Microcassettes

Remember Microcassettes? They were a dictation medium (but so was the original compact cassette) Invented in 1969 by Olympus as the standard cassette started gaining traction as a popular music medium.

For a spell in the early '80s, Sony actually tried to make them as close to a serious audio medium as they could (as they did with the standard cassette.) Including stereo sound and Metal tape formulation microcassettes.

The Microcassette Walkman even included a very rare microcassette version of the FM Tuner cassettes made for standard cassette personal stereos.

They failed. Obviously. Because no matter what they did, an analog tape rolling at 15/16th inches per second will never sound very good no matter what kind of tape you use (cassettes used 1 7/8 IPS, 8-Tracks 3 3/4 IPS)

In modern digital, It's like the sound of a 32 kbps MP3 to a 320 kbps MP3.

And secondly, people kept LOSING the handful of prerecorded albums on these tapes that were made for the Japanese market.

The Microcassette never went further into general use beyond dictation and in telephone answering machines. They have since been replaced by digital recorders.

Competing with the Microcassette (yes, it did have competing formats), was the Minicassette (developed in 1967 by Phillips) and the even tinier Picocassette (1985 by Dictaphone.)

Minicassette

Picocassette

The Exciting Sounds Project & Retrophile Daily

Hey, I have some KILLER new blog links for ya you're sure to love if you enjoy the stuff you read here on History's Dumpster (and you're here, aren't you?)

The Exciting Sounds Project

Retrophile Daily

1971 Cost Of Living

Is it just me or do you look at this and get pissed off too?

GO HAWKS!!! (Vintage Seattle Seahawks Gear)

Mr. T's Commandments

 

You did NOT mess with Mr. T back in the '80s (or now frankly.) 

Coming on the scene in the early '80s as Clubber Lang in Rocky III (where he got his trademark "I pity the fool" phrase.) And most famously as B.A. Baracus in The A-Team, he became a combination actor/motivational speaker/religious advocate during his A-Team success.

In 1984 at the height of his fame, he released Mr. T's Commandments (Columbia, 1984), a sort of motivational record aimed at kids. Using his life and career success as a role model to youth, on this album Mr. T encouraged kids to follow the rules, be honest, avoid peer pressure, stay in school and off drugs, booze and cigarettes and listen to their parents. Or else. A pure advocate for clean living. With rap lyrics interestingly written by a young Ice-T (credited as Ice Tea.)

Yep, This guy. (Wonder what Mr. T thought of "Cop Killer"?)

And you really did have to pity the fool kid who didn't eat his/her vegetables in the '80s. As the lyrics of "Mr. T's Commandment" go; "Honor thy mother and father/The Bible makes it clear/If you break the rule, God help you fool/You got Mr. T to fear!" The kid will even be asking for seconds.

Mr. T released a follow-up for MCA later in 1984, a soundtrack to a motivational video titled Be Somebody...or Be Somebody's Fool!, following the same moral principles of Mr. T's Commandments. 

The video and soundtrack featured not only '80s stars New Edition, Bobby Brown and Martika ("Toy Soldiers"), but a surprising number of acts who would later find success in the 1990s and 2000s, including Ice-T, Shanice ("I Love Your Smile") and even Fergie. 

Mr. T continues to act and appear on TV programs today.