Ep. 68 Charles R. Cross (Author, Publisher, Customer)

2500 DelMonte Street: The Oral History of Tower Records

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Charles R. Cross isn’t our typical guest on 2500 DelMonte Street. He never ran a Tower store…never worked in a Tower store. But he had a lot of business and personal relationships with Tower Records, as well as being a steady customer. In the parking lot of the Tower Records at 5th & Mercer in Seattle, weeks before the release date, Charley first heard Nirvana’s “Nevermind” given to him on a Maxell XL II 90 by the store’s GM. Ten years later Charley would write and release what many consider to be the definitive biography of Kurt Cobain, “Heavier Than Heaven: A Kurt Cobain Biography”.

Growing up in several cities before landing in Seattle to go to college, Charley was a passionate music fan at an early age. Some people pick up a guitar, Charley pecked on a typewriter to express his feelings about music. Some takes landed and some missed. But through it all Charley looked for a way to connect with readers who, like him, understood the joy that the best music could bring into a person’s life.

In this week’s episode, we talk about the music and performances that Charley still remembers from his years of listening. Unbelievably there was a time when Springsteen fans couldn’t find enough to read about their musical hero and in October 1980 that changed as Charley launched Backstreets Magazine, which he owned and operated until 1998 and which continued to publish, mostly electronically until early in 2023. Charley’s years at The Rocket, Seattle’s premier music and arts newspaper gave him a front-row seat and a strong part in the formation of the Seattle music scene of the 80’s & 90’s. There’s a reason Courtney Love said on a recent podcast “Charley is an honorary Cobain”.

Do we talk about Tower Records in this episode? Yes, we do. Not as much as on others. But if you want a glimpse into early 1990s Seattle, this episode is a great place to start.