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It’s #SonicFriday and today we're celebrating the Compact Disc, the first digital audio format that changed the way we listened to music.
Discover some fun facts about its birth in this thread and share your CD memories with us. We will create a playlist of your songs.
Discover some fun facts about its birth in this thread and share your CD memories with us. We will create a playlist of your songs.
Let’s start our playlist with Beethoven’s Ninth symphony. Even if the German composer didn’t see the birth of digital audio, he managed to influence the CD playing time, which was set to 74 mins to accommodate the longest performance of the Ninth.
The first compact disc in the world was Abba’s The Visitors. It was manufactured in Langenhagen, Germany in 1982.
In our collection we hold the first compact disc made in Britain: The Amazing Mr Smith playing a piano transcription of Beethoven's 7th symphony and Bach's Chaconne.
Do you remember the first CD you bought?
Do you remember the first CD you bought?
In 1981, the Bee Gees’ Living Eyes was used by the presenter Kieran Prendiville in the first public demonstration of the Compact Disc on Tomorrow’s world.
In this video, you can see him scratching the CD surface with a rock, to show its durability!
In this video, you can see him scratching the CD surface with a rock, to show its durability!
Here’s a CD memory from one of our volunteers: “My friend was an early adopter and bought one of the first CD players. The first CD I remember hearing was U2, Sunday Bloody Sunday. It was a different sound compared to vinyls or cassettes."
Our volunteer coordinator was fond of the secret songs: “They weren’t written on the list of songs, and then if you left the CD playing, at the end there used to be a secret song. I do remember Alanis Morrisette had a secret song on her first CD.”
One of our volunteers sent us a picture of his CD case: “You had to take a case of CDs on holiday with your CD player. This is one of mine. The image of the case open shows some giveaway CDs from Glastonbury”.
What’s in your CD case?
What’s in your CD case?
Our volunteers remembered the sound of CD skipping: “The first portable CD players were supposed to be really cool, but they were rubbish. I remember so clearly the sound of CD going LLLLLLLLL... They always skipped when you were running”
Another volunteer shared a memory of a very special CD.
“In 2001, the Priestley Centre for the Arts was on the brink of financial failure. Local punk bands arranged a benefit night and sold the Punk For The Priestley CD to raise extra funds...
“In 2001, the Priestley Centre for the Arts was on the brink of financial failure. Local punk bands arranged a benefit night and sold the Punk For The Priestley CD to raise extra funds...
...It was a great night, loads of energy and some really nice people. Lead group was The Negatives, a Bradford punk band from the '70s. They wrote a special song for the gig and the lyric sheet was included with the CD.”
Once upon a time, there used to be a format called Laser-disc. It was the forerunner to CD. Every school in the UK was given a Laser-disc player so they could play the @BBC Domesday laser-disc, which was a project the BBC carried out to record the everyday lives of people.
Our museum has a copy of the Domesday Project and a Laser-disc player. https://collection.sciencemuseumgroup.org.uk/objects/co8413543/cld-s310s-laser-disc-player-laser-disc-player
Do you have a special memory about CDs? Share your music and stories with us!
