Back to 8-Track Heaven
Huey Lews & the News
Small World - September 1988

The 1980's: Record Club Only
As a member of the Columbia or RCA record clubs you could still buy new releases on 8-track through 1988. Although the selection had been severely curtailed, it was, and is still possible, to listen to U-2 on 8-track.

How many were produced? Who knows.  I see no Who or Pink Floyd. No Zappa or Neil Young either. Only one Stones title and nothing from Wings, Beatles et al. No punk or disco. Those tides had receded earlier. For the most part, it looks like we have a good mix between 70's and 80's artists. With a couple of  exceptions, most of the 80's titles were mega sellers. If 8-tracks would have lasted only a year longer we may have seen a Guns and Roses cart.

Below is an attempt to list all titles that that came out as Record Club Only (RCO). Remember -- these are titles that were never released to retail stores, only to the tape clubs.. How these titles were chosen remains a mystery. Must have certainly been an Adam Ant aficionado somewhere on that committee!

Other conundrums: no one is sure exactly at what point in time retail tapes were discontinued. They were probably available up through May of 1984 (that's the last month that they were listed in the Schwann Record & Tape Catalog), and many Record Club tapes were released while retail tapes were still being made -- so there is an overlap. 1982-1984 is the transition period where retail tapes slowly disappeared from the shelves and fans of the 8-track relied on tape clubs for purchases up until their final demise in 1988.

And what was the commercial 8-track ever released? Many say that it was Fleetwood Mac's Greatest Hits, released on November 22, 1988. (Readers' Digest continued to release their Easy Listening 8-track collections through 1989 however).

This list is not complete: if you have seen or own others, please write us

Click on an album title to see a picture of the cart. If you have pictures for carts that are on the list but have no link for a pic, please send them!

PS -- There are tapes on the list that came out in the 80's but were not part of a Record Club. They were added to the page before we had all the above information about the overlapping periods of RCO production. I've included them anyway.

A-F | G-M | N-Z | Soundtracks

+ Not verified as Record-Club Only

ARTIST YEAR TITLE SUBMITTED BY
A-Ha 1986 Scoundrel Days Robert Moody
ABBA 1982 +The Singles Ron O [tobor_the_8_man]
 " 1984 I Love ABBA   Robert Moody
AC/DC 1983 Flick of the Switch  Linda Kacirek
  " 1985 Fly On The Wall Tuba Bruce
  " 1986 Who Made Who  New! Andy Schnabel
Accept 1986 Balls to the Wall Robert Moody
Adam Ant 1982 +Friend or Foe Rob Rhue
  " 1983 Strip  
  " 1985 Viva Le Rock  
Adams, Bryan 1983 Cuts Like a Knife Joe Naya
Image submitted by Ron O [tobor_the_8_man]
  " 1983 Reckless (submitted by Tuba Bruce)
(Scan submitted by Robert Bartz) 
 ' 1987 Into the Fire Nathan Kling
After the Fire 1982 +ATF Tuba Bruce
Aerosmith 1982 Rock in a Hard Place Joe Naya
  " 1985 Done With Mirrors Aaron Bicchieri 
Air Supply 1985 Air Supply Robert Moody, Image by Ron O [tobor_the_8_man]
 " 1986 Hearts in Motion   Robert Moody
 " 1984 Greatest Hits Robert Moody, Image submitted by Ron O [tobor_the_8_man]
Alabama 1982 +Mountain Music David  Urbanic
 " 1984 Roll On David  Urbanic 
 " 1983 The Closer You Get  Tom Lukashow
Albert, Herb 1982 +Fandango Tom Lukashow
 " 1983 Blow Your Own Horn Tom Lukashow
 " 1984 Bullish Aaron Bicchieri 
 " 1985 Wild Romance Aaron Bicchieri 
Allen, Deborah 1983 Let Me Be the First (scan by Robert A. Bartz) 
Anka, Paul 1983 Walk a Fine Line Tom Lukashow
Asia 1982 +Asia (scan by Robert A. Bartz)
 " 1983 Alpha  (scan by Robert A. Bartz)
Atlanta 1984 Pictures (submitted by Tom Lukashow)
(Scan submitted by Robert Bartz) 
Bad Company 1982 +Rough Diamonds Aaron Bichierri 
Beach Boys 1983 Rarities Ron O [tobor_the_8_man]
 " 1986 Made in U.S.A   Ron O [tobor_the_8_man]
Beastie Boys 1986 License To Ill **  
Benatar, Pat 1982 +Get Nervous    Tuba Bruce
Image by Ron O
 " 1983 Live From Earth   Ron O [tobor_the_8_man]
 " 1984 Tropico     Ron O [tobor_the_8_man]
 " 1985 Seven the Hard Way   Ron O [tobor_the_8_man]
Berlin 1982 +Pleasure Victim Tuba Bruce
 " 1984 Love Life   Robert Moody
Big Country 1983 The Crossing Tuba Bruce
Black Sabbath 1982 +Live Evil Robert Moody
(pic by Andy Schnabel
New!)
  1983 Born Again   Andy Schnabel
Blue Oyster Cult 1983 Revolution by Night Paul Evans
Branigan, Laura 1982 +Branigan    
Boston 1986 Third Stage New! Andy Schnabel
Bowie, David 1983 Let's Dance  Image submitted by Ron O [tobor_the_8_man]
 " 1984 Tonight  
 " 1987 Never Let Me Down  
Browne, Jackson 1983 Lawyers in Love  Robert Moody
 " 1986 Lives in the Balance
Note: 1. The name is misspelled on the cover as "Jackson Brown".  2. The cover on the 8-track is NOT the original album cover. It is  the cover of the single "For America".
Robert A. Bartz
Carpenters 1983 Voice of the Heart    David  Urbanic
  " 1985 Yesterday Once More   Image submitted by Ron O [tobor_the_8_man]
Cars 1984 Heartbeat City (Scan submitted by Robert Bartz) 
 " 1985 Greatest Hits New! Andy Schnabel
 " 1987 Door to Door New! Andy Schnabel
Chicago 1982 +16 Joe Naya
(image by Linda Kacirek)
 " 1984 17 David Urbanic
 " 1984 18   
 " 1988 XIX  
Chirino, Willy 1984 Differente Joe Naya
Clapton, Eric 1985 Behind the Sun   Roberty Moody
Clash, The 1982 Combat Rock New! Andy Schnabel
Clayderman, Richard 1984 Music of Love Joe Naya
Cline, Patsy 1986 Her Legendary Recordings
[this one is non-RCO. MCA Records Inc. and Suffolk Marketing Inc.]
Dave Maugans
Collins, Phil 1986 No Jacket Required  
Commodores 1982 +All the Greatest Hits    
Conlee, John 1983 Greatest Hits  Tom Lukashow
  1984 Blue Highway  Tom Lukashow
Conley, Earl Thomas 1984 Treadin' Water Tom Lukashow
Cougar, John 1982 +American   
  1985 Scarecrow Joe Naya
Creedence Clearwater Revival 1985 The Movie Album Robert Moody
Cross, Christopher 1983 Another Page Mike Hanna & Dave Maugans
Culture Club 1982 +Kissing to Be Clever (Scan submitted by Robert Bartz) 
 " 1983 Colour by Numbers  (Scan submitted by Robert Bartz) 
 " 1984 Waking Up With The House On Fire Image submitted by Ron O [tobor_the_8_man]
Darin, Bobby 1989* The Bobby Darin Story Nathan Kling
Def Leppard 1983 Pyromania *submitted by ratboymike@hotmail.com  (Scan submitted by Robert Bartz 
Denver, John 1984 Greatest Hits Vol. 3  
Dexy's Midnight Runners 1983 Too-Rye-Ay Bob Bartz
Diamond, Neil 1983 Classics: The Early Years   Robert Moody
  1986 Headed for the Future Mike Hanna
Dire Straits 1988 Money For Nothing (Greatest Hits)   Mitch McKeever

 

Dokken 1985 Under Lock and Key Robert Moody
Doors, The  1983 Alive She Cried Dan Gibson
(pic by Andy Schnabel
New!)
Duran Duran 1982 +Rio New! Andy Schnabel
 " 1984 Arena  
Eagles 1982 +Greatest Hits Vol. 2  
Earle, Steve 1986 Guitar Town   [DIGITAL!} Randall Gelser
 " 1987 Exit 0  Randall Gelser
 " 1987 Early Tracks Randall Gelser
Easton, Sheena 1982 +Madness, Money and Music  
 " 1984 Private Heaven  
Elgart, Larry 1983 Hooked on Swing 2  Tom Lukashow
Eurythmics 1983 Sweet Dreams are Made of This  
 " 1983 Touch  
 " 1985 Be Yourself Tonight Robert Bartz 
 " 1986 Revenge  
Everly Brothers 1984 24 Original Classics David Urbanic
Fieldler, Arthur & the Boston Pops 1985 The World's Greatest Marches
[Labeled RCA Special Products... not sure if this is RCO or not]
 Dave Maugans
The Firm 1985 ST Robert Bartz 
 " 1986 Mean Business Robert Bartz 
Flashdance   Soundtrack Dan Gibson 
Fleetwood Mac 1982 +Mirage  (Scan by Robert Bartz)
  " 1987 Tango in the Night  
  " 1988 Greatest Hits Thought by many to be the last 8-track tape ever released by a major label - Released in November 1988  
Fixx, The   Phantoms +  
Flock of Seagulls, A 1982 +A Flock of Seagulls Paul Evans 
  1983 Listen  Dan Gibson, Image submitted by Ron O [tobor_the_8_man]
Fogleberg, Dan 1982 +Greatest Hits David & Wendy Urbanic
 " 1984 Windows & Walls Mike Hanna
 " 1985 High Country Snows Robert Moody
Foreigner 1982 +Records  (not verified as RCO) Image submitted by Ron O [tobor_the_8_man]
 " 1985 Agent Provocateur Image submitted by Ron O [tobor_the_8_man]
Frankie Goes to Hollywood 1984 Welcome to the Pleasuredome Robert Moody
Frey, Glenn 1982 +No Fun Aloud  David Urbanic & Bgas
 " 1985 The Allnighter Robert Moody

A-F | G-M | N-Z | Soundtracks


BACK TO [CONTENTS]