Originally published at: Attention Kmart shoppers: this former employee uploaded Kmart's 1989-1991 in-store music to the Internet Archive | Boing Boing
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No shame as this happened a while ago, but a Reboing is a Reboing!
Oh what’s this, the rare Tripleboing!
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Isn’t that a ReBoingBoing?
Hat Boing?
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I would give you more likes if I could…
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I piled on mine.
I don’t know, is the root word for Boing Latin or Greek?
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I’ve been loving this collection and have been digging through it for a few years for samples. Here’s a recent track I made that is heavily built around some of these K-Mart samples Thrift Store Scores | Doctor Popular
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So, this will be the first time humans have heard the music?
Modern humans. Humans then were startlingly similar in most ways, though. Don’t fall for the cartoon caveman myths.
Anyhoo, what makes these tapes so awesome is the announcer. The smarmy “Try our housewares department for…” gives it a very Fallout Radio vibe.
There’s also a 70’s December Christmas reel-to-reel in the collection, if you truly want to simulate a Kmart hellscape.
I’m surprised someone hasn’t come up with a new trendy sounding name for this microgenre.
K-core? K-wave?
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I listened to one of the 1992 cassettes. Smokey Robinson; Bruce Hornsby; Alan Parsons Project; etc.
There and on other tapes one will hear – yes – ‘stock instrumental music’, but also the above ilk. Hardly elevator music.
Good to know I’m not human for living in a small town and having spent time in a K-Mart. I’ll be sure to be born privileged next time so I never have to listen to anything unpleasant ever again… /s
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The joke wasn’t implying that people going to Kmart aren’t human, but rather that Kmart’s decline due to competition from stores such as Walmart meant the stores were empty and no one was around to hear the music.
I’ve spent plenty of time inside Kmart, although the last time was probably in the 80’s. As a kid I used to like their sub sandwiches, and the first video games I ever played were in the entry space between the sliding doors, so I have some fond memories.
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