Musical Nostalgia

[Kaos]

Does anybody else remember these record clubs? 



Just look at that selection!  I probably had 25 or 30 of those.  Seeing this ad reminded me of a former patron of these arts, a big kid, a budding actor, a neophyte cajun... a big oaf that I sort of miss around here.  There was a time that crazy kid got the cease and desist letters for pirating digital music.  I guess he ran afoul of the Metallica drummer or something.  His scam was, I suppose, a descendant of the scam a younger me pulled on these record clubs back in ancient times. 

The record club deal worked like this:
1 - You got an ass bucket of records/tapes/8-tracks/CDs/reel-to-reels for a penny (plus shipping and handling which usually added up to more than the records would have cost anyway).
2 - In exchange for their generosity you agreed to buy a certain number of additional albums at full price (typically inflated) over a set period of time. 
3 - They also sent you the Featured Record of the month every month.  You had to either decline to receive it or send it back within a very tight window.  Typically you'd get the notification and have two days to decline, but by the time your mail got back to them, the Featured disc was already on its way at $15.98 plus $7.50 shipping and handling! 

So what was my scam?  I'd get the initial 12, never buy anything else, ignore their letters demanding payment (what, I was 12 they gonna sue me?) and then wait a few months and sign up again.  When they finally got wise after three or four times, I'd sign up in my brother's name. Or my sister's.  And get another assload of music.  Most of my musical collection in my pre-teen and early teen years was collected in this manner.  Until my parents caught on to my nefarious deeds.  Some of my collection was confiscated.  Some I still have.  There's this sweet Marilyn McCoo and Billy Davis Jr. 8-track sitting on the shelf in my office right now.  Along with KISS Destroyer, Eagles Greatest Hits and EWF. 

I wish I had an 8-track player.  I'd love to hear that Ca-CHUNK in the middle of a song again. 

Sorry Columbia House for ripping you off.

[Buzz Killington]

I wish I had realized back then that your Columbia House debt could be restructured like that.  I did the cassette thing with them several times...but always ended up spending twice as much on the monthly selections over time.

[Snaggletiger]

My last year of high school, I had a Chevy Chevette.  Worst piece of dung car on the planet.  But I had an 8-track player mounted to the front of the console, and had to drill holes in the floor of the hatchback area to mount Pioneer Mind Blower speakers.  The rest of the room in that tiny car, was taken up by the carry-on luggage sized case I kept all the 8-track tapes in. 

For all you younguns that didn't have the pleasure of blasting your tunes from an 8-track, when you came to the end of a track, the music faded out, you had to wait for it to click to the next track, then your song would start up again where it left off.  Good tiimes

[Buzz Killington]

My last year of high school, I had a Chevy Chevette. 

And you told all the girls you drove a vette

[Snaggletiger]

And you told all the girls you drove a vette

I called it the Chevy Shove It.

[CCTAU]

My last year of high school, I had a Chevy Chevette.  Worst piece of dung car on the planet.  But I had an 8-track player mounted to the front of the console, and had to drill holes in the floor of the hatchback area to mount Pioneer Mind Blower speakers.  The rest of the room in that tiny car, was taken up by the carry-on luggage sized case I kept all the 8-track tapes in. 

For all you younguns that didn't have the pleasure of blasting your tunes from an 8-track, when you came to the end of a track, the music faded out, you had to wait for it to click to the next track, then your song would start up again where it left off.  Good tiimes

I knew you were older, but holy crap!
Although, researching the music mediums, 8-track was a really good sound. It just came in a huge clunky package that could not compete with cassette tape when it came along.
I put a 8-track stereo in the Ford Courier my dad ans I rebuilt when I was 14. I had some good tunes with old leftover 8-tracks.
My first vehicle, 1978 ford F-100 three on the tree, had a cassette player.
And I never participated in the Columbia ripoff. I read the fine print as I had no money to waste.

[GH2001]

I knew you were older, but holy crap!
Although, researching the music mediums, 8-track was a really good sound. It just came in a huge clunky package that could not compete with cassette tape when it came along.
I put a 8-track stereo in the Ford Courier my dad ans I rebuilt when I was 14. I had some good tunes with old leftover 8-tracks.
My first vehicle, 1978 ford F-100 three on the tree, had a cassette player.
And I never participated in the Columbia ripoff. I read the fine print as I had no money to waste.

My parents had a 75 or 76 Cutlass - one car'd it most of my youth - but it came with a "complimentary" 8 track tape. I am 99.9% sure it was Looking Glass - Brandy. Good times. Yeah....good times. But I do distinctly remember the big Click or Clack noise when it would change to another tune. I did like how you could go straight to the tune you wanted with a button versus the rewinding/ff of a cassette. I still have a tape player and listen to some of my old ones.

[GH2001]

K was jamming out to some Helen Reddy - I Am Woman.

[Kaos]

I called it the Chevy Shove It.

I drove a 65 Mustang.  Called it the Mush Pony.   

Like another here I splurged on speakers. I had an 8-track I bolted to the floor.  Put Blaupunkt behind the rear seats and some JBL in the back window and behind the front door panels.  When the 8-track went Ka-Chunk in the middle of Back in Black (whose idea was it to split that one?)…. People for blocks would flinch. 

[AUJarhead]

When I lived in the fraternity house for two years, we had this scam going constantly. Just sign up for a fake name, and then free CDs can be yours, too.

[Kaos]

[GH2001]

Kaos makes a YouTube video - take 1

[Kaos]

And just like that I was transported to the 80s. 

Got an email from Amazon encouraging me to join the Vinyl Club.  Once a month I’ll get an album specially selected by their music curators.  Emphasis on the great releases of the 70s. No fee to join.  No control over what they send. Low low carb price of $24.95 per month.