The (Unfortunate) Fall of Tower Records | Expanding Into Disaster | History in the Dark

[@brianfuller757]

As a former Tower Records employee , I'll say that it was a great place to work. We were all music nerds.

[@austintayeshus1]

fistbump fellow tower alumni

[@rubshandswithdelight]

#823 checking in.

[@johncoughlan1435]

world music buyer. 4th and broadway here!!

[@sludge1298]

Brian...thank you for your service.

[@Angie_bae]

Did y’all fire the girl in the beginning she made my ears bleed😂

[@haydendegrow945]

My family still has a mighty collection of vinyl, CDs, and cassettes. Physical media ain't dead. It's just different now.

[@AnimalsVehiclesAndMore]

Vinyl records are still incredibly popular these days, as they're still available for sale, as well as vinyl record players.

[@Delbel_Giggles91]

So does my dad.

[@chrismason2876]

I funded a huge move by selling my record collection about 10 years ago. Thought I was gonna get a couple hundred, ended up with a couple of grand!

[@nap871]

Cds are the best medium imo.they still have high demand. Audiofiles swear by vinyl but its in their head. I was around during vinyls heyday snd they were a real pain in the azz. Needles cartridges all sorts of equip req. Plus vinyl required a delicate hand.. Sound quality , ease of use, they don't go bad make cds tops.

[@savage751]

My grandparents owned a bar for like 30 years and I still have well over 5000 records from the jukebox they had (mostly 45's)

[@Renovatio2]

In 2024 we still have those two Tower Records stores here in Dublin Ireland. They are awesome.

[@tonybreen.RetroTV]

@Renovatio2 I love Tower records in Dublin I collect old tv shows on dvd their selection is just out of this world the best by far anywhere 🙌

[@crashthevacuum]

Tower Records might be the retail chain I miss the most, it was just so much fun to hang out there and browse everything

[@Attmay]

I always made it a point to go there and buy some laser discs when I was on vacation in a place that had one. I think every time I visited my grandparents in SoCal, I went there at least once.

[@용석권-g6y]

Sadly enough, Korea has no Tower Records shop anymore. Such a shame but I’d like to see your company’s ’revival’ in the foreseeable years.❤😅🎉

[@JediHangout]

Tower Records was not only part of my life as a teenager, but it became a HUGE part of my life. I worked at the two flagship stores in Los Angeles, The Sunset and Sherman Oaks (but also Glendale and Thousand Oaks). I worked in the Classical section and became a buyer before I finally left the company. I worked there while I was in college as a music student, which is a dream place for classical musicians. Russ made it clear that the classical and the Jazz section were to be important. He made it clear that all sections of the store and genres would have selections that were more than the completion. This is what we were known for. It was more of a family than co-workers for us. I still know many of the people I worked with at the stores here in Los Angeles. Russ was a good employer. He use to come and visit and hang out with the employees in the back room. He wanted to know who we were and what we valued about music. By the time the company liquidated I had moved on to working for an orchestra, but my co-workers where as I said family. I was at the Sherman Oaks store on the day it was officially liquidating. I went into the back room with one of the supervisors and she and I hugged and were in tears. It was not just a retail store, but an experience.

[@janath9118]

@@JediHangout Fond memories for you!!

[@imseeno]

I'm a 90s kid and grew up in the Sacramento suburbs. I knew of Tower but I wasn't really appreciative physical media during my younger years. During my university years at Sac State, I often went to restaurants around the Tower Theatre and that's when I learned of the history of Tower Records. I thought it was really cool and I wished I was able to experience its peak. Now, I live in Japan. Tower Records is still huge here. And Tower Records in Shibuya is ICONIC. And I've lost count on how many different "No Music, No Life" inspired logos I've seen for different businesses and products here.

[@athrunzala75]

It’s wild to me that Tower Records is still thriving in Japan to the point they regularly have collaborations with anime and video games. First time I saw one of those collabs (the Granblue Fantasy one, specifically) I was thinking “wait, Tower Records still exists??”

[@ShinmegamiPersona]

In Japan physical media is still pretty popular. Floppy disks and cassette tapes are still used

[@chazer793]

Physical media never went away in Japan.

[@dylives7667]

It wouldn't be the 1st time a US franchise finds success outside their country. Speaking of Japan, The 7 Eleven stores. Prior to their recent rebranding at home, asian 7 Elevens were proper stores compared to the previous ones in the USA. Now, going to my country, Mexico. Blockbuster used to thrive here, until its shareholders pulled the plug and sold it. All its new owner did to its new acquisition was just renaming it. And, just 2 years later, shut the whole operation down. And, while Sears is long gone back home, it's still in business over here with no signs of going away.

[@hardcoremagicalgirl]

@@dylives7667 7 Eleven is bringing their Japanese food distributor stateside which I think is a fantastic idea. In my area, Race Trac and Wawa are competing with their food options and I feel like adding the fresh food from the Japanese menu gives them an edge over the rest. Personally I have stomach issues and rice is easy to digest so if they started offering onigiri, that would get me in the door consistently.

[@Delbel_Giggles91]

@@ShinmegamiPersonawoah that’s actually pretty cool!

[@GeekFilter]

That woman in the opening is far far too excited for Toni Basil!

[@JamilaJibril-e8h]

@@GeekFilter 😂😂😂😂

[@Zimmy_1981]

90s ads, so much energy. She was fine tho, not just Mickey 😂

[@Biker_Gremling]

If you close your eyes, doesn't sound like an add for a new album release

[@andrewp7509]

Crack was huge then

[@Angie_bae]

My ears bled

[@kobebarka8633]

As a person from Sacramento thank you for doing this wonderful piece on a place that was a part of my childhood.

[@bayareanewman1566]

@@kobebarka8633 I’m from Gilroy, and would regularly go to the Location in San Jose (or Campbell.. it’s right near there) and I’d get my music. Walmart? Never! It was like that old saying… it’s not necessarily about the destination, but it’s about the journey. The hunt. The advice of the staff, all that. It’s a whole experience that can’t be replicated by Spotify. It’s a feeling of anticipation…. You know what I mean? A sense is “discovering” something. It’s hard to explain. But the whole process of finding that one song/album/tape….. that none of your friends had. It was an adventure in itself. At 11, listening to the Dark Side of the Moon my parents had in a box in the garage, in like 1985….. especially since they had a Sansui receiver pumping out 80 watts RMS to 2 Boc Ventura speakers….was an epic experience that can’t be replicated. “Welcome my friend……. To the machine” and there was a bass drop, that my friend told me he could hear from his house, and his parents thought there was an earthquake

[@natehanneman6763]

@@kobebarka8633 me too! My high school was behind country club mall and every day after school my friends and I would go to the tower on Watt Avenue and then either go to the arcade at the bowling alley or hang out at the mall. Good times.

[@TimmyCherry]

We had so little pop culture cool in Sacramento, in a state full of pop culture cool. Tower Record kinda made me feel cool being from Sacramento, even though most people probably didn't know that's where it was based.

[@bugaljackson494]

Same here, grew up around parts of north sacramento in the early 2000's, I remember going to the location around there. I think it was along watt avenue, and had some other tower-named shop next to it.

[@johnnysunrocket8618]

@@bugaljackson494 I think you’re talking about the Broadway store in Sac there was Tower restaurant, Tower theater, Tower Books and of course Tower Records 😎👍

[@alexhajnal107]

06:22 The almost-complete (and virtually overnight) shift from vinyl to CDs wasn't primarily due to people's shifting preferences. Rather record companies started refusing to accept returns on unsold vinyl records but continued to accept them for CDs. This meant that stocking vinyl was a costly risk for stores and most switched formats very abruptly. CDs were also sold in boxes half the width but the same height as an LP (jewel case in cardboard box) which meant they could be stocked in the same bins formerly used for LPs/12"s (this also reduced shrinkage).

[@kuebby]

Thanks for that factoid, I always wondered about those cardboard boxes that some CDs were held in.

[@davidgarris2513]

What are you babbling about? Vinyl always sucked. Cassettes sucked. CD's were simply better. I was floor manager at Tower in Schaumburg Illinois. .... David Jonathan Garris Esquire Ret Warner Bros 🐾🐶🐕

[@gedaman]

I remember there was a Tower Records that opened in 1995 close to my house. I had just gotten a CD player for the first time and thought that was the coolest store.

[@stflaw]

During the 70s and 80s, Tower Records on Sunset Blvd. was an amazing place to be on a Saturday night. People stopping by on their way to or from the rock clubs, famous musicians and actors popping in, people just hanging out and talking music. The place would just be buzzing with energy.

[@allermenchenaufder]

@@stflaw Fond memories. I had a monthly budget of $200 a month. Sadly there are less musicians creating great music. Youth spend spare time on video games vs playing instruments 🎸.

[@jdnelms62]

Great video! I lived in LA for nearly 17 years and I shopped at Tower Records regularly. Many a Saturday night I would hang at the Valley store and listen to stuff. However my greatest experience was in 1995, at the Tower Records on Sunset Boulevard, when I was approached by a CNN crew to give my opinion on the new Michael Jackson album. I expressed how Jackson was a fading musical genius, the album seemed to be a diversion from his legal problems. Off camera the CNN reporter and camera man laughed in that they shared my opinion entirely. I didn’t have cable so I never saw myself on TV. Ironically later that summer, at the San Diego Comicon, I met up with an old buddy of mine, whose Air Force captain brother stationed in Guam, had seen it! He.called his brother Jeff in the middle of the night saying, “I just saw your friend James on CNN bad mouthing Michael Jackson!” Thanks Tower Records for the great memories.

[@bloqk16]

I worked for Tower Records in the late 1970s, where print volumes could be written about the good, bad, notorious, infamous, and absurd aspects that went on in that retailer. Here is a highlight I'll delve into: Back in the vinyl days of the 1960s to the 80s, Tower had a unique return policy for the albums: The customer, with receipt in-hand, could return an opened and played LP album if he/she did not like it after giving it a listen at home, and exchange it for a different album title of equal price. So it meant that a customer could take a chance on buying a record, and if that record wasn't agreeable to the music taste with the customer, the record could be exchanged for another record/album title. How did they allow for such a generous exchange policy? Each store had a vinyl-shrink-wrap process that would 're-seal' the returned album in the clear wrapping, making the album appear to look factory-fresh. Whereupon that returned/resealed album had a new price sticker affixed to the wrapper, and said album being placed back on the retail shelves for re-sale under the guise of being new. I can say that first-hand as I worked many shifts with the 're-sealing' mechanisms consisting of a wrapping board with a hot wire cutter and a roll of clear vinyl wrapping material; with the second mechanism being a conveyor-belt heat tunnel to shrink-fit the clear vinyl wrap on the album. That re-sealing process met its demise when legal actions were taken against Tower in the early 1980s, one in particular by the District Attorney's office of Santa Clara County, California (Silicon Valley), which found Tower Records guilty of selling 'used' merchandise (re-sealed albums) as 'new' merchandise. Tower was forced to post a sign at the point-of-sale in the store to state that the store did not re-seal the albums. What may have prompted the legal action with Tower may have been the result of the high-volume of albums being re-sealed. Prior to my leaving Tower in 1979 for other employment, the manufacturing quality of the vinyl LPs for the albums took a nose-dive with the public, where defective records returns to Tower were hovering around 20 percent or more. The problem with that was that record distributors allowed a five-percent, or lower, accepted return rate for defective records. So, local management mandated that unless the vinyl record looked flagrantly defective, they were to be re-sealed and put on the retail shelves. So, us employees were to eyeball the vinyl records, give it a wipe-down with a record cleaning silicon cloth, and re-seal it. There's more I could write about how some of the store managers were ill-tempered; the rampant drug use; the lousy wages; the surliness among the retail clerks; the corruption of record label representatives with local store management to falsify sales reports; and the eye-opening cultural aspects of the employees that were an education in itself, but that can wait for another time.

[@TheMediaHoarder]

Wow, that’s crooked. As an obsessive collector I don’t buy used stuff just to save money. The last year CDs were in longboxes, Tower started tossing them and putting the jewel cases in plastic bags on the shelves. I stopped buying CDs from them for a long time because of that.

[@nap871]

All they had to do was label them like new with a short description of the grading and there'd be no issue. Sounds like the 70s. No good old days folks.....1920s were as corrupt as he'll.

[@bloqk16]

@@nap871 I'm not certain what the regulations were with regards to retailing back then when it came to branding record albums as 'like new.' But, I can say for certainty when I worked there that the aspects of: time; competency; attention, to inspect and 'grade' the vinyl records; along with the additional accounting work involved, would have been detrimental to the store's operation if 'like-new' albums were added to the store's inventory mix. - The time: The employees coverage for the store were kept to minimums, as they were kept busy keeping the store tidy, doing product inventory, keeping the shelves stocked, and assisting customers . . . all being performed with a slacker mentality. - The competency: As alluded to above, many of the employees were slackers, with a percentage of them infused with substances that inhibited their workplace performance. When it comes to quality employees, you get what you paid for. In the case of Tower, they were paying minimum wage. A percentage of the new-hires were young adults that had knowledge of music genres, but with attitudes and work ethics that could have made them military 4-F . . . and not for medical reasons. - The attention: Which is related to competency. Doing visual grading can be subjective. There's an affinity with companies having quality control issues that employs slackers. The wild-card with the issue of quality grading is with the customers' home system turntable, as vinyl record warp-age was the predominant issue with defective returns. In the 1970s, there was this mentality that having the lightest possible tonearm tracking with the turntable would minimize record wear, hence, a slightly warped LP record that would not track with a half-gram tonearm setting would play fine with a tonearm tracking at 2 grams (which is my preference). My tonearm tracking weight went counter to the audiophile snobs that insisted on a one-gram, or lighter, setting for the turntable's tonearm. - Accounting: Keeping the books was still done in the work-intensive manual way. The era of computerized accounting, with bar-code scanning, was still years away at Tower when I worked there. All point-of-sale transactions had to be done manually. Adding a 'like-new LP album' price point button on the cash register would have been an additional burden to the myriad of price points for Tower retailing, as the point-of-sale clerk ringing up the merchandise had to deal with separate codes for: 45 singles; classical LPs; cut-out LPs; Country LPs; Rock & Contemporary artists LPs; Oldies LPs; Import LPs; cassettes; 8 track tapes; and probably a few more I don't recall after all these decades. In addition, there was the quarterly store-wide inventory that was manually done with pencil and paper, with an assist with hand-held calculators. Things were running adequately at the Tower retailer when I was there, but there was a lot of room for improvements. The consequences with the addition of used (or like-new) vinyl records into the retailing mix would have taken resources away from other aspects of the store's operations.

[@Attmay]

Please write a book.

[@Attmay]

That's the funny thing about "the good old days." You never know they happened until they're over.

[@publius5464]

I’m an old boomer and I sorely miss the days of walking into a record store or a bookstore and just browsing. I’d often find something I wasn’t looking for and buy it. Sadly, that’s no longer possible. Browsing was part of the fun and sometimes a social experience you could enjoy with friends. I actually worked at a Tower Records in San Diego when I was going to college.

[@janath9118]

Yes, you are right! It is so much fun to walk in and browse through in a bookstore or in a record store! I had similar type experiences here in S. L. where I live. 😊

[@futuristic.handgun]

It's absolutely still possible. Search for record and bookstores in your area and I'm 100% positive that you'll find at least one of both.

[@knightsonofjack]

Vinyl absolutely wears out, it wears more every time you listen. A CD could theoretically last forever if it doesn't get scratched.

[@ShinGoukiSan]

@@knightsonofjack CDs absolutely do not last forever. Disc Rot will eventually kill them

[@davidgarris2513]

@@ShinGoukiSan Really? A CD properly stored lasts indefinitely. I still have some from 1984 when they first came out and they're fine. ... David Jonathan Garris Esquire Ret Warner Bros 🐾🐾🐕

[@redcat9436]

I've never had a CD fail me in 30 years. There was an issue with aluminum corrosion on the early CD's but that was quickly rectified.

[@CatFish107]

The problem you might run into at some point is availability of drives to read the optical media. It's getting less and less common to have optical drives in computers, and far less home audio products with cd players. Over time, I might imagine they will become increasingly difficult to keep in working order. For a smaller niche version of this, look into the trouble people already have keeping nintendo GameCubes running.

[@Biker_Gremling]

I have purchased several CDs that were 35 years old, definitely not properly stored. Cleaned them up and the rip was 99%-100% accurate. Other CDs I've bough where thrashed and most of the tracks were perfect. The major issue are burned CD, at 20-25 years the can be hit or miss. But pressed CDs will hold on forever.

[@kevinriehl5906]

I was there, I was around, I was a musician, I was a teenager and a young adult--NOBODY was buying digital, EVERYONE was stealing. They still are. "I don't own the copyright. This is for educational purposes only." That's the definition of bull$#!+.

[@Zimmy_1981]

😂 true let the arists overcharge for songs they easily make up & companies overcharge for media & renting u songs😂 Makes sense. Charge cheaper, ppl will be less inclined to "steal". Incredibly easy stuff😊❤

[@MrJoeyWheeler]

Well, here's the sad reality; The true value of any digital good is $0. It's infinitely reproduceable and thus has no actual scarcity. Digital wares are worthless by definition. You can try your best to minimise that, but at the end of the day you're at the mercy of those who actually want to buy your product. Sidenote, not "stealing". That would imply leaving you without anything. Copying. There is a meaningful difference.

[@CatFish107]

I tell yah what, I appreciate being able to buy from artists on bandcamp. No need for major labels, they can just self publish, charge a fair price, and I can get an album I enjoy through legit means for less than I used to pay for cds or cassettes as a teenager. And the musician sees more of that money than they would have back in the day.

[@triangle8181]

@@kevinriehl5906 Well game companies aren't helping.With there attitude of "your buying a license we can take away anytime we want, not the game itself" and streaming with getting rid of shows so they won't have to pay royalties, or the fim industry making endless sequels and burning actually good films for tax write offs.

[@StinkyBlack1]

@@kevinriehl5906 buying digital rights is a waste of money, ask me how I know. There’s been hundreds of songs and videos where their providers lost the rights and then you can’t access your paid content. What a hassle. Also anyone stealing was never going to buy anyway, see how that works?

[@TheMediaHoarder]

I worked at their main office the last 5 years they were in business. Glad you mentioned that it closed because a liquidation firm was the highest bidder, they didn’t just decide to go out of business like some accounts say. Best Buy and Target KILLED Tower on new release pricing. They sold new and popular titles for less than wholesale cost, just to get people into their stores. There was no way Tower could match that without losing money. I even got some things at those stores cheaper than I could with my employee discount at Tower. It was SO nice of those stores to then decide they don’t really want to sell media at all after helping to put the REAL stores out of business. I hope Best Buy is the next to go under.

[@nap871]

It's calledcompetition. It's not nice but it served the buyer. Would you still prefer a world where you were forced to buy from your neighborhood pharmacist who jacked prices at a rate that the mafia considered obscene.

[@bloqk16]

@TheMediaHoarder . . . Since you worked at Tower in its final years, something I want to share with you as a Tower retail employee in 1978 ~ 79: It surprised me when I learned that Russ Solomon had lived to the year 2018, as when I saw him at the store I worked at in the Spring of 1979, he looked a good decade or two older than his 53 years; which I only found out about his birth year upon his passing. In the online images I've seen about Russ, he looked healthier in his latter years than he did in 1979.

[@TheMediaHoarder]

@@bloqk16 I met him a few times, he never seemed really old to me. This was from 2001-07.

[@TheMediaHoarder]

@@nap871 In this case, the competition put these stores out of business and THEN stopped selling movies and music, when they were the only places left where you could buy it.

[@urrrccckostan]

I was just today thinking about how I rarely ever bought cds new. Maybe only a handful of times. I relied on used places. Moby Disc, Aron’s records, etc. Then came cd burning and I don’t think I bought another cd after 2000 or 2001

[@KatAdVictoriam]

I only just finished your Toys R US video and now you've given us this? My new favorite channel on YT. I love these deep dives in business/retail nostalgia. Thanks for the work you're doing!

[@lordmaul3]

Tower Records sold imports and hard to find CD's that were out-of-print that you couldn't get at your local Walmizzy. I was looking for "The Real Chuckeeboo" album released in 1988 by the UK R&b known as Loose Ends. One day I drove to the Tower Records in Buckhead Atlanta and struck gold. I was looking it for years. It was an import CD straight from England.

[@bloqk16]

Yes! You brought up a point about Tower back in the 1970s that differentiated itself from other record retailers: Import albums. Generally, the vinyl on imports were of a better quality that what was made in the US. Imports also offered song titles by artists that US labels no longer carried. I recall Rockabilly artist Carl Perkins was among the selections found in the Import section at Tower; whereas there were no domestic titles of Perkins albums to be found.

[@lordmaul3]

@@bloqk16 They didn't have a Tower Records store in my hometown of Kankakee, Illinois when I was a youngster. I discovered them when I moved to Atlanta back in the fall of 1989. At the time I was still listening to cassette tapes on my Boombox and Sony Walkman before I eventually transitioned to CD's. The transition was slow because CD's and CD Players were hella expensive back in the 1990's. Yes the majority of the hard to find music and out-of-print albums I purchased was at Tower Records. That's a fact.

[@scottnichols3685]

Sometime n the last few years or so of Tower Records, I caught their store in Marina del Rey, California falsifying sales tax on their registers. I made a purchase and noticed that the sales tax was quite a bit higher than the normal applicable sales tax for that area. I questioned it, and they attempted to dismiss me. The manager approached me and tried to bully me into accepting his fake math. I threatened to call the police. At that point, he agreed to refund the excess sales tax they charged me. I went home and filed a complaint with the police over the phone against the store. The store soon closed in advance of the whole chain going out of business. It is clear to me that they were pulling some shady stuff to try to bolster their revenues. I can only imagine how many people the Marina del Rey Store cheated before I caught them.

[@nap871]

Nice job. They operate like the govt and think everyone is stupid. It's only most people who are stupid

[@danielcarlson800]

I believe you. People who worked there thought they didn't shit, and all patrons were beneath them. Soon after I decided to switch to FYE, Tower folded.

[@Tieflingsbian]

my uncle worked at the last/first tower records until it closed, until it became r5. i remember him talking about the closing. he really loved that job.

[@SmithCommaBenjamin]

The record labels' greed destroyed more than album sales

[@mysticakhenaton1701]

TRUE THAT.

[@Trainfan1055Janathan]

"No music, no life"? I hear that phrase a lot in Japanese songs. Is that a Tower Records reference?

[@TheMediaHoarder]

@@Trainfan1055Janathan Yes, it was one of their slogans.

[@michaelmoraga2926]

Tower (and it's merchandise and slogans) still exists in Japan. Greetings from Kobe.

[@BrettShadow]

I hate walmart.... like... a lot... but they aren't responsible for the decline of any music/album retail stores. Walmart has always carried the censored/clean/radio edit versions of albums. So while they did sell some music obviously and they had some exclusive artists (Garth Brooks), their album sales didn't have a significant impact.

[@gedaman]

@@BrettShadow It’s ironic now how you can buy the explicit version of albums at Walmart now, but only on vinyl which is expensive.

[@BrettShadow]

@@gedaman Wow I didn't know they finally started selling explicit. I think a lot of the initial decision to not sell explicit records was likely due to the original vision of Sam Walton. I don't know anything for a fact but I do know that Sam Walton was a very genuine and wholesome man. So I wouldn't be surprised if that decision wasn't made by the Walton's in accordance with Sam's moral vision for his stores if not even by Sam himself. I think the family has less control now than they have had historically so decisions like that are likely out of their hands at this point.

[@gedaman]

@@BrettShadow I read in Rolling Stone a long time ago that it was Christian mothers or something that influenced Walmart to not allow explicit content album sales. K-Mart followed suit for the longest time until the early 2000s. I was surprised to find Jay-Z’s Vol. 2 Hard Knock Life on vinyl for sale at Walmart and see that giant parental advisory symbol on the corner along with Kendrick Lamar’s Good Kid Maad City and some other dirty rap albums like 2Pac’s Greatest Hits. Maybe they are allowing it since it’s vinyl and maybe there are no edited versions?

[@ntag411]

I've noticed the start of the decline in leisure from the early 90s. From the decline of shopping malls, physical media sales to physical media rentals, the end of the Cold War appears to have made a real impact. Online media sales in the form of streaming and controlled downloads have never yielding the revenue of physical media. The studios for movies and music have largely disappeared.

[@Blanco_Meow]

Vinyl actually wears out, just like cds, if you take care of it that yea it’ll last a long time but it’s not forever. I’ll also never forget the interview were Ozzy Osborne stated how much he hated vinyl and how much he thought it sounded like shit, he was like: “why is everyone buying them the quality is not good, you hipsters” 😂

[@bloqk16]

Huh!? How could Ozzy Osborne make such a statement about sound quality when considering his music career must have damaged his hearing.

[@dravenlee4473]

I hated their prices but I loved shopping there every chance I could get. Sometimes technology sucks. There was something special about everyone going to a place for music to buy music. Also, less can be more. If you spent $18 on a CD, you are going to wear it out and appreciate it. Not just skip to the next song on your streaming service of millions of songs. At least vinyl and indie shops still exist.

[@JohnSegerclucka]

Disc rot is exaggerated. Out of the hundreds of CDs I have purchased since the 1980s, I've never had one that rotted

[@roderickcortez138]

Seriously. I have CDs that I bought back in the mid 90's and they still play perfectly.

[@janath9118]

Sometimes cracks may appear on certain CD's and deterioration can start.

[@jesuszamora6949]

Disc rot is usually a result of poor manufacture. Early disc formats like laserdisc had issues where the two wafers weren't sealed all the way, resulting in air getting in between them and corroding the data layer. Not something you see a lot today.

[@janath9118]

@jesuszamora6949 Thank you for sharing this information! 😊

[@bloqk16]

Ah! That's marvelous about covering the aspect of the CDs being pricey, but they were cheap to produce. Some people I was acquainted with in the record business anecdotally informed me that based upon manufacturing cost for the CD, a record company, when subtracting the expense of marketing, could financially break-even after a quantity of 5K CDs were sold. That business model of low-volume sales/profits was based upon the record companies re-releasing 1960s ~ 70s albums on CDs in the 1990s.

[@Attmay]

I think the last time I actually went into a Tower Records was to buy a Peggy Lee CD in New York City a few months before 9/11. By that time, I was buying more reissues than new music by a wide margin. Unlike Rex Reed, I paid for my music.

[@michaell8722]

Grew up blocks away from Tower theater, in the Land Park neighborhood, and remember walking to the theater, record and bookstore… unfortunately they didn’t adapt to the changing times..

[@Slowleek]

Tower records was the best back in the day.

[@paisan8766]

My dad is a music nut and took me into our local Tower records as a kid probably over a thousand times. It gave me an appreciation for music, but I think my brother, 7 years my junior, who also experienced this, was really affected by this experience. He’s the true music fanatic. Thanks, Dad!… and Tower Records

[@modravoda]

i don't miss physical media, but the tower records i used to go to was great. it had separate, and huge, sections for both jazz and classical. things i didn't know much about at the time, but wanted to. want a ring cycle conducted by solti? they had it. if you didn't know you wanted that, they'd tell you. want to get into jazz? rock up and say "i don't know anything about jazz, but want to. where should i start?" they guy walks down an aisle, grabs a compilation from Blue Note Records, and hands it over. want to go free form and say: "tell me something that if i don't know about i should stop everything i'm doing and listen to it" no matter whom you talked to, they'd give you at least three suggestions...and all of them were pretty great.

[@roymoxley2587]

If you don’t own physical media You own nothing Period .

[@beezelite]

I built my life around collecting music and Tower was the place to do it. In NY there were 3 stores well in reach and it was always an adventure. Worked there for a year too and that was a great situation with the discount. I love streaming and will purchase a physical copy of anything I like and can find.

[@matthewprince9705]

I loved the fact that there were floors for each genre!

[@unr3alGaming]

Yet another brand which was once iconic that fell. Thinking on it for a bit, I realized just about every single store that I really enjoyed going to in my youth is now gone. KB Toys, Toys R Us, CompUSA, Ames, Sears, Circuit City, EB Games, Software Etc, Sam Goody, OfficeMax, Radio Shack, FYE, Payless Shoe Source, Blockbuster, Video Update and of course GameStop, although not actually gone completely, has been struggling for years and all of the nearby locations that once stood as recent as a year ago are now gone, even the ones inside the malls. And meanwhile here I am trying to give the local Best Buy and record store some business to try to keep their lights on, likely in vain. The last two times I went to GameStop, I actually bought their disc protection plan just to throw them a few extra dollars. I remember when I was much younger, I applied for a job at GameStop and was offered a position, but they offered me several dollars less an hour than I had just been making in another retail job, resulting in me turning them down.

[@moldyapples]

Oh man, you're making this boomer feel OLD! Used to spend a lot of time at the Towers in Campbell & Mountain View, CA. Bought so many electronic parts at Radio Shack, Craftsman tools at Sears, even Fry's is gone! Just think, here in the heart of Silicon Valley, you can't go to a store and buy a friggin' resistor! (If you know someplace, PLEASE tell me) Well, that's enough rambling for this old codger, I think it's time for my nap…👴

[@stampscapes]

Great vid. For a long time, going to Tower Sunset was like going to the music store Mecca. Spent a lot of late hours in their stores all around S. Calif as they closed at midnight.

[@miket2646]

I still believe that Bestbuy and Circuit City slaughtered all of the cd chains due to pricing. Same/better selection, tons of locations, significantly cheaper. Sam Goody, FyE, Tower, Blockbuster Music etc.

[@PhilLesh69]

In 1999 one of the cashiers at tower records in tysons corner Virginia told me about this new thing called mp3. That evening I started ripping my entire CD collection and tagging each track and scraping for album covers. And I ran an online cd store at the time.

[@roaddawg3217]

Yep, if I can buy everything you sell for 30% cheaper because I bought tons, I can sell it for 10% PM and run you right outta town 😂

[@miket2646]

@@roaddawg3217 I worked for bestbuy over 20 years ago and they were very forward about using software as a way to get people into the stores. They knew that cds, games, and movies were the biggest purchases by quantity and that while you're there, you see all the other stuff for sale. So sure... they might only make $0.25 on selling you a CD.. but 20 CD's later, you just automatically show up at a bestbuy when your refrigerator breaks. Need a new computer? Brain goes straight to bestbuy because youre always there for music/movies etc.

[@TheMediaHoarder]

They did, and it was SO nice of Best Buy to NOW decide they don’t really want to sell media AFTER putting all the real media stores out of business. I hope Best Buy goes under now.

[@Equality-7-2521]

That was part of the decline for sure. They used CDs as a loss leader, sometimes opening right across the street, and Tower couldn't compete.

[@sophist1cated]

I expanded my musical horizon by far in the internet age. All those digital streaming services are a blessing opposite from physical media. Physical media in the 90s were expensive so only a limited amount of albums were purchased.

[@giorgioandmusic]

As a musician, this story hits home given that the circumstances that led to tower records downfall also led to a drastically different landscape for career musicians/artists. Nowadays, making good music isn’t the priority, it’s content/social media. I kinda wish Solomon was right and we’d still appreciate physical sales for music cus now we have a generation of insanely talented people making damn tik toks just to make money and pay the rent.

[@nap871]

What they call 70s classic rock will still be listened to in 250 years from now. It will age like classical music and stand the test of time. It's the only thing a a hand full off boomers got right.

[@c.7610]

Thank you for this great video essay about Tower Records. I loved the footage inside a Tower Store in what looks to be about 1984! One thing I would like to add: Tower Records also had the best, most extensive classical section I’ve ever seen outside of actual classical specialty stores. I don’t know if this was true of all locations, but my local Tower’s classical section was in a big separate room where there was always an employee behind the counter who actually knew what they were talking about. I can’t honestly say that I miss Tower Records-hey, there are lots of places to buy music-but it was a great store, for a while.

[@CopingContinuous]

My father loved tower records all his life, I wish he had gotten to see them be revived in this new form. Thanks for this video, it was a little like getting to talk to him again.

[@jeffbushway8228]

Im really enjoying your business themed videos! can't wait to see more. thankyou for making them!

[@vivangreco1710]

This one really gets me. I really liked Tower. I spent way too much time and money there. Even as a big chain, it felt like a place that was about the love of music.

[@MrMichaelbsmith6420]

No, the internet killed off slot of businesses that use to sell product like records tapes and cds, then music streaming took care of all that and that's one thing that made a record chain successful then, you could go into a location in your favorite mall and spend hours on end browsing while new releases were being played in order to get you to purchase or some had stations where you could pick from new releases and slip on headphones so you wouldn't be bothering others. As a teen I worked at a store called A&A records at the time KISS Destroyer was released in 1976 and I had to put up the main display for release day, this was when the group was just starting their climb to success after Alive the year before and just to be a part of that was one of the best memories I have to this day but now, that's something you don't have with music streaming and actually holding the record in your hands and reading liner notes on the album

[@michaelgregory2231]

I am Sacramento born and raised and my mother bought records from Russ Solomon out of the spot his parents gave him in their Tower Drug store when they were both teenagers in the '50s. Had SO many friends that worked at Tower and I still have a tinge of sadness every time I drive past the original standalone location on Watt Ave, very close to my home. I live near Russ Solomon's final home and reminisce when walking or driving past it.

[@pumpkinbread7182]

Grew up in Sacramento with Tower Records just a short bike ride away; it was almost a second home. Solomon was right…owning physical media is the better choice over digital subscriptions these days. And buying music at Walmart is just…weird.

[@dylives7667]

50 thousand records used to be stocked there. Now it's a Supreme store.

[@johnmorrison5502]

I lived right by Tower Cafe/Theater when Tower Records was closing down and he opened R5 records in the old Tower Records on that intersection across the street from Tower Cafe/Theater. My band played in there. He tried to keep the music going even in the end.

[@Techpriest]

Minimum Advertised Price Policy (MAPP) is not illegal and is still commonly used in many scenarios today. It does not prohibit sellers from selling at lower prices, they're simply not allowed to advertise lower prices directly.

[@gedaman]

I don’t get that. I remember in the late ‘90s the Sunday newspaper used to advertise new release CDs for $11.99 at Best Buy and Circuit City.

[@Techpriest]

@@gedaman MAPP is usually distributor specific and not universal. You can also break it, it's not illegal, it just means if you get caught they will either warn you or not sell to you, but you can still get it from other distributors.

[@williamestes629]

I prefer physical media over digital media because I see them as more reliable.

[@CatFish107]

The only way to sustainably maintain access to music is a captive breeding and training program for your personal live band.

[@LoveToRelax]

Oh, man... I remember going to Tower Records in Copley Square with my girlfriend around midnight on Saturday nights when I was in college. We'd sneak in beer and hang out in the listening booths and find music by bands we'd never heard of. Great memories.

[@Williameagleblanket]

I been to Tower Records in San Diego, LA, Seattle, Honolulu. They were awesome stores. I spent hours checking out metal bands records. 🎸🤘

[@Equality-7-2521]

Can confirm. Management kept saying the rapid expansion and setting up stores in places that had no chance of being profitable would be seen as a sign that the company was growing, increase perceived value, and allow them to take out even more loans. Three years later they weren't paying distributors.

[@sheldonduffy9442]

You reminded me of how fun it used to be to go to the record store, and the video store for that matter. It was fun going through the stacks and looking for the latest music. I would like to get into vinyl… but it is so dang expensive !!!

[@jhonwask]

I have loved records fo 55 years and will still keep buying them. Digital downloads are great for convenience, but they are not lasting. I like CD's and tapes, too but I would rather have the record. I went to the Tower in Manhattan a few times and it was a wonderful experience. I could find pop, rock, classical and whatever else. They had everything. If only they would bring back pre-recorded 1/4" open reel tapes, I'd be in heaven.

[@JamesHenry-o8m]

I even had been to the store in West Hollywood- that was quite a place to shop for records, because you never know what you might find....

[@veronicamija4668]

I worked at Tower Records in Torrance Ca. In the ealy 2000s. It was the greatest time of my life.

[@anthonyamato6367]

Billy Corgan put up a Tower Records storefront at his tea shop for the 30th anniversary of Siamese Dream in 2023. They had bags and tshirts etc it was pretty cool.

[@princesskristan]

The Tower Records by my house was turned into a CPK but I loved going there as a kid. I still have my DVD copy of The Wiz that my mom got me as a surprise

[@Eisenheim1191]

My very first metal concert tickets were bought inside Tower Records. Specifically, at the Ticketmaster counter. Yep... I'm that old, we used to actually be able to buy the physical tickets and have them in hand months before the show. I still have my collection of stubs going back almost 25 years.

[@JamesHenry-o8m]

The first store they showed in color was the San Francisco location at Columbus and Bay. I used to go there all the time; boy do I miss tower records 😢😢😢😢😢

[@bartonpercival3216]

Me too. I remember in the summer of 1979 that store was playing Cheap Trick at Budokan over their in house stereo speakers 24/7. That's how I learned about Cheap Trick and became a big fan. That store was so much fun. I'd browse in that store for hours listening to all of the many vinyl records, then going to the wharf and getting a crab cocktail and sourdough french bread!!!!! 👍🎸

[@dallasguy3306]

Fairly new sub, liking your channel. We had an iconic Tower Records in Oak Lawn, a gayborhood in Dallas. Very nice, large store at the corner of Lemmon Ave. and Oak Lawn Ave. That corner has had numerous tenants who've come and gone. It's now a Verizon store. I liked the place because it had a massive jazz and classical music selection downstairs. Yes, upon entering you walked down, into a paradise of classical CDs. I had a Penguin Guide to Classical Music, a British outfit. Every month or so I'd go thru it looking for selections with "rosettes," the best stuff. More often than not, I walked out with at least one CD. I have an extensive collection, thanks to Tower Records of Dallas. My late mother started her jazz collection there. Great memories. Now I buy my Gen Z niece "new" releases of classic rock that cost $40+.

[@richardthunderbay8364]

I spent many happy hours browsing through the CDs at the Tower Records near where I lived , just off the campus of Arizona State. I was really unhappy when that location closed. The place had a great atmosphere and I discovered music artists that I wouldn't have otherwise.

[@vpolite1]

I worked at Tower from 1987-2000. The announcer gets a few things wrong. The picture of the 1st 'stand alone' store he shows is actually the Bay & Columbus store that opened in 1968. It built the chain. Tower started dying in the mid-90s. Overly priced CDs and Internet killed. Tower also carried something you'll never find at Walmart, deep catalog. Walmart only carries the latest hits. Today, people only want the latest hit songs.

[@ChrisM-wq5us]

The store in the thumbnail is the Carl Place store in Westbury, long Island NY. I use to shop there a lot. Miss my teen years.

[@PaulWildstar]

Bellevue Tower Records/Videos/Books is in the House! We had a two-story location in downtown Bellevue, Washington from 1987 until 2002. It was open until midnight every single day. I had hoped to work there for many decades but in the end, it lasted about 15 years. Long live the Music Stores- the younger generation doesn't know what they're missing...

[@pcs9518]

Most of my cds came from Tower Records. Until they closed it is where I bought them from exclusively.

[@johnrobinson5156]

I recall the in-store Head Shop where smoking accessories, incense, lava lamps, black & strobe lights and posters of Farah Fawcett Majors were sold

[@stormbringercoming8105]

I grew up about 2.5 hours from the nearest Tower Records (Tysons Corner, MD). I used to go there about 4-5 times a year. I can’t begin to tell you how much I looked forward to going there with a couple of hundred bucks and splurging to feed my musical thirst. There were other stores in DC that I would frequent. But Tower Records will always be a special place. South Street Tower Records in Philadelphia too. Good times.

[@rubshandswithdelight]

Tapes did not replace vinyl; That was taken over by CD's. Small size, compact, and no concerns with warp/scratches.

[@adamwalcott_official]

Interesting video! I lived in Tokyo for a year in the late 90s and the Shibuya Tower Records, which still exists, was the most amazing store I'd ever seen. Coincidentally, I moved to Tokyo from Folsom CA, and the high school I attended was literally across the street from the Folsom Dimple Records, where I purchased Evil Empire the day it came out.

[@davidgonzales9039]

I got 1 cd from Walmart in high school in the 90s. It was censored. That was the first and last cd I got from Walmart. RIP physical media.

[@bennyblanco14]

I used to go to tower records on Broadway and Dimples Records aswell. They even had a tower records on K Street, downtown Sacramento

[@hailmaryrecordings8255]

I worked at Tower Records in Reno Nevada in the mid-90’s and it was the perfect job for me at the time. I only left because I got a job in radio... Another dead format. Today’s young really missed an amazing time.

[@charleshays5407]

Going to Tower Records was like a religious experience, and living in Los Angeles, the store in West Hollywood was like going to church.

[@djk2884]

Thank you for the great history of Tower Records. Very much enjoyed the video.

[@channelite]

I remember tower records had the listening stations where i listen to rage against the machine, quicksand and entombed. Located right near my high school and a stop on the 1 & 9 train.

[@Uncle_Smidge]

"Was it WaLmArT again?!" is such a mood in general

[@danielcarlson800]

Willingly And Leisurely Making America Really Tacky

[@danielcarlson800]

I frequented the West Covina location regularly. Great selection. Some staff were cool, other's were "out there". Closed in '06.

[@bloqk16]

I had to deal with those that were 'out there' when I worked at Tower. Example: Two sober appearing employees take their break together, with venturing out into the parking lot at night. When they return, half-closed bloodshot eyes with slurred speech. Management looked in the other direction.

[@danielcarlson800]

@@bloqk16 👍

[@DubbPP]

I remember having my friends tell me my cd was in tower records and walmart... then walking in tower records and walmart and seeing it for myself

[@cnmathias5187]

As someone who grew up in Sacramento, Tower Records was expensive but the Virgin Megastore at the theatre building at Arden Fair Mall was more expensive.

[@kriscynical]

I miss music stores. We had a Camelot and Sam Goody in our mall once upon a time, and a stand alone Blockbuster Music which was _fantastic._ They were the first place I ever encountered listening stations to preview an album before buying it.

[@ugaais]

I discovered more bands and different types of music wandering around record stores with my friends. In my opinion the record store is the best way for more people to like different types of music.

[@bartonpercival3216]

I remember the Tower Records in San Francisco's fisherman's wharf area on Bay street & Columbus ave. Bought so much vinyl from that store. Because in the summer of 1979 Tower was playing Cheap Trick at Budokan over their in store speakers 24/7, i bought that album and became a huge fan of that band!!!! 👍🎸

[@BiroZombie]

Tower Records was my go-to spot for buying CDs. If I was looking for some rare album, no matter how obscure, they always had it.

[@DylanPorto45]

this is to serve as a reminder that if a company can survive after being fined/paying settlements, they weren’t fined enough.

[@ryanm573]

The sad thing is that digital and physical media coexist now very well together, though it’s a more niche market for physical media. They’re a diehard fans to go out of their way to obtain it.

[@giovannisynthesis]

When you stream you only stream the same albums. Sometimes you forget those awesome bands you used to listen to. Physical CDs triggers old memories when you see them and open the album.

[@remnantsofasoundblast]

There is no such thing as "The Death of Music" it's simply available, purchased and accessible in new forms. Many of us don't like it but it will never go away

[@Tconlon251_2]

I actually recognize the store in the thumbnail. I’m 99% sure it was in the Country Glen Center in Carle Place, NY. If you look on Google, most of the shopping center has been updated, except for the Guitar Center & PC Richard. For some reason, those 2 stores still have the same red & white facade from the ‘80s/‘90s

[@davidsecord6412]

When I was in medical school in Philadelphia, I loved a respite from studying by going to South Street and wasting some time at Tower Records. I loved it there. The amount of new music and new artists and new genres of music I discovered while wandering the aisles was amazing. I was crushed when I found out that they closed as a business, just as I was crushed when I heard that Fry's closed.

[@jamesrevell6475]

I recently visited the website to replace some CDs that were scratched. None of the titles I wanted were available. I made a wishlist of about 30 CDs I wanted to replace. Not a single CD that I wanted was in stock. I was doing everything possible to avoid Amazon because I have had issues with low quality bootlegs from Amazon. I figured Tower was reliable and the real deal. I am very disappointed to hear they are going out of business. I guess Amazon wins again.

[@After_these_messages]

The times.... they are a'changin though. Physical media is going to be back full-force in ten years. People are so , so, soooooo incredibly sick of subscriptions.

[@ALCO-C855-fan]

17:39 - YEEEEE-HAAAAAA!!!!!!! That's what I wanna hear!

[@lucasdude]

grew up in the sacramento area & used to go to the watt & sunrise stores a lot. really hope they can re-open some stores in the future

[@jasonleetaiwan]

Time to go back to CD’s. Too many things not on streaming platforms.

[@timinthe704]

The first Tower Records I visited was in DC in Summer 1989. While attending a Navy public health "C School" in Oakland CA from mid Jan to 31JUL1993, I found a Tower Records on Market St. in SF, the other store on Broadway to a bit too far off the beaten path. Likewise upon returning stateside back to the SF Bay area from Japan, I picked up continuing upgrading my music collection and the musical gurus must have heard my wishes as there now two music outlets that I could frequent without having to take a taxi...that was Virgin Records MegaStore near Union Square in SF. Just hop in the MUNI and a few stops, a short walk in either direction, there was music heaven so to speak. Thus, whether stationed in the SF Bay Area, the Seattle area or San Diego, Chicago, not so much in NC after returning to my home state after retiring from the Navy in the mid Spring 2004, though there was one or two in Atlanta, but I only made it there as the company was liquidating. Glad to know that Tower Records now has a web store, so I have to check that out for sure. Perhaps, Tower Records will become a proverbial Phoenix rising from the flames. Great memories nonetheless.

[@rabblerouser5559]

Internet piracy drove business to the record stores at the turn of the century. Something the music industry never understood, but the original Napster was like a souped-up mix-tape that nerds shared and turned people on to bands they’d never heard. Then my 15 year old self went to the store and bought the actual albums. Napster sold me as many albums as main stream radio did in those days.