Floppy Discs........for the biddies only!!!

[Redbel]

Now everyone thinks...Floppy Discs...computers...but No......for us biddies who remember getting the Jackie magazine in the 70's.......and others....well who remembers those 45's you used to get for free...you'd rip them off and put them on the record player..... Oh the good old days.....

[brachiopod]

Arrh, flexi-discs. They never worked if you tried stacking thm under the 'swing arm' of your "hi-fi"*.

* - Before CD's and downloads, if you liked a track or band you went out and bought the album, or, if you weren't sure, just the single (45rpm, 7"). You could stack these up on the 'pin' above your turntable, and each time one record finished, the arm would return, and the next lump of vinyl drop down ready to play automatically !!! (Did I explain about there being no such thing as remote controls?)

[Redbel]

brachiopod......you summed it up brilliantly...but do you remember when the record jumped..What did they used to say...keep playin the same bit and the scratch will eventually rub itself out......Yeah.....never worked for me :)

[lindapinda]

Hi Bez!...God,you take me back! Had totally forgetten about those plastic horrors! You were always so careful of them,hanging over the record player,trying to make out what they were playing and saying! The David Cassidy ones were what I remembered! Have no idea now,what became of them.!! Good answer brachiopod,!!

[PatriciaH]

And if they kept "jumping" you used to put a coin on the "arm"to weigh it down a bit,rofl :) hiya bez....!

[netibiza]

Bur what about when the middles fell out and you couldn't stack them anymore.. I remember trying to place one without the middle directly onto the turntable but could never get it set properly and so the record sounded all wonky.

[littleoldme]

I did once get a free flexi-disc of The Rubettes' I Can Do It, backed with some monstrosity called Foe-Dee-O-Dee (I kid you not). I was no fan of The Rubettes and their silly white berets, but hey, it was free. I think I ended up seeing how many times I could fold it in half - something you couldn't do with proper records!

Don't knock the record players though - those contraptions where you played one single while up to nine more hovered precariously above held by a spindle and swing arm waiting their turn were works of wonder.

[woofgang]

radiograms....huge bits of furniture that took up half the room....then a Dansette portable.....wow.

Never never store your vinyl in the sun, it goes all wavy and makes the music sound very peculiar....

[brachiopod]

One flexi-disc I still own came free with Loving magazine (some late 70's / 80's slush mag for dreaming teenage girls).

The flexi track, called 'Our wedding' purported to be by 'Creative Recording & Sound Services', but was actually by anarchist punk band Crass. it caused quite a stir at the time.

I don't hesitate to emphasise that I didn't actually buy Loving magazine, but managed to track down this infamous giveaway a good few years later. -for the sake of completing my Crass collection of course !!

[brachiopod]

Here's the story and reactions to the hoax.

(And that's my 2000th post !! Yay !)

[Peri]

Hi BEZ - I remember getting one of those - Son of My Father by Chicory Tip - anybody remember that one ??