This has probably been obvious for years, but I’ve just discovered that you can look up your entire purchasing history on Amazon.com by clicking on “your account” and then from the drop-down list in the “Where’s My Stuff” box, you select “complete order history sorted by year.” This was an interesting self-sociological exploration. Is “self-sociological” a real term? I doubt it.

Anyway, my very first Amazon purchase came on March 4, 1999, a book called “The Billboard Guide to Music Publicity.” Nothing out of the ordinary, I suppose, as I was knee-deep in running my own record label at the time. The next one came in June 1999 and was the new Pavement record at the time, “Terror Twilight.” Can I return that to Amazon today? It’s a terrible album.

There’s a ton of other stuff through the years, most notably an item called “Gus Gutz,” which, if I remember correctly, was a gift that I purchased in 2000 for my friends Kerry & Dan (you guys still have that????). It was a plush doll that you could open and pull out all the organs, including long hose-like intestines, etc. Ah, good times. Amazon is also the place where I get the water filter for our ‘fridge’s water dispenser, so those are sprinkled through the history as well.

All of this is not fascinating by any stretch, but still interesting. What was your first Amazon purchase and when was it?