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Post by Kapitan on Jun 24, 2020 19:31:32 GMT
Sheriff said this in a BBs thread: Back in 1974-75, Endless Summer was everywhere. Do you remember those old record clubs where you could get 10 albums for a dollar, and then had to buy four or five at the regular price over so many years? And do I ever remember!
First of all, I am pretty sure my first ever album was purchased in this way: as I've told before, my first album (the Muppet Movie soundtrack) was selected when my parents allowed each of us kids to choose one record sometime circa 1980. In hindsight, I'm pretty sure it would have been through a record club, as I don't recall any associated trip to a town with a record store or parents returning home with an armload of LPs.
Then seven or eight years later, my best friend and I discovered these again--BMG and Columbia House specifically, though maybe there were others at different times--and signed up. Repeatedly, with barely hidden pseudonyms. (We thought we had to be sneaky about it, not realizing the companies wouldn't be scouring membership forms for potential duplication. So a John Michael Doe might then sign up as J. Michael Doe, then again as J.M. Doe.)
It was through these, with BMG's eight for the price of one and Columbia House's 12 for $0.01 (each followed by the inevitable purchases over the next couple of years), that I built my first music collection, eventually a couple hundred cassettes of mostly hard rock and heavy metal, plus some classic rock working its way in as I hit my mid-teens ... and the inevitable "Feature of the Month" I got because I had forgotten to send back the damn form saying I didn't want it. (It was never, never something I wanted. My preference was always hard rock, and this album would always be Bryan Adams or something ungodly.)
Anyone else have any record club (which we called "tape club") memories?
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Post by Sheriff John Stone on Jun 24, 2020 21:53:29 GMT
I remember joining Columbia House first and easily selecting or filling up my 10 "free" album allotment. Then a few years later I joined BMG, but by that time I was much more selective and most of the albums I was searching for weren't going to found in the record clubs. Heck, I couldn't even find 'em in the record store half the time. After I fulfilled my obligation to BMG I was pretty much done with the record clubs. I did find another outlet called Collectors' Choice which used to send out catalogues periodically with some cool and rare albums. They were a little pricey but that was the only place offering them that I knew of. I stopped buying from them, too, so they stopped sending the catalogue. Actually, I wish they would still send me their catalogue. I'll have to check into that.
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Post by jk on Jun 24, 2020 22:14:31 GMT
Good call, guys. I first made the acquaintance of orchestral classical music in a life-changing way when a villager gave me a bunch of "doubles" from his record club. This was back in *gulp* 1962. It was Rimsky-Korsakov's incredibly colourful Capriccio Espagnol that did it for me--I was sold!
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Post by Kapitan on Jun 25, 2020 1:36:59 GMT
I remember joining Columbia House first and easily selecting or filling up my 10 "free" album allotment.
The beauty of that--and buying whatever you had to buy to complete the deal--was quitting and rejoining immediately so you could get the next dozen freebies.
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Post by kds on Jun 25, 2020 12:21:59 GMT
Ah, yes. Back in the pre Amazon days, when you were lucky if you find a brand new CD for $13.99, BMG and Columbia House were beacons for a mid teens KDS around 1996. My father had an account with BMG, and he opened one with Columbia House, and let me pick the 12 CDs. This was early 1996, and I probably had about nine or ten CDs in my collection at the time, so this was very exciting. I can't remember all 12, but I know I got a lot of use from my Journey Greatest Hits and Moody Blues Hits CDs. Over the years, whenever BMG or Columbia House would have sales (which was often), we'd select some CDs to buy. Even with shipping, we'd pay an average of $5 for a new CD. So, I really started building my collection as the 90s went on.
Around 2002, I finally moved out (when you opt for a career in radio, you live at home until 22). Since I had a different address, I was able to join both clubs and build up my collection even more. At some point, they both merged. But, I was still able to get CDs for about $5 a disc on average, or even less on clearance items (which at one time included The Police boxset).
Eventually, the company faded away, but that was always exciting getting that book in the mail.
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bellbottoms
Pacific Coast Highway
Posts: 727
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Post by bellbottoms on Jun 25, 2020 12:40:50 GMT
We did the Columbia House thing for a brief time. When I say “we” I really mean my mom, who wouldn’t let us kids choose any tapes. I think I was about 11 or 12 at the time. I used to read the list of offerings every time the catalogue came in. My mom would order her selections and inevitably, I’d end up borrowing them, you know, forever, lol. Okay not forever, I gave them back to her when I left home.
Some of the more notable “forever borrows” were the Eurythmics Revenge, The Nylons (Canadian harmony group, not sure if they’re well known in the wider world, but lovely stuff), Whitney Houston’s debut and follow up, the Police Synchronicity, a few Michael Jacksons, Tina Turner (the one with Private Dancer on it) and Cyndi Lauper.
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