There'll Be Swingin', Swayin', (Cardboard) Records Playin'

February 19, 2007 10:53 PM

The Internet Museum Of Flexi/Cardboard/Oddity Records. "Once bound by cereal boxes, held in the pages of a magazine, wrapped up in envelopes sent through our postal system or given away casually with some product, these bits of paper and plastic yearned to be set free to fulfill their destiny as playable records." Also, The Flexi Manufacturing Process.
posted by amyms (36 comments total)

Nice find, thanks. I fondly remember playing my Billy and the Boingers flexidisc on dad's record player...
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 11:08 PM on February 19, 2007

I love every single thing about this post. I wish I was eating boxed cereal in 1962 right now.
posted by buriedpaul at 11:29 PM on February 19, 2007

Google Search results for Flexi Cardboard Records' has The Internet Museum of Flexi, Cardboard and Oddity Records which as posted on May 19, 2004 - View this thread as the first result.

You didn't even search for this, did you ?
posted by y2karl at 11:37 PM on February 19, 2007

Oops! Pardon my typo. Make that

has The Internet Museum of Flexi, Cardboard and Oddity Records posted on May 19, 2004 - View this thread as the first result.

But same question otherwise...

Some of us usually remember these things from their first postings.
posted by y2karl at 11:45 PM on February 19, 2007

I didn't see it the first time around, thanks for posting.
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 11:48 PM on February 19, 2007

You didn't even search for this, did you ?

y2karl, I didn't search on Google, but I searched for the URL on the Metafilter Search Page, and it didn't bring up any matches (there's a result there now, but it's only my post)... I see now that the original post and mine only have a slight difference in the URL, which the search page didn't catch... I'm very sorry.
posted by amyms at 11:59 PM on February 19, 2007

Sorry for the snippy. I just happened to remember this one. Well, I should be so particular, anyhow. I've double posted without searching at all myself. And it is a neat link.
posted by y2karl at 12:04 AM on February 20, 2007

I swear I had one of these as a kid, from the back of...Honeycomb cereal? The theme song for "Here Come the Brides":

"The bluest skies you'll ever see, in Seattle"

Etc., etc. I can still sing the jingle a bit. Am I imagining this?
posted by maxwelton at 12:25 AM on February 20, 2007

Am I imagining this?

Nope, you're not imagining it, maxwelton... I didn't find the record on the site I posted, but I found it on Bobby Sherman's site here.
posted by amyms at 12:32 AM on February 20, 2007

Metafilter: I didn't see it the first time around, thanks for posting.
posted by flapjax at midnite at 1:51 AM on February 20, 2007

Metafilter: what the guy a few posts above me said
posted by sergeant sandwich at 2:10 AM on February 20, 2007

Wow. I'm shocked this exhibit doesn't have the Archies records. Or, considering it's WFMU, They Might Be Giants' debut single (which was a flexi-disc). Not to mention the entire universe of rock-rag flexis (The Bob, Reflex, etc)...

Ah well, it does say "partial history."
posted by mykescipark at 2:14 AM on February 20, 2007

Hey sergeant sandwich, the practice of starting your comment using "Metafilter" (followed by a colon and preceding a quote) is generally understood to be an indication that a direct quote from someone else's comment is being used: generally because the comment being quoted is in some way perceived as indicative of some particular characteristic of MetaFilter, or representative of a trend in MetaFilter. When you preface your comment with "Metafilter:" but then go on to make your own comment (not a quote), you essentially subvert the purpose of the accepted usage of this particular commenting technique. Know what I'm saying, homey?
posted by flapjax at midnite at 3:07 AM on February 20, 2007

You mean, like

Metafilter: Know what I'm saying, homey?

I feel unclean now.
posted by maxwelton at 3:53 AM on February 20, 2007

And thanks, Amyms. That was exactly the flexi I had. Yet another eBay fortune lost to the trash bin.
posted by maxwelton at 3:54 AM on February 20, 2007

You mean, like Metafilter: Know what I'm saying, homey? I feel unclean now.

Yep, that's it, maxwelton. You're catching on. If you feel unclean, though, it's probably cause you haven't dusted off your JokeFilter and/or MildSarcasmFilter lately. Keep working on it, though!
posted by flapjax at midnite at 4:09 AM on February 20, 2007

MAD Magazine did a few of these back in the day. I had the one with three endings. The random ending trick didn't work very well. I remember even at that young age not being very surprised that the cheap gimmick in MAD Magazine was also shoddily made.
posted by Cookiebastard at 5:43 AM on February 20, 2007

Billy and the Boingers as mp3's. Though I'll always prefer their work when they were still Deathtöngue. The tongue comes through fairly clearly in this recording but the rhythm tuba is strangely muted.

My favorite flexi was from a 1969 issue of National Geographic, with the transmissions from Apollo 11. Think I wore that one out when I was seven.
posted by pandaharma at 6:26 AM on February 20, 2007

Metafilter: what the guy a few posts above me said

There you go, flap. You can rescind his "using insider joke to make fun of insiders" penalty now. Or maybe it would have to be

Metafilter: Metafilter: what the guy a few posts above me said

Judges? *crosses his fingers*
posted by dozo at 6:27 AM on February 20, 2007

I seem to recall having one of these on which there was a song encompassing the entire McDonald's menu. After going through it once, some guy would try to sing it alone, and if he made it through the song on your particular record, you'd win something.

I bet I still have that, somewhere.
posted by The Great Big Mulp at 6:59 AM on February 20, 2007

Or maybe it would have to be
Metafilter: Metafilter: what the guy a few posts above me said

Yes, to stay within the generally accepted rules of practice, you'd need the 2 "Metafilter"s... But, damn, this is gonna get complicated. Let's all just open a bottle of wine and forget about it, eh?
posted by flapjax at midnite at 7:06 AM on February 20, 2007

I think the only flexi I still have came with my Mr. Bill book. Which is just as awesome as this post. Even if it is a double...

/me hums ♩♩♫♩♩Here comes Mr. Bill's dog
posted by Fezboy! at 7:43 AM on February 20, 2007

I'm proud to say I own a copy of the very rare Eno flexidisc "Glint" - distributed within an issue of Artforum magazine in 1986.
posted by davebush at 7:48 AM on February 20, 2007

I can STILL recite the entire McDonald's menu (circa 1988) from memory, thanks to that damn record inside the Daily News. I miss the McDLT.

Anyone know how to track down a Micky D's that'll still sell a Shamrock Shake(tm) this March?
posted by ericbop at 7:51 AM on February 20, 2007

I seem to recall having one of these on which there was a song encompassing the entire McDonald's menu. After going through it once, some guy would try to sing it alone, and if he made it through the song on your particular record, you'd win something.

I remember this, they also did one with the Big Mac song with all the ingredients.

I must admit when I clicked the link I expected to see some of the thin plastic square records like from that contest.
posted by Uther Bentrazor at 7:53 AM on February 20, 2007

yay. here it is. in scary youtube karake format. i luv the internet.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XvhDw5bQbd8
posted by ericbop at 7:57 AM on February 20, 2007 [1 favorite]

MAD Magazine did a few of these back in the day. I had the one with three endings. The random ending trick didn't work very well. I remember even at that young age not being very surprised that the cheap gimmick in MAD Magazine was also shoddily made.
posted by Cookiebastard at 8:43 AM EST on February 20

Prime example of why it is good to read Metafilter. You just reminded me of something I had completely erased from my memory-- that very frustrating record.

And I am very sorry to have missed out on the Bobby Sherman record. Am I right in supposing that I am the only one on Metafilter today who can sing that entire song from memory?
posted by Secret Life of Gravy at 8:20 AM on February 20, 2007

ericbop: Awesome!
posted by The Great Big Mulp at 9:39 AM on February 20, 2007

I can't remember if it was the Shadows of Knight or the Standells, but I used to have one that came with a bag of potato chips : She always flips when she gets her grip - on a crunchy, munchy potato chip !
posted by rfs at 9:44 AM on February 20, 2007

Thank you. I'd forgotten about those discs... I'd a few, I think, from off of Corn Flakes boxes.
posted by MDA38 at 10:56 AM on February 20, 2007

Secret Life of Gravy, I could probably sing backup, though in a few places I would simply be mumbling.
posted by maxwelton at 11:02 AM on February 20, 2007

Here's some more at WFMU
posted by doctor_negative at 11:11 AM on February 20, 2007

Metafilter: I feel unclean now.
posted by beelzbubba at 12:09 PM on February 20, 2007

I thought it was a Burger King promo, but either way, that record is missing from the collection.
posted by Sprout the Vulgarian at 12:58 PM on February 20, 2007

MetaFilter: i luv the internet.
posted by FormlessOne at 3:12 PM on February 20, 2007

I had the one with three endings. The random ending trick didn't work very well.

What's weird is that I can still remember the lyrics.
posted by MegoSteve at 3:24 PM on February 20, 2007