When were you there right from the start?

[I Grok Spock]

Star Wars (summer of '77, though, not May)
Indiana Jones - Raiders of the Lost Ark. The only time I can remember my Dad wanting to actively take me to the movies. I knew nothing about it, but was completely hooked by the time Indy disarmed the guide with his whip.
The Office (US). Got an email from NBC with a preview clip before it aired.
Back to the Future, ET, a few other 80s gems. For the most part though, I tend to wait until something is established before watching it.

 

[J.T.B.]

I remember hearing a single from a new band on KROQ in Los Angeles when I was a teenager. The song was I Will Follow by some band called U2. I went out and bought the album Boy the next day. This was before most of the United States even knew U2 (KROQ was seriously ahead of its time).

A similar story for me, but the station was in Orem, UT, the band was R.E.M. and the tracks were "Radio Free Europe" and "Moral Kiosk."

I remember watching the first episode of "Cheers" like I already knew it would be good. I liked "Taxi" and they had some connections.

The first episode of the "The Simpsons" aired on my 20th birthday. I was really looking forward to it, being familiar with "Life in Hell" and the Tracy Ullman cartoons.

I would say Star Wars, but it would be hard to find someone of my age who wasn't with it from the very beginning.

--Justin

 

[Goliath]

I just remembered--I saw the first episode of South Park when it was broadcast.

IIRC, I wasn't even sure it was a real show, at first. "WTF is this," I thought. Then I started to get the jokes.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

The XFL.

 

[Temis the Vorta]

The XFL.

Awwwww!

Indiana Jones - Raiders of the Lost Ark.

That's the first movie I can remember thinking, "wow, they'll be watching this in a hundred years." I didn't think that about any movie before, not even the first two Star Wars movies. I guess with Indy I finally started thinking about why movies like Casablanca and The Wizard of Oz never die, and what it must have been like for the people who saw them when they were new.

 

[Greg Cox]

Years ago, I went with some friends to see THE LEGEND OF THE LONE RANGER. Afterwards, the theater showed a sneak preview of an upcoming movie we knew nothing about.

It was something called RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK.

Needless to say, none of us were talking about the Lone Ranger afterwards . . . .

 

[Mistral]

I just remembered another one. I worked at a bar and every Wed night this local guy, Robin, would come in and play guitar and sing. We became friends and I even poured him into the back of his van once or twice. One night he asked me to come out and see his new band at a local watering hole so I did. Brought a couple buddies since it was $1 beer night.

The band was good. They did some covers, including a rendition of the theme from The Jeffersons that brought the house down. Over the next few years I caught the band when I could, hung out with the members and their hangers-on at parties and what not. Then one day Robin comes to my work and hands me a cd. He was so excited. They'd been signed by A&M Records. It was a short cd, about 7 songs, called Up and Crumbling. Here's a few tracks:

http://new.music.yahoo.com/search/?p=Up+and+Crumbling

The band? They were called The Gin Blossoms. I didn't think of it before, I guess, because it was a case of not seeing the forest for the trees...