Anybody got any good stories of this store from back in the day, like going to see a band and get autographs or whatever? Please share. I'll start. Back in the 80s, my friends and I heard about this contest with Iron Maiden coming to town. It had to have been the World Piece Tour for "Piece of Mind" album circa 1983 (damn). One or two bandmembers were supposed to make an appearance to sign autographs and judge an art contest of "who could come up with the best Iron Maiden art?" to win tickets and backstage passes. I believe it was Nicko (the "new drummer at the time) and one of the guitarist of whom I don't recall. So, three friends and I went to work on doing an "Eddie" artwork theme of the ugly bloak emerging from a bed of flames. I'm the least artistic person I know when it comes to drawing. So, I mostly did the coloring of the flames where it was hard to mess up. Lol. The artistic friend drew the outlines of everything to get started. It turned out pretty well. It was pretty dang big art poster...about 5' tall and half that wide. Anyway, we finish the art poster and take it up to TTNR. We're standing in this big ass room full of people waiting on our art to be judged except...doh...where are they? They've got a concert tonite at the Summit at 7:30 pm start and it's getting kind of late. I guess no problem for them since they had opening acts (Fastway and Saxon were the openers). We're standing around for a long time waiting. Apparently, their limo is stuck in traffic. So, we had to blow it off because we had to drive to The Summit and use our own tickets to see the show. We wanted to make the show in time. The whole event felt like a clusterf. I don't even know if they ever showed up. Not sure if we left the poster to be judged. I think we did. So, don't even have a picture of that. That was really my one and only time to go to TTNR. It was a surreal experience with the crowd and all the contestant work waiting to be judged. But, no band members? They were trying to drive in at rush hour. Doh! Don't remember the show itself funnily. Remember a little bit about the "Powerslave" tour show. I think that was the one where Bruce Dickinson made the proclamation to fans, "They say we are worshippers of Satan. But, we just like to play metal and put on a good show!" or something very close to that. I just remember Iron Maiden shows were way fun back then. I remember camping out at Almeda Mall for the "Powerslave" concert ticket buying and being in line. Camped out 3 - 5 times. Never did get a front row ticket camping out. Got one once online for Rush R30 tour, though, in a ticket presale. Total elation. Once was fifth in line for ZZ Top and the lady couldn't figure out how to pull up the floor seats when sale opened. Are you effin' kidding? A friend was front in line and he was a scalper so he was off the rails pissed. Never did like that Almeda TicketTron/TicketMaster/TicketWhatever location. Texas Tapes n'Records - Rockin Houston
Man never heard of it. Maybe I was born too late (77?). Doesn’t ring a bell. Ones I went to: Record Exchange Sound Warehouse Cactus Soundwaves Galleria Sam Goody and damn what was the other one in there? Senior moment. edit: Hastings!
TTNR remains one of the best jobs I had the pleasure of doing. During a break from college, I worked primarily in the head shop portion of the store in the first year of opening, but also did time stocking LP's and whatnot. I cannot say how much fun we had working there, and I remain friends with the owner Jeff "Doo Dah" Hammer to this day. This was shortly after they opened and before they exploded onto the scene with with their awesome in-store meet and greets. My tenure pre-dated most of those pics on that website you listed. I was the skinny dude with the long hair working the head shop with the hot chicks that he would hire for "eye candy" in the store. Good times... When I went back to college, Jeff arranged for me to get a job at the local record store and head shop in my college town. Called the owner and said, "Hey, hire this guy." With that call, I got a job at the other record store that put me through college and then some. I worked there for several years. Thank you, Jeff.
I’m pretty sure I wandered in there when I was first striking out from Alvin and exploring H-Town, but it wasn’t a cultural center that my friends and I pursued. We had Baybrook Mall which was good enough for most of our music needs. Every picture on that site has a skinny dude with long hair.
LOL...you're right about the long haired skinny dudes, but it was much more than a record store and was a hub that took care of multiple non-music-related needs...
so….only been there once. For the Powerslave tour. Not sure if Iron Maiden was even supposed to be there, but W.A.S.P. was. LONG line for autographs, so we just walked up to the barrier to see what the opening band looked like in the flesh. They were busy signing autographs, but everyone behind the barrier was trying to get their attention by yelling “BLACKIE, BLACKIE!!!!” In their deepest, lowest, metal sounding voice possible. So my buddy screams in the highest, gayest voice possible, “ohhhhh yoo hoooo, Blackie!” Blackie Lawless looks up and right at us and growls “WHAT!?!” Really stupid memory, but indelible nonetheless.
I never took W.A.S.P. seriously as a band. That whole “drinking fake blood from a skull” schtick didn’t do it for me. I remember watching that and just thought it was ridiculous. I will say that it was memorable,however, as I do remember it and my reaction. lol
Was that the record store with posters at the back of the store and head shop with smoking stones, roach clips, and bongs to the front right when you walked in?
LOL The few kids people considered chubby back then were half the size of some of the kids now days. It's funny looking at old yearbooks. My junior year lots of boys started growing their hair out after Pasadena ISD got rid of their short hair requirement.
Yes, that head shop was the Walmart of head shops. I sold many a triple-beam, bongs, coke spoons, you name it. It was on Spencer in Pasadena. It was my introduction to capitalism, wherein we'd buy a display of 20+ coke spoons on chains for $3 and sell each one for $10. We'd use lures like that to say, "Hey, if you buy this, this, and this, I'll throw in this coke spoon for free..."
Yeah, I remember the 70s and 80s. Every dude in Buffalo Wild Wings would be considered a ****** back then.
