As I was putzing around my home office
today, trying to make the rather small amount of space seem larger by
re-arranging a few things, I came across some items that I had
forgotten I had!
While moving and re-arranging some
books and record albums, I saw a small plastic sleeve drop to the
floor. I looked, and discovered that it contained several 6 inch
records! Now these are not just any records...these are cardboard
cutout records that came on the back of cereal boxes! I doubt that
anyone under the age of 40 will even remember these, but for some of
us, these records represented the days when a prize in a Cracker Jack
box, or a cereal box was something worth fighting over!! (and
subsequently getting a spanking for!)
Now I do not recall liking cold cereal
when I was a kid, though I did enjoy a lot of Quaker Oatmeal and
Cream Of Wheat! However, I do recall seeing these records on the
back of the “high quality” cereal boxes, such as “Sugar
Smacks”, “Sugar Frosted Flakes” and the like. Those were
expensive cereals for our family in the early days, but I can
remember seeing a few boxes of these cereals making their way into
our cupboards from time to time! I don't remember all of the Artists
that contributed their talents to the millions of General Mills, and
Kellog Cereal eating children...but I do remember a few. Oliver, (He
sang the song “Jean”...which was my Mom's name) the Jackson Five,
(yep, with little Michael Jackson) the Monkee's, Bobby Sherman and
the Archies...to name a few!
Cereal Box Records!
I looked through the little records and saw that I have three Archies, two Monkee's and a Bobby Sherman record. Now for some of you that don't know, I actually thought “Veronica”...the dark haired, keyboard playing girl, of the “Archies” ...was simply beautiful! (Hell, she still looks pretty good even after all these years!) Well, she was the inspiration for my daughters name..True Story!
An interesting side note about the Bobby Sherman record, is that the title of the song is “Seattle”! I actually recalled the melody of the song from my childhood, but back then Seattle was simply a place far, far away on the other side of the Country. It might as well have been on the other side of the world! Little did I know how close to Seattle...I would end up living!?
I could not resist throwing a couple of
these on the turntable and having a listen. First up was Bobby
Sherman and “Seattle”. “The bluest skies you've ever seen...in
Seattle”. ??? Hmm...after living here for twenty years...I
wondered, who the hell came up with that lyric!? Ahh heck, they
might have been here during the summer...I will cut the writer some
slack:)! Next up, a classic Monkees tune, “Pleasant Valley
Sunday”. A bit “thin” sounding, as these are plastic coated
pieces of cardboard...but it played just fine and the Monkees
sounded...well, pretty damn good!
The records seemed to sound a bit
better, and look a lot “cooler” in my memories, but that is a
common experience when looking back through the years!
I decided to take a few photos of these
childhood wonders and throw them up on the blog so you can see them.
I thought they might bring a grin to a few others out there!
Here is a quick video/sound recording
of the Monkee's belting it out via cardboard record!!
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