If you like 8-tracks, you'll love this page!

In between now, when I have the web to communicate with other trackers worldwide and back in '93 when I had nothing but a few pages of Pagan Kennedy's "Platforms" to comfort me, I had 8-Track Mind. Have you read it? It was a whole zine about 8-Tracks and I loved it. It was mostly letters from 8-track collectors about things they found, or wanted, or whatever they thought about or did with 8-tracks. It had some really useful articles about the technical side of tracking, but it was mostly stories about 8-tracks and what people remembered about them from way back when. Check it out!

Also don't miss the amazing 8-track collector's documentary: So Wrong They're Right. It is so good!

Eight Track Issues Forum

E-mail me with your thoughts on various 8-track questions!

1. Will 8-tracks become wildly collectable and prohibitively expensive? Swamp Rat thinks absolutely yes. This trend has already begun. Witness the high priced auctions at ebay on Swamp Rat's Awesome Link page . While this trend is lamentable, I believe it will be possible to find 8-tracks cheaply for a few more years before they really go up everywhere and become impossible to find except at antique stores.

2. Bootlegs, cool in and of themselves? or trash? Swamp Rat likes a nice bootleg with a strange cover. Some of them are neat looking. Also it's fun to imagine who made them and where and if there are more in a garage somewhere. Also, I think some may actually be better made than the cheaper major label tapes. Some of my bootleg albums work better than their label counterparts. What's your opinion?

To see some amazing bootlegs check out Swamp Rat's Bootleg Page.

3. Pinch Rollers, rubber or plastic? Swamp Rat thinks plastic pinch rollers are the way to go since they don't melt. Can anybody argue against this?

Eric writes:
I certainly can :) In my experience, plastic sucks, they let the tape run wildly up and down the capstan, causing mistracking. And think about that poor tape, stuck between plastic and metal! Rubber is softer, and grips the tape properly, at the same time giving way a little so not to grind the tape against the capstan. And regular rubber rollers dont melt or turn to goo, only some do, like the ones in those damn ampex carts. If you're still convinced that plastic rollers are the way to go, let's trade! I'm running short on rubber ones, due to my having bought lots of tapes that came with plastic ones :)

Thanks Eric! I'll let you know if I want to trade, but in light of all you said, I may have to reconsider my position on this all important 8-Track issue!

4. Which groups are the most hot in terms of sales and trades? Swamp Rat has seen that at ebay Elvis and the Beatles are hot items as always. And of course The Sex Pistols and other punk items are in high demand. Also the later record club 8-tracks of the 80s are rarer and more desirable. What Else? In my trading I' ve seen a lot of requests for Frank Zappa, Led Zeppelin, and Black Sabbath. What do you think?

5. The connection between tracking and collecting other obsolete technologies. Many of the trackers you can visit from Swamp Rat's Awesome Link page collect Atari stuff and CED movie stuff as well as records, reel-to-reels, 4-track tapes, 2-tracks, quadrophonic stuff, etc. Some contend that this is all part of having an "8-Track Mind" mentality. Swamp Rat digs in the trash and haunts thrift stores, yard sales and flea markets. I collect so many things it would be hard to list them all, but I'll give it a try: Vintage paperbacks, Catholic doodads(saint medals and plastic statuettes), sewing stuff(needlebooks, treadle base machines, etc.), old hard suitcases, coolers, thermos', all manner of kitchen stuff, radios, bakelite, depression glass, polyester clothing, old photographs, magazines, postcards, greeting cards, Christmas ornaments, jigsaw puzzles, Lionel trains,... That's all I can think of now. Perhaps someday I'll add another page about my other interests. What do you think? Is there such a thing as trash culture and 8-Track Mind?

Do you have other questions you're curious about?
E-Mail Me!

Songs with 8-Tracks in them:

Jackson Browne's "Running on Empty"album mentions 8-tracks in the song "The Load Out". The verse is
"Now we got country and western on the bus
R and B, we got disco on eight tracks and cassettes in stereo
We've got rural scenes magazines
We've got truckers on the CB
We've got Richard Pryor on the video
We got time to think of the ones we love
While the miles roll away
But the only time that seems too short
Is the time that we get to play"

Weird Al Yankovic mentions 8-tracks in his classic "I'll be Mellow When I'm Dead."The line is " No Joni Mitchell 8-tracks in my car".

Red Simpson's song "I'm A Truck"is a swell trucker rap from the point of view of the truck. At the end the truck says "Well I know what he's gonna do now. He's gonna take out that tape cartridge of Buck Owens and play it again. I don't know why he doesn't get a Merle Haggard tape."

Who knows more songs with 8-tracks in 'em?
E-mail me!

Hey Swamp Rat,
Paul Westerberg(of Replacements semi-fame)Sings about "8-tracks and
mudflaps" in his song Silver Naked Ladies on his 1993 album 14 Songs.
Steve

Thanks Steve! I'll be sure to check it out!

Books with 8-Tracks in them!

Wally Lamb's bestseller, She's Come Undone, mentions 8 Tracks. On page 162 it says:

"How old is she?"
"Year and four months. She just learned how to walk. Got into my eight tracks the other day and yanked out about nine feet worth of Disraeli Gears. Lucky for her she's cute, the little shit."

This is a real tradgedy to anyone who knows how hard it is to find a decent copy of Disraeli Gears these days. Swamp Rat has 2 with melted pinch rollers. And those cases are really hard to open!

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