Thursday, September 4, 2025
Time: 6:45 P.M.
Song: Rockin’ Into the Night
Artist: 38 Special
Mode of Consumption: Listening to Country Fried Rock compilation album.
Link to song: https://open.spotify.com/track/1rWqtf1rOYiPEb9puv2bYd?si=67f19656ef3647b5
A few years ago, a man stopped by the Barn Sale and told the story of losing all of his albums in a fire. He was fidgety man, who probably flipped through all the records I had at the sale three times. His wife, who I believe bought quite a few CDS (they must have also been lost in the fire) seemed to hold the purse strings.
At some point, he asked the question.
“Do you have any of those K-Tel records?”
I didn’t have any at that point, but I knew what he was talking about. K-Tel records were compilation albums, often advertised on television. K-Tel, the company, made millions off the records in the 1960s and 1970s along with a line of other products sold on TV infomercials.
The albums were collections usually arranged by genres like rock, disco and country. They exposed listeners to a wide net of songs and artists that might have been missed otherwise.
The compilations albums were a staple in the growth of popular music in the last half of the last century. When CDS came around, K-Tel transitioned to those, and they were able to survive a few business missteps in the 1990s. They still exist today, mostly making money by licensing songs from their catalogue for streaming services and commercials and television programs.
Now all these years later, the records still hold a place in people’s memory. Just ask that guy at my sale a few years ago.
I wish he had showed up a few days ago, because I now have a fair amount of K-Tel records in my dollar bins. I also played them quite a bit during the sale, as they packed a lot of songs on each album, giving them longer run times.
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