In my 1st car I kept a shoe box full of 8track tapes (Part 1 of an occasional series)

[The Polack MSgt]

It held more than you may believe since I wear 13EE shoes.

Some came and went as they inevitably destroyed themselves the way 8tracks always did.

Others, a few others, were always replaced as soon as I had the pocket change to buy another copy.

The most embarrassing selection by 2019 standards was probably Styx "The Grand Illusion" which was one of my top 5 albums back in the day.

OK, I get that Styx has not aged well, but any rock fan (prior to 1982 or so anyway) knew and loved this album.

My favorite 3 songs, in no particular order

[lark]

1. Loved Styx back in the day.

Haven't listened to them in ages. I used to love Miss America and still like it a lot, but it seems a little frantic now? There was another song I loved but not sure of the name - working class blues, something like that. It was my fave, felt so true to life in the working class.

[mahatmakanejeeves]

2. Now you've done it. I love Styx.

Here's the song lark was thinking of:

#Styx #BluCollarMan #Vevo
Styx - Blue Collar Man (Long Nights) (Official Video)
1,839,863 views•Dec 25, 2009

STYX
111K subscribers

Best of Styx: https://goo.gl/n2JFbN
Subscribe here: https://goo.gl/UiH6GG

The album was laser-etched. I love this song:

Styx - Rockin' The Paradise (1981) (Music Video) WIDESCREEN 720p
56,863 views•Feb 19, 2015

TMFC's Classic Rock Channel

"A.D. 1928 / Rockin' The Paradise" is the fourth single release from Styx's 1981 triple-platinum album "Paradise Theatre". It was released to rock stations as defined by Billboard Magazine. "A.D. 1928" is a short, piano-based song by Dennis DeYoung, set to the same melody as "The Best Of Times", that segues into the song "Rockin' The Paradise". This and the preceding track would serve as the opening songs of not only the "Paradise Theater" album but also its subsequent tour and the 1996 Return To Paradise reunion tour. Tommy Shaw played the guitar solo on the studio version, but subsequent live versions include a second guitar solo from James Young towards the end.
The video for the song was the tenth to air on MTV when it debuted in the U.S. on August 1, 1981.

"Paradise Theatre" is the tenth album by the rock band Styx, released in January 1981.
A concept album, the album is a fictional account of Chicago's Paradise Theatre from its opening to closing (and eventual abandonment), used as a metaphor for America's changing times from the late 1970's into the 1980's.

Personnel:

Dennis DeYoung – Keyboards, Vocals
Chuck Panozzo – Bass
John Panozzo – Drums, Percussion
Tommy Shaw – Guitars, Vocals, Vocoder
James "JY" Young – Guitar, Vocals

[The Polack MSgt]

3. I still love all the Styx tunes that I still like

Last edited Fri Nov 8, 2019, 05:15 PM - Edit history (1)

If that makes sense...

Some of the more over the top tunes from the 70s make me cringe a bit (Lady & Come Sail Away as examples) and like a couple other 70s bands, they had some their biggest sales in the early 80s with albums that wound up killing their careers.

High Infidelity from REO Speedwagon being probably the best other example

I will say that they could lay down a hard rock riff like nobody's business when they felt like it.

You linked to Blue Collar Man, but Renegade was also pure FM classic rock candy which still gets air play.

[BluesRunTheGame]

4. I had vinyl copies of Styx II and Man of Miracles. Haven't heard that stuff in ages.

The 8 track collection for the 1rst car was pretty small. I had Tubular Bells, Yessongs, and Physical Graffiti. Eventually I bought a copy of Blood on the Tracks.

[The Polack MSgt]

5. I had 8tracks from almost all those bands

But the only exact match was Blood on the Tracks.

I will probably be wearing out everybody's patience with this series in the coming months, but I had probably 8 albums that I always had in the rotation.

BTW, a box for Puma High Top Lineman's Cleats size 13EE circa 1978 can hold 22 8track tapes and still close.

[BluesRunTheGame]

6. I didn't have a box for mine. Not that I remember.

They probably rode around on the floor of the passenger seat of my ‘62 Galaxie. Interior looked like this (I had the hardtop)



Good memories!

[mahatmakanejeeves]

7. "I will probably be wearing out everybody's patience with this series...."

No, you won't.

[mahatmakanejeeves]

8. Oh, THOSE lineman's cleats.

My first thought was this:





I thought, "Puma made those?"

[The Polack MSgt]

10. I had to climb poles my 1st four years in the Air Force, so I had old style steel arch/steel toe -

climbing boots. I could've put 100 tapes in the box those boots came in.

You can bet yer ass that at my next base I never said out loud that I had been Gaff certified.

I had enough wood pole adventures to last a life time at that point. Didn't matter because the shop I was in didn't have to climb at all

By the time I next worked in a shop that did elevated work, all the structures were either on steel towers or on concrete poles.

Pretty sure the only folks that still use spike gaffs to climb are city power workers, arborists and tree toppers on lumber jack crews.

[Baked Potato]

9. We wore out our Grand Illusion cassette