things better left forgotten: the 8-track
Ah, the Eight Track player. No more unweildy albums cluttering up your room! Now, you just needed ten or so shelves to stack your 8 track tapes on. No more skipping and scratching vinyl! No, you just had songs that cut off in the middle to switch tracks, so More Than a Feeling was interupted by a chu-chunk sound right at the good part. No rewinding. No fast forwarding. Just playing the four sections over and over, with all clunky track changes.
The 8 track tapes themselves were prone to melting faster than a marshamallow at a bonfire. Leave one by your sunlit window for just an hour or so, and you would end up with 8 track goo.
They weren't even cool to look at. No liner notes, no lyrics, and the cover art was reduced to a sticky label.
It was hard to be cool while lugging 8-tracks around. Not even the modern-art inspired yellow tape player I had (see above photo) could make it any less cumbersome.
Odd memory: Everyone I know who had an 8-track player owned this. It was like you had to have it, whether you liked the band or not.
Comments
Brought to you by the same man that designed the Lear Jet aircraft.. The original concept was a four track, which would have replicated a vinyl record (side one and side two), but the amount of tape needed was excessive.
Posted by: Wind Rider | July 26, 2003 05:39 PM
And lest we forget the folded up matchbook cover to get it to play correctly!
Posted by: Wind Rider | July 26, 2003 05:40 PM
Too freakin funny! I clicked the link KNOWING that I wouldn't have had it. You were right, Michele. Had it. Might still have it somewhere. It's probably in the box with my black light posters. Man, they rocked!
Posted by: Buzz | July 26, 2003 05:59 PM
Like Thriller in the early 80's, people just bought it because everybody else had it. It was like it was un-American to not own a copy.
Posted by: Emily | July 26, 2003 05:59 PM
My little brother destroyed my Dad's record collection, then our replacement cassette tapes. But even my little brother, a Bam-Bam Rubble clone, could not damage the indestructible 8-track. All Hail the 8-track!
Uga-shucka
uga-shucka
uga uga uga shucka
I can't stop this feelin
Deep inside of me...
Posted by: spc67 | July 26, 2003 06:18 PM
spc,
I swear those guys in Blue Swede all sat down together and said, "okay, now let's think of the most annoying noise we could possibly make and have it as the intro to this song..."
Posted by: Emily | July 26, 2003 06:29 PM
Boston owns. The band, not the city. Well, both.
Posted by: Tom | July 26, 2003 06:41 PM
My sister and I used to act that song out. We'd act like monster when we did the ooga shagga part.
Posted by: Michele | July 26, 2003 06:41 PM
Where in the world did you find that photo? I used to have that exact 8 track player in blue. It was awesome....handful of batteries, Rod Stewart's Greatest Hits, the river bank & playing hooky from school....not to mention my '67 powder blue Mustang.
Great memories!
Posted by: Rita | July 26, 2003 06:46 PM
'No, you just had songs that cut off in the middle to switch tracks, so More Than a Feeling was interupted by a chu-chunk sound right at the good part.'
That brings back the memories!I played that Boston 8-track every 6 months when I would drive back & forth the 1100 miles to college up North....wow....
Posted by: Chris Muir | July 26, 2003 07:29 PM
Never had it. I had a Foghat, the one with "I just want to make love to you", Blue by Joni Mitchell, and later, John Barleycorn Must Die by Traffic. The latter was memorable because "Stranger to Himself" faded out in the middle for the track change, a time gap lasting about a minute.
Posted by: Daniel Day | July 27, 2003 12:46 AM
I don't even remember 8-tracks. We never had them when I was growing up. Just vinal. It's weird, everyone talks about 8-tracks and the problems with them and all, but i just was never really exposed to them. But from what I hear, Vinal was way better anyway. And that Hooked on a Feeling song is disturbing. At the beginning where they say ooga chaka or whatever it is, it actually sounds almost like they're saying who got sucked off, or something like that. Maybe it's just me though.
Posted by: Xavier Gold | July 27, 2003 06:11 AM
of course, the reason I don't remember them is maybe because I am only 26 (almost 27) years old. So, I dunno
Posted by: Xavier Gold | July 27, 2003 06:12 AM
Nice site
Posted by: Buy Propecia | October 20, 2003 03:13 PM
I did not like 8 track tapes while they were popular ( seems like about a couple months ) and I am glsd they are gone.
Posted by: Charles Denmon | January 2, 2004 07:11 PM