1970s Magnavox Drum Console Stereo

These are very rare today, Magnavox Drum Consoles were designed to blend in as an end table as well as match the popular octagon shaped living room furniture of that time.

Chu-Bops

Chu-Bops were awesome.

Chu-Bops came out in 1980. Their first series consisted of eight different then-current album covers by then contemporary artists including Foghat, The Knack, Pat Benatar, Rush, The Spinners and others.

Each Chu-Bops album sleeve had song lyrics and band bios printed on the back of each cover. They also had an order form on the detachable flap for offers (such a protective case to store your Chu-Bops collection) and fan club memberships.

Photo: Stuff We Collect.com

They came in shrink wrap. The gum was your typical pink hard gum seen in most baseball card packs, but in disc shape. Like a tiny vinyl LP (there was no music stamped into them and you couldn't play them on a record player). On the shelf, they looked like tiny vinyl LPs

Later series included an all Beatles set, and Elvis set and several others until the Chu-Bops line was discontinued in 1983.

Tab Flavors of the 1970s

It wasn't ONLY just cola. In the 1970s, Tab had a line of diet soda flavors. (Photos: USA Soda)

The Starscroll Horoscope Vending Machine

If you were in any department store or local bar in the late 1970s and early '80s, you definitely remember these.

They were vending machines that for 25¢ (50¢ later), gave you a monthly horoscope. Just twist the middle knob to your sign, plunk in your money and out came this neat little scroll. (Make sure you twisted the middle knob to your sign's scrolls, and make sure your sign's scrolls were still in stock BEFORE you plunked your money in.)

And out came this neat little scroll.

They disappeared by the early '80s.

"Sure The Boy Was Green" Horslips (1977)

Happy St. Patrick's Day!,

Today, I thought I'd dig up something from an Irish rock band just about most rock fans in the US have never heard of. But in the pantheon of '70s Irish rock, if Thin Lizzy was on top, then Horslips were in a sound second place.

Horslips (yeah, weird name I know. According to Wikipedia, the name originated from a spoonerism on The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse which became "The Four Poxmen of The Horslypse"), while huge in Ireland, were criminally overlooked in America. They only had one LP released in the US in 1977 called Aliens. 

Aliens came right on the heels of Thin Lizzy's 1976 album Jailbreak album, which went multi-platinum (I'm sensing somebody thought with the Thin Lizzy craze that Irish rock was The Next Big Thing) and while Aliens was Horslips most accessible album commercially, it was largely unheard of in the US. "Sure The Boy Was Green" was the only single from it.

Horslips disbanded in 1980.

"A Message To Khomeini" Roger Hallmark & The Thrasher Brothers (1979)

In the diplomatic faux pas of the last week, I was reminded of this little gem from the days of the Iranian Hostage Crisis.

You'd swear it was the same people who signed off on this letter who came up with this tune.

Eric Crapton?

South Korean pressing (Creato Records, 1980)

Apparently, this is a pirated copy.....

This wouldn't be Mr. Clapton's only problem album in South Korea....

The Hollywood Palace starring Diana Ross & The Supremes, Sammy Davis Jr. and The Jackson Five (1969)

Let's drop everything and go back to 1969. This is an episode of The Hollywood Palace, a popular TV variety show in the 1960s. This originally broadcast on October 18, 1969 and starred Diana Ross & The Supremes, Sammy Davis Jr. and The Jackson Five. It's also complete with original commercials!

More episodes of The Hollywood Palace and more great Classic TV can be found at Internet Archive

Japanese 8-Track Tapes

If there was one place on earth you probably never thought you would ever see the 8-Track tape, it's Japan.

What would a country as technologically advanced as Japan even do with this clunky, inefficient American import? Cassette tapes were dominant in Japan for pop music recordings long before America seriously caught on in the 1980s.

I'm not sure when these were released, but I'm guessing somewhere in the mid 1970s, yet there is literally nothing on Japanese 8-Tracks anywhere online. But when I found these at Goodwill today, I had to pounce on them. Not a bad deal either - 40 cents for all four of them.

I don't have an 8-Track player, but I'm not ruling out getting one, just out of curiosity of hearing what these sound like.



  

Gary Owens Aircheck KMPC September 19,1970

The late Gary Owens, who passed away February 12 was unquestionably one of the world's finest broadcasting voices. From his days at KMPC 710 AM in Los Angeles, which aired what was called a "Middle of The Road" music format.

Middle of The Road, (or MOR) was about as family safe a radio format as you could get. Those "family safe" Christian Adult Contemporary stations today sound downright raunchy compared to the slick, genteel sound of Middle of The Road. Lots of soft pop songs, with a few perky instrumentals. Musically, it was barely passable if you were in your '20s and something Grandma could put up with as well. In 1970.

But what held it all together was the personalities on these radio stations. The smooth, stylish voices on these MOR radio stations. In Seattle, we had Robert E. Lee Hardwick on KVI, Larry Nelson on KOMO, and Phil Harper (who appeared on many Seattle stations and many formats from country to jazz.)

And Gary Owens had no shortage of that. His phrasing, his enunciation, they were as stylish as they came. His panache unforgettable. And one TV came back to time and time again, like another recently departed radio star, Casey Kasem.

Who will replace them? I just don't know......

Red Goose Shoes

Sharp TV Model 3LS36P (1980s)

Christian Light Switchplates

The creep factor is off the scale with these. Available at Switchplates.com