This thread is all about 8 Track tapes. When I was growing up, besides records, 8 Track tapes were the other main source for music. Cassette tapes were around but stereos that contained cassette decks were extremely expensive. I had a cassette player/recorder on several boom boxes but I didn't feel like I really had shit unless I could play the tape on the actual stereo with the big speakers that could shake the walls. With 8 Track tapes, I could do this. Also, you could listen to 8 Track tapes in the car. Cassette players were not in the cars yet.

I remember longing for an 8 Track recorder (which were very expensive at the time) so I could record songs off the radio and play them through the stereo instead of a weak little boom box. My grandmother finally got me one in the summer of 1982 (the price had gone down tremendously) and then the damn 8 Tracks went out of style the following year. Ain't that the way life usually goes?

Anyway, I mentioned the advantages of 8 Tracks, now here are some of the flaws. I had many of 8 Tracks that I recorded but I only bought one pre-recorded (original) 8 Track in my life, which was Prince's "Controversy" (this was before I had a recorder). When a program was ready to switch to another program, the song would be interrupted by fading out....switching to the next program....and fading back in. I don't know why they didn't let the song just play straight through and then you hear a quick "click" during the song like on 8 Tracks you could record yourself. Another disadvantage was if you wanted to hear a particular song, you had to wait until the program played through to hear it again (unless you had a player with a fast forward button, which was too expensive).

Anyway, 8 Tracks were fun while they lasted. Those were some of my 8 Track memories. What are some of yours?

here's a fun website that I visit frequently...


www.8trackheaven.com


Around 2001 or 2002,we had an Orger here known as "Seal99" and she was always talking about 8 track tapes.She LOVED these tapes and collected them.It's too bad she's no longer here...she would like this thread

My mom listened to 8 tracks a lot when I was a kid, and that fade out was damn distracting even to the 7-year-old I was! I have distinct memories of Neil Diamond and Crystal Gayle tracks (which may be a crime in and of itself) being interrupted by fade out...CLICK...fade in!

Anyway,here is my 8-track story...


One of the first 8 tracks that I listened to was So Full Of Love by The Ojays.This was in 1978.It belonged to my father,and one day I borrowed it from him.A year later,I discovered one of his Millie Jackson 8-track tapes.It was her album A Moment's Pleasure,which introduced me to her music.There were several other 8-track tapes around,but for the most part,we bought vinyl albums.

The downside of 8-track tapes is...a song will fade out while it changes programs.This was so annoying! You'd be enjoying a particular song and it would be interrupted for a minute or so

My friend used to listen to an 8-track of the Everly Brothers every night as he went to sleep and everytime I stayed over I would be woke up every 20 minutes or whatever when the tape would flip over. I could never sleep to one of those things.

My Mom had the soul train volumes on 8-track the ones from ADAM VIII then she got em on vinyl. god i loved those

I never really bought many 8 Tracks myself but my mother had a few. She was into country and blues at the time and was always playing them in her car. She left them in the car and the labels would bubble up.

I remember she had Freddy Fender, Percy Sledge, Charlie Pride, Barbara Mandrell, B.B. King, and a "K-Tel type" various artists country 8 Track. However, she surprised me when she bought Michael Jackson's "Off The Wall" and a various artists 8 Track called "Disco '79".

Aww man! i remember when my mom bought: Knights of the Soundtable, Gap Band IV, The many faces of Roger Troutman, & Raise!

i'm curious about the sound quality compared to cassette tape. if i remember correctly the width of the 8-track was much thicker and that usually means better sound quality. Oh, i haven't found the time yet, but the best way to record music is on to a VHS tape on short play. OR shit Long play! Has something to do with the size of the tape (hence the dattape) Just think 8 hours of non-stop music! Well, i guess it's not that big of a deal now that we have ipods and mp3 players. BUT it was just 10 years ago!

My mom bought her parents house and my Grandpa still has an 8-track recorder with blank 8-tracks set up in the audio closet. Maybe I should make someone a mixed 8-track

I remember the 8 Track tapes being much clearer and also the music had a lot more power than it did on a cassette tape. The bass and drums beat much harder on the 8 Track tapes compared to the cassette tapes.




I've always wanted to do that myself also because whenever I'm recording a cassette tape and it gets to the end of one side, I lose my inspiration as to what I wanted to record next because I was interrupted by the tape ending. That's why I was interested in recording music on an 8 hour VHS tape.

Anyway, I found a way. When I finally bought a DVD player, I also hooked it to my VCR so I could make VHS copies of DVDs for friends. I got to thinking that if a DVD player will play a CD, then I should be able to record the music on a VHS tape. I tried it and it works. The music plays on the VHS tape and, as for the video part, the blue screen of the DVD is recorded onto the VHS tape with the minutes of the music track counting.

I have all my stereo equipment, including my DVD player and VCR plugged into a mixer so I can play everything through the stereo speakers. I haven't made a VHS tape full of music though because it takes too much time. It takes a DVD player forever to go through the process of loading each CD each time the tray is opened. I'm used to playing my two CD players back to back nonstop when I make a tape.

vainandy said:

Awesome!

Hey, you should be able to record from your CD to VHS, that's how i do it.

I thought about that also but I have two CD players that I would want plugged in. I like to mix (seamless) and that's why I was wanting to record on such a long tape so I would have more than enough tape to mix endlessly without losing my concentration. It seems like once I get a good flow going, the tape ends and I can't get it back. Also, there would be no way to cue the tracks through the headphones.

Thanks for the advice though.

Oh man, i've seen 8 track tapes before. Didn't they kind of look like VHS tapes? Imagine if they were still around and they tried to make walkmans for them, it would be huge. Like carrying around a vcr!

vainandy said:

My mom had a Barbara Mandrell 8 track! I can clearly recall the track switching during I'll Get Over You.

They were about 2/3 the size of a VHS tape. They looked like this.....



They didn't fit in the player from the side the way a VHS tape fits. They fit from the top.....



There were portable players too, such as.....



and....



and everyone had them in their cars...

All I remember my mother playing was "Sleeping Single In A Double Bed". She wore that song out. She would wait till the program rolled around and play it again.

"CLICK" .....

That's an interesting site. I was dying for one of these back in the day.....



A friend of mine used to have one of those stereos. Hers had three small disco balls in the top and a multicolored light grill covering the speakers at the bottom and it flashed to the beat of the music. I remember seeing one in Howard's (the 1970s and early 1980s version of Wal-Mart) and begging my grandmother to buy it. It costed about $300 which was big money back in those days.
.
.
[Edited 10/6/05 21:14pm]

vainandy said:

wow, those players look cool as hell. i wouldn't mind owning one.

vainandy said:

My uncle had a TON of 8 tracks...mostly country--John Denver, Kenny Rogers and some Donny & Marie Osmond, I think. He probably still has them, too. I was a bit too young to really be into music at that time, but I remember liking to look at the pictures.

Speaking of Barbara Mandrell--does anyone remember that TV show with all the Mandrell sisters? I think it was a variety type show. Also, I thought Sleeping Single in a Double Bed was Crystal Gale. (My parents had that record.)
[Edited 10/6/05 22:05pm]

My uncle had a Johnny Horton 8 track in his car and he also had the record album in his house. He used to live in Houston in the 1970s and we went to visit him once. I heard that damn "North To Alaska" and "Battle Of New Orleans" until I wanted to scream.



I remember that show. They said they were country when country wasn't cool.



Nope, that was Barbara. She also had another one called "You Can Eat Crackers In My Bed Anytime"....I think. Crystal's big hit was "Don't It Make My Brown Eyes Blue".
.
.
[Edited 10/6/05 22:02pm]

vainandy said:

I want one of these! I'd really like to find a brand new portable 8-track player.

mrwigglesdaw1rm said:

, Yup, that's what I HATED about'em! In MID GROOVE!!! you'd hear that -Ka-Chung! while it shifted tracks!! I remeber thinking as a kid, "Who came up with THIS Shit!????!! Who thought this was a good idea?!?"....I was so glad when we got a cassette player for the stereo, I do get nostalgic when I see'em now, but I gotta admit, I was kinda glad they stopped making'em, .....







...
[Edited 10/7/05 5:58am]

btw, this kills me, cause(I'm ashamed to admit) I remember this show....

paligap said:

Don't be ashamed, pali. Hell, I have some of the episodes on tape! By the way, great thread, Vain! I still have some of my 8 tracks.

Where are you going to find tapes to play in it? Seriously though, it would be nice just to have one as a collector's item. I still have one of these on my bookshelf.....



I wonder if it still works after all these years.

blackguitaristz said:

we're in the air and everywherrrrre


OMG i looooove the bugaloos i want that tape... want it want it waaaaant it... the one with the episodes of course

Do they still play? In the mid 1990s, At the time, I still had one of my old stereos in a bedroom that had an eight track player on it. The player still worked because I used to play cassettes in it through an adapter. I still had my "Controversy" 8 track tape in a drawer but it wouldn't play. I threw it away but I should have kept it.