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PAUL HAMILL (ATL presenter)
Frankie Goes To Hollywood - Welcome To The Pleasuredome
I picked this up on cassette in the Summer of 1984. Frankie-mania was in full effect at this time and I went through three or four copies of the album - the tape kept unravelling in my twin-deck through being played way too many times. I subsequently became obsessed with everything that bore the names of Trevor Horn and ZTT Records. Still a hugely influential record for me to this day!

RIGSY (ATL presenter)
Europe - The Final Countdown
My mum gave myself and my big sister money to buy what would be our first albums, sometime in the autumn of 1986. I've no idea why, but I went for Europe's The Final Countdown, the first and last hair-metal album I'd ever own. I remember thinking that after opener 'The Final Countdown' and second track 'Rock the Night', the album was a total waste of time. So, using a double tape deck and two blank tapes, I made a version of the album that was just those two songs back to back on repeat. Clever, eh? When I think about it, Europe probably should have released my version.

WARREN BELL (ATL web geek)
Five Star - Silk & Steel
I'm not proud of it, but it happened. Now don't get me wrong, I had harangued my parents to buy me some (relatively) cool albums like Elvis Live At Madison Square Garden and U2's The Unforgettable Fire, but the first record I actually handed over my own cold, hard cash for was the utterly scundering non-masterpiece that was Five Star's Silk & Steel. Everything was wrong about it - the woeful example of graphic design that was the band logo, the literal nature of the sleeve photograph (silk clothes / steel pipes), the music contained within - and, although I'm happy to report that I soon realised that this lot were merely a Jackson 5 for idiots and started to slowly evolve my tastes, this difficult and undeniable memory remains.

PAUL McCLEAN (ATL producer)
Michael Jackson - Thriller
Honestly, I kinda wish my first record was less cool. It sounds contrived. You all know pretty much every track - it's a pop masterpiece and it was my first introduction to the sounds of black America that would pretty much define my listening tastes forever. It was on cassette, cost about £6 out of my Christmas money and my brother chickened out of a 'proper' album and bought a 'Now That's What I Call Music' compilation which had the likes of the Smiths and the Cure on it, so later on I was the one who got jealous. Kragtrak Records in Carrickfergus still has the racks of tapes and CDs it did back in the mid 80s and every time I go past I keep meaning to see whether they still have the cassette of Kajagoogoo, which was the other option. There but for the grace of God.

AMY McGARRIGLE (ATL Content Assistant)
Blur - Blur (but really, Will Smith - Big Willie Style)
For years I've had a little smug grin on my face when people ask me what the first record I ever bought with my own pennies was. With pride in my voice I've declared it as Blur's 1997 self-titled album which changed my naive little ears for ever. Tunes like Beetlebum, Song 2 and Death of a Party paved the way for an unhealthy obsession with music. However, recently I had a real dig into my soul, and remembered about another album that was part and parcel of my life aged 12. This... um... genius record was... Will Smith's Big Willie Style. And you know what, I loved it. I knew every word and rapped like... well, like a 12 year-old girl from Donegal. Truth be told, it was a close call, but Big Willie Style was probably the one.