March 1983 was a time of belted dresses, leg warmers, neon and tweed. The Police released “Every Breath You Take” and Michael Jackson released “Billy Jean” and “Beat It”. Black Sabbath, David Bowie, Duran Duran, Phil Collins and Elton John reigned supreme. The year also marked the grand opening of a new downtown record shop, The Marquee and, with vinyl all the rage, former NAIT student and Nugget writer Greg Scherf weighed in with his take.
In his article, headlined “A New Record Store With A Difference,” he explained that the store was different than others of the time, focusing on more genres than just rock and new wave. The article gives information important to the students of NAIT, such as store hours and direct bus routes from NAIT to The Marquee. This article is a blast from the past of not only NAIT and Nugget history, but also in the music store industry. While The Marquee is unfortunately no longer around, Edmonton has since come to be home to many other record shops, like Blackbyrd Myoozik. Located on Whyte Avenue, Blackbyrd was founded in 1993 by Arthur Fahard and Mark Davis and is a short LRT ride away for NAIT students. If you’re a fan of live music, they even sometimes have bands playing live. Even though it was 34 years ago, this 1983 piece shows that record stores are still a relevant part of our community.
It also goes to show just how far the NAIT Nugget has come – we print in colour now – even if final exams still plague our students each semester!
– Nikita Eleniak
