Summer Means Yacht Rock

No C.O.D?

 

Loved these as a kid.

 

Is that ever a blast from the past.

If you loved sped-up, heavily-edited versions of 1970s hits (and a lot of filler), K-Tel was the place to go! And we weren't the only ones taken in by those high-tech ad pitches, according to Wikipedia:

"In the five years prior to 1981, K-tel sold more than $150 million in LPs in 34 countries. Its sales increased from $23 million in 1971 to $178 million in 1981.

"K-tel helped define the way people purchased music in the 1960s and 1970s. In 2013, Forbes wrote a piece on K-tel, entitled "K-Tel Records: The Spotify of the 70s," pointing out the way people discovered new music in the 70s was through K-Tel compilations, in the same way that Spotify playlists are now used to find related artists.

In 2013, Dave Grohl, front man of the Foo Fighters, gave a keynote speech at SXSW, praising K-tel for exposing him to music early in his life, specifically "Frankenstein" by The Edgar Winter Group: "Grohl told the crowd earnestly that the song's inclusion on a 1975 K Tel Records Blockbuster compilation – the first album he ever owned – was "the record that changed my life."

That's outstanding. Apparently the company still owns several hundred thousand song rights and makes money licensing them to commercials, TV and movies.

 

That's awesome stuff! Yes I was a K-Tel kid as well. Aside from buying a bunch of 45s (who knows what those are?) this was the only way to get songs without buying a bunch of albums.

What was irksome was from the early 80's on, the music industry kept promising access to custom mixed tapes or something with singles without having to buy the whole album/CD (late 80s) but they continued to force us to buy the whole damn thing. Not until iTunes came out, and was really the reason Napster burned their house down.

 

Boz Scaggs is playing in a few weeks at the casino I always drive by to/from work. Yacht rock is VERY alive.

 

Yacht Rock Song Of The Day--

 

Been mixing my 70 with 57 (No Shoes Radio/Chesney) with some 24 (Buffett) you usually find something good

Some Yacht Rock I’ve been hearing quite a bit ...

Heart to Heart by Kenny Loggins

What a Fool Believes by the Doobies

Just Remember I Love You by Firefall

Africa by Toto

Deacon Blues by Steely Dan (wow)

 

You never heard of cassingles?

 

Where were those available and when? (of course nothing compares to the agony of making a mixed tape) In the mid 80s they were promising a machine where we could select songs and buy a mixed tape and my buddies and I were forever looking for it at our Tower Records store but never saw it.

 

They were the cassette equivalent of a 45. One single and a B-Side on either side of the tape. I used to get them from a local flea market my mom had a regular booth at, but I'm sure they sold them in record stores as well. I think I still have a bunch of them from the late 80s -- Welcome to the Jungle, Janie's Got a Gun, probably a dozen more of lesser quality.
I never heard of the mix tape machine. That thing would have blown my mind when I was 12.

 

Oh I had cassingles, but damn the choice there was keep playing damn song over and over (in car tape deck) or eject and play another one after 3-4 mins. Okay but well below ideal.

 

I was a poor 12-year-old when I discovered them and they cost $3 or $4 apiece, so they were awesome compared to the $12-$15 a full album would cost. I could listen to a hit, know what I was getting, and maybe find a B-Side that I dug. Buying a full album, for me at that age in terms of price, was like buying a car.