Tower-Records Archives

As the ‘Loper who is most in touch with the 15-year-old inside, I had a long conversation with that 15-year-old, and he is a little bit sad about the news that Tower Records is finally dead.

Because when I was a teenager — and for maybe a dozen years after that — the Tower Records in Fresno, California was the greatest place in the entire fracking multiverse, bar none.

Yes, I understand all too well the plethora of market forces that contributed to Tower’s final demise. Over the years, Tower’s share of my disposable income decreased — first it was Columbia House and BMB, then it was used CDs at Ragin’ Records, then it was Amoeba Records, then it was Amazon, then it was Best Buy, then it was iTunes and eMusic — even as my disposable income increased.

On Friday the other shoe finally dropped on the Tower Records franchise.
Tower’s assets were officially sold to a liquidation company as part of a Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceeding. The Tower Records retail chain that so many people know and love is officially dead. Strangely, I won’t miss it.

As a music geek back in the early 80’s I practically grew up at Tower Records. I’d spend hours scouring Tower’s import bins looking for obscure gems to add to the KFSR playlist. These days people talk about building systems to enhance music discovery. Back in the day, Tower Records was the system for music discovery.

Tower maintains what is commonly referred to as a deep catalog. Through the years music geeks have gravitated to Tower because they knew the store stocked even the most obscure recordings. Now, of course, those very same music geeks have numerous alternatives to choose from. The very concept of deep catalog has morphed into the Long Tail and Tower Records has become a victim of the very retail concept that it helped create.

Tower-Records

Requiem For Tower Records

Tower Records Is Dead and I Won’t Miss It Much