I am HUGE into music. If you know me you know that, & if you don’t here we go.
I won my first radio contest when I was 10, and my sister used my fast digits to repeat dial a radio station to win a record. I won a J Geils Band record & was hooked on getting free music.
Cut to the Columbia House years of records and CDs.
It was an offer that seemed too good to be true, but was.
Columbia House
For anyone under 35, Columbia House was a music marketing service that would sell you 16 records or tapes for $25*.
Records were quickly phased out for CDs, but what an age to get that much vinyl for cheap!
The deal was, you paid for 1 & got 15 for free.
What a deal!
It was the 90s, so everyone was bamboozled as to how this would actually pan out, but we all bought in.
Credit cards and identity were kind of loosey-goosey back then, & I still remember being able to write a check to myself for myself to delay NSFs. It was a glorious age.
So you sign up to Columbia House, check off your albums from the print out you got in the newspaper, then mail it in with your details and wait.
There was no internet then, so you couldn’t check your status…go on a chat board…or pay for special delivery. It was mail & you waited.
You could call to check on your order, but it was an 800 number for $5/minute.
6-20 weeks later a big brown box of your hopefully not crushed music was in your hands.
It was friggin’ magical. A cornucopia of new art. Ballads, riffs, and crushing acoustics to occupy your space.
But one package wasn’t enough…we wanted more Columbia House.
And so Columbia House grew, everyone was getting this magical deal of mass produced CDs and tapes from China.
As it grew, the quality deprived, but the hunger for the monthly brown package became hungrier.
We adapted.
We added fake names & addresses.
After all, who would know.
Trust then broke Columbia House.
I remember ordering 7 different selections to my neighbours in uni, and they would do the same to me.
It was like a commune of corruption where we took down the record industry who took their eye off the credit.
They wouldn’t do that again.
Anywhoodles-here are some of my top new faves of Indie music at the moment.
Here’s a fun video about it.
<iframe width=”560″ height=”315″ src=”https://www.youtube.com/embed/jP0lq8XcRMo” frameborder=”0″ allow=”accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture” allowfullscreen></iframe>
Guster-Terrified
This awesome band from Boston has been plugging the Indie circuit for years. They had some great success in the late 90s and have pulled out all the stops on their new album ‘Look Alive’.
Banfi-Fabulous
This British band has a melodic beat and a toe tapping ability I keep playing, and I don’t know why. I originally wanted to delete this song, but I’m happy each time it comes on.
Ok…and now here I go….my fave album of their LP ‘American Feelings.’
This band has been rocking from LA since 2010, and you only have to do a YouTube search to find out that these dudes have been rocking the jive since it was called jive again.
When it comes to a hit/ miss ratio of great songs, they hit harder than the Hulk.
Or Thanos…he hit the Hulk really hard.
‘member…’member Avengers?…
Here’s 3 off their past few albums.
Please buy the album from them, not a media company.
Norman Rockwell
I Feel Good About This
Kansas City
If you ever want me to send you a playlist or some of the stuff I like, send it along.