Blast From The Past

Hands up, who remembers this? Columbia House memberships ya'll! I was at my parent's house over the weekend and I went through some of my old junk. Mixed in with the photos, school papers and whatnot was this little gem, valid through 6/93.

Who else still has a Columbia House card laying around?

Comments

[Rita]

I don't remember the card but I was a definite member.

Almost nothing was as good as receiving that initial shipment with 12 CD's. As a student you could never afford to buy that many outright. It was a good way to build your music collection as a student. It also forced me to broaden my tastes a bit as usually you couldn't pick 12 metal CD's at one time from the catalogue.

Plus, you could always cancel after a while and rejoin to get another bulk shipment for dirt cheap.

[Jack T Ripper]

The worst part though was if you neglected to return the card you would receive the cassette of the month. It was a pain to return!!!!

[Darktown]

Ha, before that I think it was RCA music club and I think I also was in the BMG club too not sure, built a real good collection back then. Went on vacation for a few months came back and Bam had about, it seems 10 tapes they tried to charge me for, haha, good times!!

[Hayseed]

I remember what really made me mad about Columbia House was that they put those stupid pink lines on the cassette covers and it reduced the size of the cover picture and title.

[Bryon]

I don't remember the card either, but I was a member and as Rita said, there was nothing quite like getting that first shipment of tapes. In fact, just the process of going through the catalog selecting the first shipment was wonderful. This was in the era before music was universally (and instantly) accessible, and getting that much music at once was a huge rush.

I also remember neglecting to fill out the card a few times and got screwed twice. The first time was with a Lillian Axe tape, and the second was Enuff z'Nuff - I hated both, but didn't bother returning them because it was too much of a hassle. On another occasion I got Herricane Alice's first tape, which I dug quite a bit.

[bkallday]

I was in columbia house & bmg, many times & all under different names. Never fulfilled any of the memberships either! Lol. The only bad thing is that the cd's they sent you didnt seem to be as good of quality as the ones you bought at the store.

[Jakki Steal]

I signed up for Columbia House several times.
I would get the initial shipment of Cassette Tapes & later on CD's & as soon as I got the music, I would cancel my membership.

Good Times!

[Jeff]

I didn't ever have the card. I think that was in the later days of the club. I do remember getting the full page of the "stamps" of album covers, about 1/2 by 1/4 inch each that were perforated. You have to separate those little things and lick them and paste them on your order form!

[fletch]

you see Sue Kraus? the above mentality is what I tried to help you with.

[Doug Reacharound]

What the hell are you talking about fletch. People are just trying to have some fun. Why do you have to ruin everything.

[Chris]

I was a member of both Columbia House and BMG several times. I always enjoyed getting the stamps and checking out the new stuff. Getting the bulk shipment was always fun. That's where I got Metallica's Kill Em All with Am I Evil? And Blitzkrieg.

[Metalboy!]

Haha!! As far as "forgetting to continue my membership after the initial shipment", guilty as charged! The thing really became a rip off after that initial ridiculously cheap shipment.

I always wondered how they made any money but it must have been because there were PLENTY of people who complied.

[fletch]

Mb: you are 100% correct. But compliance and making meaningful changes are two entirely different things. And, yes, I have been listening to cheap trick again...most of the weekend in fact.

[Bob]

I started with the RCA record club in the mid 70s. they used to ship your albums in these large flat cardboard boxes to protect the records. the mailman would wedge the box between the mailbox and the flag. When I knew I had a shipment coming, I'd suddenly become *very* interested in running down to check the mail. I stayed in that club into the early 90s after it had become BMG. Once, I remember when box sets became all the rage, they had a huge sale on them -- something like 60% off, making each set about the price of one CD. I absolutely cleaned up that month...Good times!

[Dj]

If I'm not mistaken I was signed up on BMG. I had a decent enough collection built up through them.

[Jimbo]

If you didnt open the package that the 'accidental' cd came in, you could just write RTS on the front and mail it back,,I did that all the time,never charged

[fletch]

I opened the package most of the time and sometimes, bmg or Columbia house would get the fuck pissed the fuck, fucking off...when I wrote...RTS, I DID NOT ORDER THIS CD. GET IT FUCKING STRAIGHT! I SENT BACK YOUR REPLY, BUT YOU STILL SEND IT TO ME.

I swear this is true...2 years later, I got a letter from BMG that read, "Please do npot tell us the reason why you are sending us back the CD. Please, just write, "Return to Sender" and we will accept it.

just sayin'

[Brian Esperes]

Hello fletch, I know that you get a real kick out of pissing off nice people like Doug and I completely understand his frustration with you because you seem to love to provoke people and be a complete asshole (for whatever reason?).

But seriously, judging from all of your incoherent mostly anger filled posts, it seems that you have some sort of mental disorder. I think that is a very serious thing and I pray you are getting the help you need. I have a cousin that displays some of the similar disturbing behavior as you and I am currently trying to get him the best help available.

If you or your translator who helps you type in your posts on this website could recommend anybody or a number to call (or something?)to help my cousin who has some of the same mental problems as you. I mean no disrespect, you are dealing with very serious problems and I applaud you for trying as best as you can to live your life in somewhat of a normal matter.

I am very proud of you, I know it is very hard for you to comprehend things because of your mental illness. I've noticed in the past month or so that lots of people have asked you to stop being such a "jerk" and before I agreed with them but now I understand that it is out of your control. You have a mental illness, that is nothing to be ashamed of.

Frankly it upsets me that people would be so rude and say stuff like that to a mentally handicapped person such as yourself fletch. Personally, I would like to apologize to you for the way some posters here have been so rude to you.
Severe mental illness is no laughing matter.

To sum up, I am sorry about the cards life has dealt you.
You have my utmost respect. I just wanted to show you some appreciation. I would say though, that your translator who types in your posts for you should show a little discretion. I think you can get your point across without being so blatantly rude to everybody. I obviously don't expect you to respond personally fletch, you have enough problems the way it is, but I know your interpreter reads and responds to yours posts for you. So whatever your name is (the person who helps fletch interpret his feelings) please just think before you type, I'm sure you could find a relatively positive way of describing his hateful nature.

[reptileblvd]

Damn. You know this just means were all getting old. I still have most of those records, cassettes, and cds in my basement.