"Total Eclipse" Klaus Nomi (1981)

Happy Record Store Day 2015!,

Today, I thought I'd dig up a little chestnut I rediscovered by way of a buddy when we sat up talking about lost and forgotten new wave classics. Whilst talking about the German bands and artists, this guy came up.

I will never forget the first time I saw Klaus Nomi. It was an early Sunday morning in 1982 and I was watching MTV for as long as I can before my mom assumed control of the TV for her religious shows.

Then this video came on. And I immediately saw his genius. (Or at least after I spit out my Grape Nuts.)

Yes, one minute he was channeling Joel Grey, the next, Beverly Sills. But more than anything else he was making his male pattern baldness work for him.

Not even Phil Collins could do that.

Normally, balding male pop singers grudging accept their follicle fates and pluck it all off eventually. Or hide it under cowboy hats. Not Klaus Nomi. He used his to become the human embodiment of Astro-Boy.

He also simply had the greatest rendition of "You Don't Own Me". Ever.

This LP does not contain a Klaus Nomi cover of the Lynyrd Skynyrd song. Just sayin'. 

Sadly, Klaus Nomi passed away from AIDS in 1983. He was 39. 

The Lunch Man and Lunch Tunes Lunch Boxes (1986)

The Lunch Man and Lunch Tunes lunch boxes were basic kids lunch boxes with one striking difference; They had built-in radios and headphones.

Unfortunately, they were AM radios at a time when Top 40 radio in the US had largely moved to FM. (They still had several AM Top 40s in Canada until the early 1990s.)

And it's doubtful many teachers or school lunch ladies thought these were a good idea either...

Building Mind Power - The Ben Sweetland System (Nocturnal Education/RCA Custom, 1956)

Ben Sweetland was a motivational speaker. Similar to Norman Vincent Peale, Napoleon Hill, Zig Ziglar and the late Robert Schuller. He was a godfather to the self-help craze that continues to lure in desperate people to this day.

A pioneer in "sleep training", he published this 22 record ‘system’ as a way for average people to improve themselves via conscious and subconscious education.

These records look like 45 RPM discs. But they actually played at 16 RPM with an average playing time of 20-30 minutes per side.

Are you sure this is something that ought to be played during daytime hours?

On top of this MAMMOTH 22 record set, Sweetland also offered a special phonograph changer with a timer. So users of the program can select when certain talks were to be heard during the night or day.

"The Lamp of Memory" Yvonne DeCarlo (1942)

In 1942, Yvonne DeCarlo, then 20 years old, a rising star and future Lily Munster recorded a musical film called a soundie, which are pretty much the very earliest music videos. They would be shown in theaters sometimes, or in coin operated jukeboxes and you could also order them on 16mm film for home showings.

More on Yvonne DeCarlo's singing career.

The Elves And The Shoemaker (Scholastic Records, 1975)

More on the Scholastic Book Club.