All Things Must Pass

[tmazz]

Tom Hanks' son Colin has finished his documentary on the history of Tower Records called "All Things Must Pass".

http://www.npr.org/sections/therecord/2015/10/20/450038047/the-life-and-death-of-tower-records-revisited

As someone who spent many years making regular "pilgrimages" to the Tower Records in NYC, I for one look forward to seeing this film. Unfortunately, the article does not mention a release date, but I am keeping an eye out for it.

[tmazz]

At least we still have PREX..........

[richidoo]

Tower in Boston opened while I was attending Berzerklee School of Music which was one block away. The building was designed by famous architect Frank Gehry, and had the largest classical record display anywhere, iirc. CDs were just coming in, but it was still a novelty. 3 gigantic floors of music, probably >10,000 sf per floor. Jazz and world music on top floor, classical in the middle, pop and rock on the first floor. Between Tower and Looney Tunes used (and cutout) record shop we had it made in the shade.

The Tower explosion was fueled by the peak in record sales, which was caused by the peak in popular music quality. It all fell down when the business went digital, allowing easy music theft and DIY record producers to make rap. Both of which dissueded long term investment in talent development, so the whole thing dried up. The final bullet was video games, Mario Brothers on Nintendo stole the attention of kids who would otherwise have stay with music as their primary entertainment. Video killed the Radio Star.  But it is all natural evolution. Change happens!

Thanks for the heads up, Tom

[tmazz]

Tower in Boston opened while I was attending Berzerklee School of Music which was one block away. The building was designed by famous architect Frank Gehry, and had the largest classical record display anywhere, iirc. CDs were just coming in, but it was still a novelty. 3 gigantic floors of music, probably >10,000 sf per floor. Jazz and world music on top floor, classical in the middle, pop and rock on the first floor. Between Tower and Looney Tunes used (and cutout) record shop we had it made in the shade.

The Tower explosion was fueled by the peak in record sales, which was caused by the peak in popular music quality. It all fell down when the business went digital, allowing easy music theft and DIY record producers to make rap. Both of which dissueded long term investment in talent development, so the whole thing dried up. The final bullet was video games, Mario Brothers on Nintendo stole the attention of kids who would otherwise have stay with music as their primary entertainment. Video killed the Radio Star.  But it is all natural evolution. Change happens!

Thanks for the heads up, Tom

Oh, not doubt Tower's demise was pretty much inevitable given the changes in the market. I am interested in the film because I (as well as I would think many others here on AN) lived through and was a part of that evolution.

Kids today don't understand the value of a good record store back then. They are used to having Amazon and the like, which put pretty much put every LP ever released at your fingertips with no more effort than a 15 second search. Back in the day you went to a local record store and your selection was limited to whatever the shop decided to stock. And if you wanted jazz or classical your choices were even more limited.  Most of those local stores were 1500 -200 square ft, how much could they actual stock?

Then came Tower Records, which like Rich said had multiple 10,000+ foot floors. The jazz and classical sections alone each had several times more floor space than any record store I had ever seen had for their entire inventory. I spent many an afternoon lost in that store just marveling the variety of what they had. And never, ever came away empty handed.

Good times. 

[sleepyguy24]

I too can't wait for this documentary to come out. I loved going to tower records and looking through the music. Sometimes for me it was daunting to talk to the people that worked there because they knew so much about music and I didn't at the time. They were still cool to me. I remember I was at the Tower Records in Philadelphia and I was picking up a bunch CDs. I heard store clerks behind me discussing horrible dance remixes of 80s tracks coming out at the time and then seeing a women opening up a PlayGirl magazine in the store getting caught and blushing. You can't get that at shopping on Amazon.

[tmazz]

You certainly can't. 

[Nick B]

Used to go to the Tower Records in Hollywood, CA all the time. Great fun going with my buddy. Really miss those times