Monday, November 21, 2011

Today in "Olde" Person News

On the weekend, my friend the Tall Teacher (age 31) was over. He pointed to an old stereo I have and said "what's that?" In his defense it was buried under other things, hoarder-style.

I said it's an old stereo. It was my father's. I kept it because it was the only one we had that played 78's.

He asked (you guessed it) "What are 78's?"

I said 78 rpm records. Vinyl. And I showed him one. He'd never heard of 78's. I showed him a couple. Very heavy vinyl, bigger than an 45, one song per side. He said: one song only? That's not very environmentally friendly.

I love that. Who thought about the "environment" in the days of 78's?

13 comments:

cityofmushrooms said...

o come on--everyone knows what a 78 is!!

Anonymous said...

Only if you're closer to 78 than 18.

Nanuk of the North, older but no wiser said...

True.

Nanuk of the North, older but no wiser said...

I checked the Internet yesterday. It is possible to buy refurbished turntables from the 1950s or 1960s that play 45s, 33s, 78s AND 16s.
Yes, even 16s. They were already obsolete in OUR youth.

Anonymous said...

All my life I dreamed of finding a 16 record - our turntable at home had the speed - but I've never seen one. Where could you find one? What was released on 16?

And why was it 33 & 1/3? Why did that speed require a fraction to make it work?

Anonymous said...

How are they environmentally unfriendly????...As far as I'm concerned, you're not supposed to throw vinyl records away. They are to be preserved to your dieing day, then past on to someone else who will hug them and squeeze them and call them "George."

JAW fan

Nanuk of the North, older but no wiser said...

I thought 16 existed only to put 33s on accidentally and get that slow moaning scary vocal.

Harry Flashman said...

What was the size of 16 records?

Anonymous said...

Just Googled 16 rpm (actually, it's 16 2/3 -- that must balance out the 33 1/3 , bringing it to a equal total of 50 RPMs)

In any case, mostly used for spoken word recording, which is why none of our mothers owned any Harry Belafonte or Englebert Humperdinck on 16 rpms.)

JAW fan

Nanuk of the North, older but no wiser said...

True. Our version of Bananna Boat Song was on a 33, and Lonely is a Man Without Love was a 45, both in my mother's collection.

Anonymous said...

Not surprisingly, those were both in my mother's collection of 33 rpms.

Did every woman own those songs in the late 60s???

JAW fan

cityofmushrooms said...

not to mention the fifth dimension and their beautiful baloooooonnn

Nanuk of the North, older but no wiser said...

Speaking of the 5th dimension, I heard Aquarius/Let the Sun Shine a few weeks ago on CBC, and boy, it sounded great. I loved it.