Sound Burger and other 1983 adverts

Window Shopping on Ebay last week I spotted a May 1983 issue of No.1 magazine (a rival to Smash Hits) whose seller was clever enough to realise that a Sound Burger advert might be of as much interest as the Pop Stars the magazine was about. Since I have a Sound Burger I couldn't resist the buy it now despite it being 20 times the original cover price of 35p.

Here is the ad I wanted in better quality than an angled snap of the magazine page


Unfortunately that was the only Technology ad in the magazine although it seemed every other page was an ad for a new album or tape which in audio format all seemed to be £4.49

This ad made me think of @Mister X

If you could afford a VCR you could probably afford the Video Tape although £22.95 for Dexy's Midnight Runners (famous for one song) seems a bit excessive.

Clothes retailer seemed to have the magazines demographic worked out.

(Young ladies whose arm is joined to their leg ? ! )

She just needs to decide Two albums or a new dress ?
The average secretarial look-alike (we had some at work) was earning £80 a week (checked against UK Government figures)

The target demographic makes you wonder why Virgin were advertising Iron Maiden

perhaps the picture shows what happened to her right hand

The FIXX's advert is interesting as it shows a reason to buy the cassette over the LP (extra tracks)


Finally do you think I am too late to enter the competition for a Michael Jackson picture disc?
I can't see a closing dates for entries

 

My son purchased one of those Sound Burger a few years back to test records at swap meets.
Always nice to pictures of Eddie

 

I had to look up who The Fixx were as they never made the either the Top 50 Albums or Singles chart here in the UK. I guess there were too many "New Wave" bands competing with each other, although most would be classified as "New Romantics" as mentioned in Duran Duran's first chart single (still one of their best)

Another band which was advertised, who people in the USA have probably never heard of was Altered Images fronted by the gorgeous Glare Groghan who previously had been in the very British teen RomCom film "Gregory's Girl" which is one of my favourites and very different from similar American films (although I do like Risky Business).


The advertising obviously didn't pay off as after three earlier Top 10 singles this one only reached No. 29 and was their last chart single. I have their "Collected Images" best of tape, which is about 90 minutes long as one side is all the hits and the other side is dance remixes; something the Producer they used Martin Rushent specialised in.
Clare still shows up on the Retro concert circuit and I have seen her two or three times.

Another advert was for an American Group who would achieve much greater success six years later

50p cheaper than any other album !
Their big success was of course "Love Shack" which still gets played at events like New Years Eve parties, not that one was allowed in 2020 .
I expect the Sports and Social Club I used to be Vice Chairman of, and which we always went to, is suffering.

Speaking of charts it is interesting to compare the American and UK charts at the back of that magazine

Some Artists like Michael Jackson are doing well in both while, looking on Wikipedia, others like Spandau Ballet who had already had seven top 20 singles in the UK and were No.1 in both the UK Singles and Albums charts appear to have almost been a One Hit Wonder in the USA. A remake of their next single "Gold" is currently being used in a TV advert for Bold washing power so you still can't get away from them.

@Papa . Yes The Soundburger is still a popular unit for the reason you describe and its reputation for decent Sound Quality.
https://blog.discogs.com/en/my-quest-for-a-portable-turntable/

 

a
A cool machine from AT!

A sort of vulgar name for such an advanced company but suit this device just nice.

 

Thanks for resurrecting this thread. I was looking at the "See Japan for £20" advert and "Prince's Trust Rock Gala" had me puzzled for a few seconds. Of course it refers to a charity set up by the the person now called King Charles III rather than the musician, who wouldn't really become well known until he released Purple Rain a year later.

 

It works both ways. Your post prompted me to look at the Wikipedia entries for Paul Weller's bands "The Jam" and "The Style Council". In the U.K. he had 6 Top Five Albums, two of them Number One, between 1979 and 1987. In contrast their highest album position in the USA was Number 56.

I guess many of his songs like "Eton Rifles" wouldn't make any sense in the USA. Here, even former Prime Minister David Cameron liked the song despite it being written about people like him.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Eton_Rifles.

The song itself for people who aren't familiar with The Jam. I was never a fan but recognise Paul Weller as being as famous as Oasis were a decade later.