The boxes continue to arrive. This time it was a bunch of junk. I have no idea why, but when CDs first started to gain in popularity, they were housed in what they called longboxes. Cardboard boxes that had the cover art on it with the actual jewelbox inside of it. It was deemed as wasteful and rightfully so; the first thing you did was take the CD out of the longbox and through the packaging away. It served no useful purpose and for some explainable reason I saved a bunch of them.For a few longboxes, I took an exacto knife and created nifty little images in three ring binders and the corkboard message board on the door of my dorm.
Other than that, they arrived in a box that was also filled with a bunch of old Rolling Stone magazines and a slightly worn Playboy that featured the very first Bo Derek pictorial. It’s all artsy, in case you’re wondering, with very little erotic capability unless seeing images of Bo running through the desert with a dog is your bag. I don’t think there’s even any shots of bush in there.
Pointless.
As are the longboxes, retardedly transported hundreds of miles to my garage making them perhaps the most eco-damaging thing I have ever had the chance of being tied to. I’m left with them, scratching my head at any possible way that I could perhaps make money off of them.
If you have the hankering for any old issues of Rolling Stone magazine circa ‘84/’85, hit me up on my motherfuckin' MySpace and name your price. I’ll even throw in the longbox of Dire Straits Brothers In Arms CD at no additional charge.
2 comments:
The reason for the longboxes is that at the time that CDs first came out (early to mid '80s), retailers were used to selling LPs, those glorious 12" square wonders. Here come 4 3/4" formats. Retailers were pissed that they would have to re-fixture their record bins. The music industry caved in to pressure (but only in the US), and released the shiny new playthings in wasteful packaging which wouldn't force record stores to refixture their racks. Thus... the longbox was born. Some artists finally wanted to do something to reduce the waste, and thus the dreadful digipak was born, fragile cardboard-and-plastic foldouts which could double as longboxes. My Sting The Soul Cages CD is in tatty shape, and the packaging isn't replaceable, scallywags.
I still have a box of longboxes that have been stored in various places and transported to and from at least 5-6 different residences since the late 80's. I'm still convinced that one day I'll think up something cool to do with them. Dumb.
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