Interesting thread. Way back in '88, a guy came to the door selling magazine
subscriptions. I was selling electronics at a department store at the time,
so I decided to be nice to him and buy a subscription to Stereo Review. It
was supposed to be for six months, but he must have screwed something up,
because I kept getting it for two years.

Anyway, I almost never read anything in those magazines except the record
reviews. Somebody on the staff of that magazine must have been a closet
power-pop fan, because that's where I discovered the existence of indie pop.
I pretty quickly learned how to read the reviews -- there were certain
keywords that pretty much meant I'd like it (especially if the reviewer
name-checked Lennon, McCartney, or Wilson). It was in Stereo Review that I
first heard of Chris von Sneidern, Teenage Fanclub, Matthew Sweet, and more
obscure stuff like The Rock Club (anybody know anything about them?).

There was also a locally owned CD store called CD Superstore that helped,
because they were the first place I'd ever been with a "listen to anything
in the store" policy. Before the days of online sound clips, something like
that was a huge help.

But I swear, all of that was like the Dark Ages compared to the Audities
Era. It was a constant struggle to find good music. Nowadays the problem is
not being able to afford all of the stuff on my wish list.

Robert Berry