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Music History

Here’s a special music list for National Cereal Day: Cereal box records

Yes, it’s National Cereal Day, the one day of the year (March 7) we’re supposed to pause and give thanks for breakfast cereal. (Damn. I forgot to get The Wife a card! She’ll be so disappointed!)

Back in the Golden Age of Breakfast Cereals (i.e. the late 60s through to the early 70s) manufacturers used to include playable records as prizes. Most of them were incorporated into the packaging, meaning that you had to carefully cut them out with a pair of scissors. I remember my sister begging my mom for a box of Sugar Crisps because it came with a Bobby Sherman record.

These were single-song releases, either. Some of these breakfast cereal box records contained up to five songs. You were getting an EP–and sometimes all hits, too!–from your cereal box. Check out Jackson 5 record.

The Monkees also had a killer release. Then there’s this one from The Archies

Not all cereal box records contained music. Some contained spoken word stories like this.

If you want to get deeper into this whole culture, have a look at what Mr. Breakfast has posted.

Alan Cross

is an internationally known broadcaster, interviewer, writer, consultant, blogger and speaker. In his 40+ years in the music business, Alan has interviewed the biggest names in rock, from David Bowie and U2 to Pearl Jam and the Foo Fighters. He’s also known as a musicologist and documentarian through programs like The Ongoing History of New Music.

Alan Cross has 37974 posts and counting. See all posts by Alan Cross

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