As a borderline audiophile who used to spray his records with a preservative that would supposedly extend their lives, I am a real fan of digital music. I love the fact that my extensive mp3 collection is backed up four ways, unlike my old record albums, which either wore out or were warped by leaving them in my car on a hot day. Just dropping an album might result in a permanent skipping spot, as happened with my original Rickie Lee Jones debut album. Right at the end of Company, too, my favorite song!
But there is one area where analog record album technology has it all over digital. That's in the case of cardboard records. Yeah, let's see you digitize THAT!
You probably remember these on the backs of cereal boxes. That's where the depicted Archies album came from. Larry Staples, who, BTW, designed this site's logo, and who came up with this column idea, once owned the very record depicted here. He nearly wore it out, as a matter of fact.
And wearing them out was a real possibility, too. They were nothing but a thin coating of vinyl affixed to cardboard. It was up to the music fan to cut it out perfectly, smooth out the warps, and liberate the music from its crude container.
While cereal boxes were the commonest place to find these puppies, I remember MAD Magazine would sometimes include one. The one in particular I recall was some song called "Makin' Out".
Another phenomenon was the flexi-disc, which was a thin piece of vinyl frequently featured in magazines. I won't talk about it here, as I feel it warrants its own column at some future date.
The Archies became superstars via cardboard records, even though they never accomplished existence in the real world. They were simply a collection of studio musicians whose makeup varied from session to session. Hmm, maybe they need their own column too.
Anyhow, if you managed to hold on to any cardboard records from the 60's or 70's, they are highly collectable. Just like those Reggie Jackson rookie cards I attached to my bicycle to be beaten to death by the spokes. (sigh)
Comments (4)
Good lord, you bring back so many wonderful memories, it's unreal.
I remember these records like it was only yesterday! My sister and brother and I used to fight over who got what prize in the cereal box, and I remember how I always wanted the record the most.
Why? It was beyond me, 'cause the sound quality was never any good and the records would maybe last a few plays at the most.
Posted by Ken | February 25, 2007 12:31 PM
Posted on February 25, 2007 12:31
I worked in the record business and until the early 1980s we would do promotions with magazines that could involve sending out a single inside a magazine as it was sent out to its subscribers. The "single" would be a very thin floppy piece of plastic that could be stapled into the magazine. Hard to believe that it worked and I believe it was the same technology as the ones that were then attached to cereal boxes.
Posted by Wesley | February 26, 2007 9:43 PM
Posted on February 26, 2007 21:43
Sorry Ron, don't remember the cardboards! I do remember the thin vinyl or plastic records! Remember the ones you got with the world explorers Club each month! Other then that, I can't remember the cardboards!
Posted by Rivers End | June 4, 2009 9:33 PM
Posted on June 4, 2009 21:33
I remember the cardboard records. I remember the plastic record in MAD featuring All in the Family spoof, with Starchie. I think it might have been red. They were usually either black or red. Ozark Mountain Daredevils had a black one in one of their albums after the Car Over the Lake Album, as an extra bonus. It has some good stuff, too.
An interesting little tid bit from our day and age.
Posted by Scott Irv | June 4, 2009 11:19 PM
Posted on June 4, 2009 23:19