Nickelodeon Records

Down the street from Viva Pops is the iconic Normal Heights sign on the corner of Adams and Felton.

As mentioned in a previous post, my goal was do to do everything on Adams that day...


Before crossing the street, we saw this poster of Stan Lee at the Villainous Lair's gaming shop. This was the week of Comic Con (last week)...

We were also planning to see this exhibit since the art studio was also on Adams!

Our destination was Nickelodeon Records across the street from Viva Pops. I'd been to many (now defunct) record stores in my heydey (Wherehouse, Licorice Pizza, Tower, Blue Meannie, and Off the Record). For some reason, Nickelodeon seemed to be off my radar, despite having been around for 30 years according to the lady working there (she had a cool asymetrical and spiky hairdo!)...

How can I resist the lure of .50 records!?

The store had a cardboard cutout of the Beatles in their collarless Pierre Cardin suits in the famous photoshoot by Dezo Hoffman (1964).

It smelled old and musty inside but it smelled comfortable to me. This is not your corporate music store. No CD's to be found here. Instead, just bins of gently used records that were once loved (or reviled) by their former owners, keeping company with random movie posters (The Hamer horror flick, "The Horror of Dracula" was on the back wall), 45's and other nostalgic flotsam.



TORC and I pored over some of the records bins, finding many gems that we already owned. By marked contrast, TC was not as enamored of this viscerally tactile experience and atmosphere as TORC and I.  Despite her lack of enthusiasm, she was still aware of some of the bands (like the Beatles, the Stones, Aerosmith, etc) since she hears them occasionally when I put my iPod to shuffle.

Back to those .50 albums! Crouching outside, as gracefully as I could with a damn skirt on, I was able to find several albums of interest. One was the Hooters ("And we danced!") and the other was the sophomore effort of one of my favorite chick led bands, The Pretenders, with "Pretenders II"!

Even though I have this on CD AND mp.3, I did NOT have that Pretenders LP, so I plunked down two quarters for this baby. We would have to listen to this later at home. Our stereo system is in our room and holds a mysterious fascination for TC...

"Pretenders II" was released in summer of 1980. I was entering 7th grade and was already quite opinionated about music and had defined musical tastes. I liked Ozzy Osbourne, Def Leppard, Van Halen, Queen, Boston, AC/DC, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, the Cars, the B-52's, and the Police.

Here are some of my favorite songs from "Pretenders II" - Message of Love:

"Talk of the Town" - This has got to be one of their most gorgeous songs ever...

"English Roses"

Asides from Joan Jett, who was also emerging as a solo artist (after leaving the Runaways), Chrissie Hynde was one of the few female rockers that I admired and looked up to. I loved their sense of style. Hynde's strong bangs, her heavy eyeliner and her tough no nonsense attitude as she growled into the mic while wielding a guitar with authority and confidence. She had balls and still does. Of course, this was way before she guest starred on an episode of "Friends" and showed up Phoebe's character with her version of "Smelly Cat"!

Yeah, I used to do my eyeliner like that in 9th grade (and 10th, and 11th!)

So bad-ass!

I think that was .50 well spent for a trip down musical memory lane...

Scratch Nickelodeon Records off the list.

Next up was another place just a few steps away...