[Thor Joachim Haga]

Some nostalgic musings:

Early 90s: When I lived at home, in a relatively small town down south, there weren’t a lot of options. There was a local record store (which doubled as a café!) where I got some, but most of the CDs were acquired via mail order. Especially Compacthuset (based out of Haugesund in the west), with its phone book-sized inventory, but also Ginza from Sweden.

But things changed when I moved to the capital in 1996. For many years thereafter, I had a Saturday ritual — walking from record store to record store (both chains and secondhand), both downtown and in the neighbouring districts, always in the quest for that hidden gem, and the good deal. Perhaps stopping for a kebab along the way. The names of these stores will have no meaning to anyone not from Norway, but they included Akers Mic. (amazing selection!), Hysj! Hysj!, Platekompaniet, Råkk og rålls, Free Record Shop, Lucky Eddie and several more that I have forgotten. Many of them are long since gone. I became a master ‘CD scroller’ as I checked out the soundtrack aisle, as well as my favourite pop artists.

While internet DID exist throughout much of this period, I didn’t use it for CD purchasing. That only began in the very late 90s, when I got some e-mail contacts, and platforms like eBay had taken hold. So there was a very mechanical, tangible aspect to the whole CD hunting thing. It was doubly physical, really — the act itself was physical, and the product was physical. I really miss it!