For anyone longing to relive the decidedly non-distinct sounds of Kmart background music, Mark Davis has you covered.
The former service desk employee diligently saved the pre-recorded cassettes that were sent to his store each month from the late 1980s to the early ’90s, and recently uploaded the highlights for our listening pleasure.
While the soothing sounds of canned Muzac-to-shop-by later gave way to more contemporary tunes like Springsteen’s “One Step Up” and “Hold On Loosely” by 38 Special, all are interspersed with shopping announcements that serve as a kind of aural time capsule.
But all things must pass, and Davis said the cassettes eventually gave way to satellite programming, and that the stores’ sound systems, which once featured Altec Lansing amps, Tape-Athon decks and high-performance loudspeakers, were later replaced with crappy components.
Here’s a snippet from 1989, and you can access the full collection here.
Tip o’ the hat to A.V. Club and Chart Attack.
