Mom on a Mission: Fun Friday – National Eight Track Tape Day

Friday, April 11, 2014

Fun Friday – National Eight Track Tape Day

Did you know there was such a thing as National Eight Track Tape Day (April 11th)? I didn’t, until the other day. Maybe you were too young to even know what an 8 track tape is. An eight track tape was a clunk looking thing that held eight songs. There was always a little click before each song advanced to the next.

The eight track tape has history that began before my time. The popularity for these tapes grew from a booming automobile industry. In 1966 Ford Motor Company introduced factory-installed and dealer-installed eight-track tape players as an option in the Mustang, Thunderbird and Lincoln. The home (eight-track) players also came on the scene in 1966.

So what can you do to celebrate such a holiday as this one? Listen to music from the era…1970’s music comes to mind. Let me set the mood. It was in Grandma’s living room where I tested out the eight track player. Hair in four pigtails, octagon shaped glasses and wearing a lime green windowpane shirt, I jerked and bounced to the music. I have a photo.

A brownish tweed type sofa was on one side of the room with my brother dancing in front of it. I was positioned right in front of the stereo speakers. Grandma was in the kitchen with her hands in submerged dishwater, letting us have fun (until Mama got home).

Now that you have a visual, journey back in time to a mild summer day in the 70’s and listen to a few tunes.

I checked out a list of top 100 songs of the 70’s, below is a selection of songs from that list.

· Let’s Stay Together – Al Green

· Dancing Queen – ABBA

· Easy – The Commodores

· Summer Breeze – Seals & Crofts

· Let’s Get it On – Marvin Gaye

· Staying Alive – Bee Gees

· I Wish – Stevie Wonder