though a part of me wants to reach for the standard laissez-faire axioms that imply a sophisticated attitude of economic realism in the face of group sentimentality--they didn't make any attempt to adapt their business to their changing market, they should have seen the writing on the wall, etc.--i must confess: i'm sad to hear of sam's demise.

i used to enjoy their saturday morning door-crasher sales and cursed the fact that i rarely had a chance to do the boxing day sales thing (stupid family holiday commitments). what i remember most about record shopping at sam the record man in the mid to late 1980s was not so much the records that i bought but the records that i longed to buy and couldn't because i was only a teenager with a part-time job and limited disposable cash. i always enjoyed flipping through a band's ouevre, pulling out the occassional japanese import or marvelling at the coloured vinyl records featuring interviews of the band. when i did make a purchase, it was only after an hour of making my way through the entire pop alphabet, and at least another half hour of gut-wrenching decision-making.

as for the future, agree that it's just a matter of time before the hmvs of the world reformat or go away entirely. it's likely that any music buyer interested in physical media will have some option to create customized discs of music available in digital form or even load up memory sticks from a selection of songs from a kiosk (like starbucks began doing a few years ago in select stores in the los angeles area). the days of retailers holding onto large or any quantities of music, on the off-chance that passersby may stroll in to browse or even buy their wares is long gone.

and while searching through an online database of downloadable music is so convenient, there's something to be said for communal inconvenience of standing in a crowded, poorly renovated (in the mid-1990s, sam's must have redesigned their store a half dozen times, to little improvement of traffic flow or navigation) and picking out a treasure to take home.

also with the past, as you may well know, it was 40 years ago today that a certain album was released by a certain band. i recall reading all the articles in 1987 that began with a quote from the first two lines from the opening song on this album and thinking, "in 20 years time, will i look back at any of the albums of 1987 with the same type of nostaglia?" now that 2 decades have passed, i can safely answer, "yes".

1987 is, in fact, one of my favourite years in music. it was the year that the smiths released their last studio album, 'strangeways here we come', as well as 'louder than bombs', a compilation of previously released singles and older tracks. another greatest hits type collection was released by new order in the form of 'substance' a two record (cassettes released months apart in white and blue covers) album that helped me and my friends catch up with all their earlier hits as well as appreciate the new ones, 'true faith' and '1963'.

depeche mode released the single for winningly danceable/singable 'strangelove' in the spring of that year, as well as one of their best songs, imho, 'never let me down again' later that summer in advance of the october release of 'music for the masses', one of their best. the cure's 'kiss me kiss me kiss me', which on initial listen seemed to contain a few gems and a lot of very rough patches, seems more of an accomplishment with each passing year. instant hits like 'just like heaven', and 'why can't i be you' still sound great, quieter tracks like 'catch' and 'one more time' stand out as pretty testaments to robert smiths' lyrical abilities, and the noisy operatics of 'the kiss' and 'like cockatoos' lend a sense of the epic while foreshadowing the broody soundscapes of 1989's 'disintegration'.

possibly my favourite r.e.m. album, 'document', , came out that fall, as did 10,000 maniacs 'in my tribe', which may have been their first and is their best, for me. though they only had two albums, the housemartins figured prominently on my stereo in the 1980s and their second release, 'the people who grinned themselves to death' also came out in 1987 (though several members of the band came out years previously). and another of my favourite bands, echo & the bunnmen released an impressive, eponymously titled album which featured 'lips like sugar', 'lost and found', and 'all my life'.

even bands that were becoming more commercial some great moments--inxs's 'kick', pet shop boys 'actually', the cult 'electric' , prince's 'sign of the times', (though this was definitely not one of his more mainstream albums, it's one of his most varied and interesting).some of the first hip hop that i really listened to--like eric b. and rakim's 'paid in full' and public enemy's 'yo bumb rush the show' also were 1987 albums.

no doubt there are some others i'm missing but you get my long-winded point, which is two-fold: 1) 'it was 20 years ago today' isn't just a nostalgic touchstone for boomers and 2) i love the music of 20 years ago.

vive 1987!