Record Club Of America

fuzzybuddy

fuzzybuddy

SF VIP
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Northeast PA. 3 miles from the Pocono race track
Eternity. When I think of that word, I recall having only 4 more records to buy to fulfill my "contract" with Record Club Of America, Terre Haute, Ind. Remember getting a bunch of records for only 99 cents, then only 4 more from "our vast selection" of superstars. And they were really great selections, like "The Mormon Tabernacle Choir Sings The Beatles", or free form atonal jazz.
I still cringe when something's post marked "Terra Haute, Ind."
 

OMG, I remember it all right...I was young, I wanted the Supremes, the Beach Boys, the Beatles...and what did I get. To this day, I still can't figure out how I got Tiny Tim, Herman's Hermits and some unidentified woman singing opera (VERY badly)...I also got an unlimited supply of Johnny Mathis (whom I love now, but back then he was just another "old guy" singing about The 12th of Never.

And to add insult to injury, my mother got mad that I hadn't asked her before I signed up and I had to listen to lectures about Wasting My Money...
 

Sassycakes said:
I was very lucky growing up. My Dad had a friend that had to fill jukeboxes every month. He would give my Dad all the records he had for me and my sister. I can not tell you how many hundreds of records he gave us over the years.
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You lucked out; ditto my BFF whose dad owned a barber shop next to a diner that featured a juke box. BFF ended up with a treasury of 45s which even way back in the 50s were $1 each in "record" stores and 89 cents in the 5&dime... That was a lotta money for teens of that era.

Funny thing was that he was very blase about the experience. Juke box had mostly top 40 material and he was a hard line rhythm & blues fan who was into obscure songs heard only on "urban" radio stations, mostly songs that barely crack top 40 and if they did for only a week or two.
 
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RCA, not thee RCA, but the record club, had a warehouse and distribution center just a few miles from where I lived at that time. There was always some funny business going on there. I remember reading in the local paper one morning that employees were always stealing records. I guess they didn’t have anyone watching the henhouse.
 
Something like 12 records to get you to join and then you realize the records you have to purchase are greatly overpriced. When I finally made my commitment, I turned around and did the same thing with 8-track tapes. I’m a slow learner.... :(
 
RCA really put my love of music into gear. I'm pretty sure I got their $50 for 50 albums introduction but it might have been the $25 for 25. I was 15 at the time. There were a number of things I got at the time that I didn't start to appreciate until later for example Tarkus by Emerson, Lake & Palmer and there were a few I never got into.

Later on after CDs came out and I got my first CD player (probably about a year after they came out) I signed up for the RCA music club and another one and got a lot of CDs that I wanted. Although the cost of the CDs they sent out after that was high the initial CDs and the ones you had to buy still had an overall low average price.
 
I remember the Columbia House Record Club.

A friend of mine had older sisters, and I remember them signing up for the introductory offer (can't recall how many records for a penny), but they placed their order, received the package, and then Columbia House sent them a new ordering form with a new selection of choices, they sent the order form back to Columbia House with the word - "deceased" on it.

That was that, no more anything in the mail.

I wonder just how many other hundreds or possibly even thousands of people did that.
 
Like many college students of that time, I was also seduced by Record Club of America. Some of the bargain introductory records I ordered and never received, while others were inferior editions. Like the roach motel, RCA also proved to be easy to get into, but almost impossible to check out of...
 
We had a little bit that we did back in the day when our band was still playing gigs. About halfway through we would stop the music, and I would make an announcement that I had just finished sighing a great record deal.. 🥳!!

Then after the 'dramatic pause,' I would go on to say something like, "Yeah it's awesome, I get nine records upfront for free then I only have to buy six more in the coming year." Ah, what great fun it was .. 🙃😇
 
fmdog44 said:
Recall the black market 8 Track tapes that sold for half price and the songs were recorded by people you never heard of and so they all sucked.
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:ROFLMAO: :ROFLMAO: :ROFLMAO: I still have a bootleg CD of beach boys hits... except it ain't the beach boys. I guess some things never change.
While typing this, I suddenly remembered the truck driving cassette I bought years ago that was nothing but no name singers. LOL
 


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