I bought after I realized Queen was the band that made a lot of the songs I liked. That was after the Game came out but before Flash Gordon (I remember my mom dropping me off at the movie theater on the day it came out -or on that Saturday- and I sat through the entire end credits just listening to Queen!) I may have already had the 45 of BoRhap, but I can’t be positive. As soon as I had enough money I then bought Sheer Heart Attack and News of the World because they had the most songs I liked on Live Killers but the rest is a blur - bought everything I could as soon as my allowance allowed.

The first studio album I bought on the day of release was Hot Space. (Flash Gordon doesn’t count because it was a soundtrack.) I was disappointed it had Under Pressure on it because I’d already worn out Greatest Hits and the single listening to it. A friend drove me to the record store to buy it and I read the lyrics on the inner sleeve all the way home. 

I kept a folded up piece of paper in my wallet that had lists of all the 45s with non-album b-sides or edited versions of songs and all the albums that any of the guys had played on or sang on so I knew what to look for at record stores and when there were record shows in town. I used to beg my parents to drive me to out of the way record stores. Once I could drive myself that was no longer an issue! I did mail order too and still have some old mail order lists of imports I occasionally bought. But once the internet came along and everything (almost) became available at the touch of a button I slowly lost interest in owning everything. Plus it was available (mostly) to download and listen to at the touch of the very same button!

That's a great point actually. Of my original purchases, I think I only have a couple left. Blame the endless moves and clear outs. Luckily, I have been good repurchasing the same editions on eBay so built the collection back up. When the 2011 reissues came out, NOTW was the first I bought because it felt right buying my first Queen album again. Although it was probably about the 3rd CD version I had over my life until that point it still felt important. God, the money I've spent!

Great thread!! Nice to read your stories

The first album I heard was The Miracle in the summer of '89 when I was 11. A friend of mine had got it and I fell in love with it instantly. I Want It All, The Miracle and Scandal were my early favourites. We didn't have any record stores as I lived in the counrty side, but the local library had Greatest Hits. That eas a real eye-opener as I learned that those great songs that I had heard many times in sports events (WWRY & WATC) were by the same band, and that that they had been around for quite a long time. I also really loved Save Me, NIH and AOBTD. However, BoRhap didn't do anything for me.

The first album I bought was Sheer Heart Attack. I remember bying the LP, bringing it home and playing it with my dad's stereo equipment full of excitement.... and it was a huge dissappointent!!! There was nothing that could be compared to IWIA or WWRY. As I was only familiar with The Miracle and GH material, the more eclectic stuff on SHA was maybe a bit too much to chew for a 11-year-old. The only songs that I truly liked were ITLOTG...revisited and She Makes Me. I thought it was a bad investment,indeed.

I got Queen Greatest Hits on a cassette in 1992. Talk about a game-changer. My whole world changed. I couldn't believe that one band had created so many of the songs I kinda knew or had never heard of but instantly loved. Queen opened me up to all kinds of rock music and through the band which was so determined and successful despite the naysayers, I began to develop a confidence that I did not have at all at the time.