I wonder who recalls their first Columbia House order of free* LPs or tapes for a penny? I think you got to pick 12, and you could order 13 with the extra counting towards your committment. (There was also a smaller order of 4?) Anyway, I remember getting: Fleetwood Mac Rumors, Christopher Cross, Al Stewart Time Passages, Billy Joel Glass Houses, Eagles Live (2 LPs), Simon and Garfunkles GH, Chicago GH I, Doobies GH, Elton John’s GH I, and I will have to dig deeper for the rest. I did buy Billy Joel’s An Innocent Man, Chicago 17, and I forget.
I don’t think I ever fulfilled my agreement. Just took the music and enjoyed the hell out of it. The first Santana (with the combo Lion head/native female cover) definitely was in there, as were several Mystic Moods Orchestras, Dean Martin, Tijuana Brass, Paul Revere and the Raiders, Bob Dylan (2 I think) and Johnny Cash, Barbra Sreisand.
Speaking of which, I think that particular Santana album (although there were some follow-ups with great songs) is the one I will always remember as one without one bad tune on it.
I think I ordered it without my mom’s permission when I was like 10. When they came, I hid them. I don’t remember what I ordered now, but when the first automatic “pick of the month” came, my mom opened it, and it was Prince’s Lovesexy with a bill for $15 or something. Mama was pissed to say the least.
Well she got on the horn with Columbia House tout suite and chewed them out. She told them I was a minor and they had no business entering into contracts with minors, etc, etc, etc.
I got out of it, but had to send all my tapes back.
I was always a BMG guy–you only had to buy one tape or CD to get your seven free, while Columbia House forced you to buy eight! Here’s what I rememer getting in 1994:
Doggystyle, Snoop Dogg
12 Play, R Kelly
Regulate…G Funk Era, Warren G
Finally, Ce Ce Peniston
“Above The Rim” Soundtrack
Appetitie for Destruction, Guns N Roses
Nevermind, Nirvana
Tuesday Night Music Club, Sheryl Crow.
Kansas - Leftoverture
Styx - Grand Illusion
Jackson Browne - Running On Empty
Grateful Dead - Terrapin Station
James Taylor - JT
Led Zeppelin - Houses Of The Holy or IV (?)
Billy Joel - The Stranger
Monty Python Live At City Center
MAN, I don’t think I can get them all, but I’ll see if I can recall a few: This was nearly forty years ago, mind you, when I ordered these LPs.
Three Dog Night Greatest Hits
Simon and Garfunkel Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme
Ray Stevens Greatest Hits
A Portrait of Johnny Cash
Gilbert O’Sullivan Alone Again, Naturally
Simon And Garfunkel Bridge Over Troubled Water Godspell
Neil Diamond Gold (Live at the Troubador)
Sorry, that’s all I can recall right now. Maybe I’ll have more later. But now that I think about it, I might not have gotten a round dozen for my penny.
whole bunch of Mozart, Vivaldi 4 seasons, resphigi pines, fountains and roads of rome and non-orff Carmina Burana. I can’t remember but I think my Magic Flute and Don Giovanni are also BMG.
I don’t remember my first picks. I would re-up every couple of years. It was a good deal, if you paid attention. You do the 12 free plus one first, then send back the auto-selection every month, until they have the buy one get three deal, which was every six months.
Columbia House was kind enough to give me the first CDs I ever owned, and I still have all of them buried in my closet.
I recall that I got Their Greatest Hits - 1971-1975 by the Eagles, as well as some compilations from Blue Oyster Cult, the Who, and Santana, a couple of George Carlin albums, a Simpsons music album, Stunt by Barenaked Ladies, and Days of Future Passed by the Moody Blues, and two others which I can’t recall which they are at the moment.
My orders were in the cassette era, and the only one of my first 12 that I can recall is Joe Jackson’s Body and Soul. I was a member for YEARS and loved it.
I can only remember a few:
Blur - Parklife
Blues Traveller - Straight on Till Morning
Trainspotting soundtrack
Best of Elton John
Best of Simon & Garfunkle
Best of Peter Gabriel
The only two I remember are:
Led Zeppelin 2
Traffic–Low Spark of High-Heeled Boys
Probably Santana was in the mix, maybe Moody Blues.
Remember how they would give you some free albums if you got someone else to sign up? I shamelessly talked my grandmother into enrolling. :o She was nothing but good to me, poor to boot, and I roped her into months of sending back refusals and sorting through piles of mail so I could score 3 freebies. I’m ashamed just thinking of it.
I did both! Columbia House for cassettes (I was a poor dig at the time) and then later BMG for the CD’s.
I signed up to receive the monthly “Heavy Metal” selection from Columbia House, but alas the albums they sent were generally crap. I remember getting a couple of Motörhead cassettes out of the deal though.
From BMG I got two or three David Bowie CD’s, two or three Soundgarden CD’s, and Killing Joke’s “Pandemonium”. I still have, and listen to these every now and then. (My Columbia House cassettes are lost in the depths of time.)
I got four of those (no idea which) off the original offer in Parade magazine, bought one, and then got the other three from the magazine they sent you every month. The club magazine gave you a lot more choices than the original offer.