DISQUS

MatthewF · 1 year ago

I've never seen a cardboard record but it remind me of the flexi-discs that used to get given away with magazines. They were ultra thin plastic and super flexy and I had quite a collection. the trouble being that they were so thin you have to lay them on top of an existing record just to play them. also they had a life expectancy of about 30 seconds. now that music magazines are apparently able to give away entire albums on CD every month it makes me wonder why they used to be stingy.

drcastrato · 1 year ago

i had one of those flex discs with the old McDonald's song (not "Old MacDOnald," I'm talking about "Big Mac, McDLT, a Quarter Pounder with some cheese..."). I wish I knew where it was.

JohnHughes · 1 year ago

I remember a series of Burger King giveaways, EPs that featured four (!) songs per side, two each from the featured artists. My prized possession was the one with both Genesis AND ABBA on the same side!

whiteray · 1 year ago

I have a flexi-disc in my files of "Man on the Moon," which was included in a late 1969 edition of National Geographic. I played it back then, once, and have never played it since. I may get it out and rip it to mp3. It should be good for one more play . . . although why I'd want to listen to it more than once is a good question.

Ted · 1 year ago

For DJs, the wonderful sound of "cue burn" was a favorite. You could decrease the sound of the burn by smearing spit on the offending burn with your finger. It really only worked a couple of times, tough. After that, you just had to buy a new record.

BobCashill · 1 year ago

Too funny, Jon--I remember those so-called "portables," and those cereal records. I was too prissy to let anything undo my (meager) record collection, but was powerless against Mom--upon returning from college one quarter she announced that she "needed space" when expanding my room and had simply tossed them out (!). But by that time, the switch was on to CD, and I was able to regain most lost ground. (Meanwhile, my parents still have a batch of eight-track tapes.)

Kids today don't know the pleasures and pitfalls of music collecting. It was work, like carrying blocks of ice up six flights of stairs in summer to cool great-grandma's tenement apartment.

outsidecounsel · 1 year ago

In the mid-70's the record companies started skimping on the vinyl in response to the oil crisis. I could bend my copy of David Bowie's "Hunky Dorey" almost like a taco, and my copy of "Dreamboat Annie" would scratch if you looked at it funny.

The Stepfather of Soul · 1 year ago

The "cat scratch fever" section of this post brought back a particular memory. When I was in high school I snagged an Adam VIII compilation album (I can't recall the title off-hand, but I think it was "Super Bad"). It was from that comp that I first heard Kool & The Gang's "Jungle Boogie" and, more importantly, James Brown's "The Payback." The version on the LP was a single mix you never find on JB CD comps, where an announcer shouts out city names in various places ("this is for Los Angeles!") where James wasn't singing. Anyhow, an inadvertent bump against the stereo console sent the needle sliding through the track. The entire track was ruined, so when you played it, you could skip right through it in about one minute. The funny thing was, being that it was a James Brown tune, sometimes the disjointed lyrics and music would actually work. It was like, "I'm mad! Ooooow! Hit me! Ungh!"

JonCummings · 1 year ago

I still have my copy of "Super Bad"!

MarlboroTestMonkey7 · 1 year ago

Inherited from grampa and now lost: A Rudolph Valentino 78' , tough as a nail.

Had Eric Johnson on a Guitar Player Flexidisk, lost too.

On the other hand, I spied my 45 of Michael Jackson's Ben in a trunk, so I'm redeemed of my previously mentioned sins.

jabartlett · 1 year ago

When I moved to my first apartment, it didn't dawn on me that I'd better pay attention to the angle of sunlight through my windows until after I'd melted one of my Rick Wakeman albums.

Thanks for participating in the VRD blogswarm.

forwardgirl · 1 year ago

While my father was in Vietnam in the late 60's, his younger brother decided to listen to my dad's large 45 collection. Unfortunately, he balanced his lit cigarette on top of the stack. Oops.

Gary · 1 year ago

You are using Vinyl Record Day without permission. Your article is released on August 12th, our designated day for Vinyl Record Day.
www.VinylRecordDay.org is a non profit organization founded in 2002.
We would appreciate your consideration of a reply to clarify why you are using Vinyl Record Day as part of your article that has nothing to do with our organization.

jefito · 1 year ago

So...you don't want anyone celebrating Vinyl Record Day along with you? I'd assume you'd be happy to have all the extra publicity you could get. No? I guess there's no accounting for intelligence.