Reviving Stuff 60s (Brooke Bond D) - Various Artists

Brooke Bond D - Reviving Stuff

You've got to hand it to my mother: why spend money on music if she could get it for free? Hence I grew up on a musical diet fed via promotional cassettes from Weetabix, Smiths, and Brooke Bond, and there is no doubt that they all played a part in the forming of my musical tastes. The Weetabix Top Trax tapes and Smiths' Kid Jensen tape pushed some 80s music into my ears when I otherwise might have been too young to notice. But Brooke Bond, via their Brooke Bond D brand of tea bags, went for the 1960s.

I suspect that my mum had thought to herself, "Ah! Some music that I can appreciate," as I don't remember her ever being a huge fan of 80s rock and pop (despite the numerous times we played the tapes at home or in the car). So maybe the Reviving Stuff tape, with its "12 Smash Hits From The 60s" was exactly the kind of thing she was hoping for when it was given away in 1988. As it happens, like all the other music tapes, my sister and I commandeered it and we were both more likely to be listening to it than my mum would be.

Of the twelve songs on the cassette, at least seven of them remain with me as firm favourites. I dislike none of them, but those remaining five wouldn't rank highly amongst my "most played".

Side One
1. Len Barry - 1-2-3
2. Righteous Brothers - You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin'
3. The Walker Brothers - The Sun Ain't Gonna Shine Anymore
4. Tom Jones - It's Not Unusual
5. Mamas and Papas - California Dreamin'
6. Lulu and The Luvvers - Shout

Side Two
1. Amen Corner - Bend Me Shape Me
2. The Flowerpot Men - Let's Go To San Francisco
3. Eddie Cochran - Summertime Blues
4. Dusty Springfield - You Don't Have To Say You Love Me
5. Stan Getz, Joao Gilberto, Astrud Gilberto - The Girl From Ipanema
6. Little Eva - The Locomotion

As far as picking twelve songs from the 60s goes, I think the guys at Brooke Bond did a pretty good job. But I certainly thank them for providing me with wonders like The Sun Ain't Gonna Shine Anymore (that song is simply beautiful), and Bend Me Shape Me (so many memories of singing this at the top of my voice during long car journeys). Whilst I'm sure that I would have come across It's Not Unusual, and California Dreamin' at several points during my life, I think it is possible that The Walker Brothers or The Flowerpot Men could have passed me by.

"I write songs so that the person I didn't say those words to can hear them" - Taylor Swift

Kid Jensen's Chart Blasters - Various Artists

So far, the most popular post here is about the Top Trax cassettes that were given away by Weetabix in the 1980s. Judging by the comments left on the page, I can only assume that there are lots of people out there that get as nostalgic about these kinds of things as I do.

Those Weetabix tapes got an awful lot of play when I was a child, but if there was one other cassette that could possibly have been put in the player more times then it would have to be yet another tape that was given away back in the 80's.

Smiths crisps (which later became part of the PepsiCo group, and thus some of the products became labelled as Walkers instead) gave away a 10-song track cassette in 1986. David "Kid" Jensen was the celebrity used to give the mix some credibility as he'd been a radio regular throughout the 70's and 80's and, when this tape was released, had made a move from Radio 1 to Capital FM as well as making a start in television.

The album's title is incredibly eighties: "Kid Jensen's Chart Blasters"

"Kid Jensen's Chart Blasters... from Smiths!"

My sister and I adored this tape and, as with the Weetabix cassettes, I am certain that my relationship with music was forged and moulded by it.

Before the music began on Side One, Kid Jensen himself provided a little introduction that still remains deeply ingrained in my brain. Sadly, the actual tape itself was accidentally left in a car that got sold/scrapped and so no longer can I listen to those immortal words:

"Hi, I'm Kid Jensen, and I've got together with the people at Smiths to bring you a hot selection of chart blasting hits. You'll be hearing from The Bangles, King, Cyndi Lauper and Paul Young, D.C. Lee, Bonnie Tyler, Shakin' Stevens, Dead or Alive, Alison Moyet and Michael Jackson! So get on your feet and jump to the beat with Kid Jensen's Chart Blasters... from Smiths!"

And then The Bangles' Manic Monday would begin.

In fact, we became so used to listening to the tape that whenever I hear one of the songs being played today, I always expect to then hear the intro to the next track off the tape. It seems a little wrong when Cyndi Lauper's Girls Just Wanna Have Fun doesn't begin as King's Taste Of Your Tears ends. But then, that's what custom digital playlists are for these days.

So, for those of you who remember the tape but don't remember what was on it, here's the track listing:

Side One:
1. Manic Monday - The Bangles
2. Taste Of Your Tears - King
3. Girls Just Wanna Have Fun - Cyndi Lauper
4. Every Time You Go Away - Paul Young
5. See The Day - D.C. Lee

Side Two:
1. Holding Out For A Hero - Bonnie Tyler
2. Turning Away - Shakin' Stevens
3. You Spin Me Round (Like A Records) - Dead or Alive
4. All Cried Out - Alison Moyet
5. Thriller - Michael Jackson

"Music is forever; music should grow and mature with you, following you right on up until you die" - Paul Simon

Weetabix Top Trax / Top Trax II - Various Artists

One of my first posts here talked about the song Young At Heart by The Bluebells; a song that I know and love, and has some good memories associated with it. Chances are that the only reason I know it so well is because we had it on a cassette tape that came free (with tokens, I suspect) from Weetabix breakfast cereal. The tape itself was given away during 1985, the song was originally released in 1984, and I was born in 1983. So I suspect that, without the tape kicking around my house, I wouldn't have ordinarily listened to it a great deal due to being so young when it was out.

But we did have the cassette.

In fact, we had several. Weetabix did two sets of tapes, one in 1985 and one in 1986, known as Top Trax and - imaginatively - Top Trax II. Each cassette has two songs on each side. I'm not sure how many tapes there were altogether. I still have six, and I believe that is all we ever had. Five from the original set, and one from Top Trax II.

I've had several visits to my post about The Bluebells track, which mentions the Weetabix tapes, so I've decided I'd mention all the tapes I have. Partly because I like listing stuff, partly because some people may be genuinely interested and (most importantly of all, considering the purpose of this blog) because these tapes defined my listening habits and tastes for quite some time.

From a very young age, these cassettes were played repeatedly. At first, played around/to me, but then later played by me. Long car journeys meant my sister and I bringing the cassettes along with us and shouting, "Mum! Change the tape!" after every four songs. I regard those six tapes as a single album of 28 tracks and, since I now own each of the songs on CD or MP3, I often consider compiling them into a Top Trax playlist so I can once again listen to them as a whole.

Here's my collection of the tapes:

Weetabix Top Trax/II Cassettes

And here's a list of what was on each of them (again, I point out that I don't have all of the tapes that were ever given away, so this is just a list of those I have):

Brian's Cassette:
1.1. Haircut One Hundred - Fantastic Day
1.2. Nik Kershaw - I Won't Let The Sun Go Down On Me
2.1. The Bluebells - Young At Heart
2.2. New Edition - Candy Girl

Bixie's Cassette:
1.1. Nik Kershaw - Wouldn't It Be Good
1.2. Bucks Fizz - My Camera Never Lies
2.1. Billy Ocean - Caribbean Queen
2.2. Irene Cara - Fame

Dunk's Cassette:
1.1. Thompson Twins - Doctor! Doctor!
1.2. Tears For Fears - Shout
2.1. Dexy's Midnight Runners - Come On Eileen
2.2. Kirsty MacColl - There's A Guy Works Down The Chip Shop Swears He's Elvis

Crunch's Cassette:
1.1. Tears For Fears - Mad World
1.2. Big Country - Wonderland
2.1. The Jam - Beat Surrender
2.2. Status Quo - The Wanderer

Brain's Cassette (this is the one with a torn label, so I don't know which side is which):
?.1. Bucks Fizz - If You Can't Stand The Heat
?.2. Thomson Twins - We Are Detective
?.1. Bananarama - Robert De Niro's Waiting
?.2. ABC - The Look Of Love

Bixie's Cassette - Top Trax II:
1.1. Thomson Twins - Don't Mess With Doctor Dream
1.2. Tears For Fears - Head Over Heels
2.1. Five Star - System Addict
2.2. Baltimora - Tarzan Boy

For me, the three standout artists from that bunch are Nik Kershaw, Tears for Fears, and Thompson Twins. Mainly because, several years later, I got myself the greatest hits CDs of each of these and discovered other songs that have gone on to become particular favourites. And there is no doubt that my enjoyment of music from the 1980's began with these tapes.

EDIT (05/08/12): I have just realised that I must own at least one other tape, because I'm certain that Nik Kershaw's Wide Boy was a featured track. When I return home, I must search...

EDIT (08/08/12): Yep, I actually have one other tape:

Brian's Cassette - Top Trax II:
1.1 Nik Kershaw - Wide Boy
1.2 Big Country - Look Away
2.1 Bronski Beat - Hit That Perfect Beat
2.2 Jim Diamond - Hi Ho Silver

Weetabix Top Trax II - Brian's Cassette

The photo above also shows how awesome my mum was, in that she'd type little inlays for all the cassettes, just to make life easier searching for the tape we particularly wanted. To be honest, I'm surprised I forgot about this one. Side 1 must have been played an awful lot.

"People go to movies or listen to music because they want to be inspired" - Daphne Zuniga