Jamie Nye: His Master's Voice going silent ends a chapter from my youth

Walking through the mall, it was the first time I’ve seen the gates up and the windows blacked out for HMV.

Sad.

It’s where I bought my first album.

Heck, my sister-in-law worked there and that friends and family discount was great!

I texted a picture to my brother, the musician, who spent a lot of time there discovering new music and bringing them home.

His reaction was like mine: sad.

Discovering and being curious is why I became a fan of the lesser known Canadian bands like the Inbreds, Rheostatics and Ron Sexsmith.

My first album I bought: Pearl Jam’s Ten. Then REM’s Automatic for the People. Green Day’s Dookie.

Heck, even spending an afternoon thumbing through the albums to look at the cover art was a decent afternoon spent.

Yes, another music store will come in. The local vinyl shops are still alive. Technology has changed the game again for music; vinyl to cassette to CD now digital.

My love of music grew at HMV.

And although it’s just a store, memories are tied to music and those albums and bands are the soundtrack of my youth.