Slideshow: Tacoma's Tower Records

KUOW listeners Whitney Keyes and Chris Porter share their memories of Tacoma Tower Records with us.

Whitney Keyes

“I grew up in Tacoma, Washington, and my favorite record store on the planet was the Tower Records near the Tacoma Mall. It was the go-to place to get the hottest 45s and albums -- and check out cute boys!

“I LOVED going down every aisle, alphabetically in my fave music categories, looking at the covers -- front and back of EVERY record.

“And some interesting music would be blasting in the background by the staff that I'd never heard of before. They were sealed in cellophane so you couldn't open them up, but it was incredible to see the images of the bands (some of the lead singers were sooooo dreamy!) and even find some of the song lyrics on the back cover of an album!"

Chris Porter

“My love of music was fostered and nurtured by Tower Records. I miss seeing all the albums and CDs. I miss the catalogs, logging every song and album in and out of circulation.

“I miss being able to offer a line in a song, or humming a song and getting the answer from one of the employees.

“I miss rubbing elbows with other music lovers/geeks and finding a song you thought you had forgotten about or a new album or CD that you did not know an artist had made.

“I miss finding out the history of songs, 'Crazy' and 'Hello Stranger' as an example. I miss walking into Tower Records and having music blasting. It was never the same music and always eclectic. Music will always be a part of me and the music store was always my second home.”

Special thanks to J.Z. Murdock.