Chevron magazine advert bigs up cover versions

I was recently contacted by Gary Jones, who brought to my attention an old advert for Chevron cassettes - the budget line stocked primarily, probably exclusively, by Woolworths in the late 1970s and 1980s. Gary chanced upon the ad in an old copy of Smash Hits magazine - as featured on this impressive blog. (It's the Christmas edition, posted up on December 1, 2014 - click the mag cover to see all the scans.) Anyhow - here it is, and you can click here to enlarge:

Note first, how the ad is titled "So This Is Music". Since the magazine which carried it appeared in December 1984, the unrelated Now! That's What I Call Music LP series had been up and running for a full and highly successful year - and the similarity of titles is striking.

The advert shows how much emphasis Chevron placed on their cover version cassettes at the time, not least in borrowing that title. Their series, This is Music, was running apace in 1984, and we see no fewer than three volumes cited in the ad, as well as cover scans of two - plus the end-of-year collection, Top Hits of the Year. Below are some close-ups.

 

Here we are in 2014, going on 2015 - an age of MP3s, MP4s, iPods, iPads - whatever - and it's amazing by modern standards that budget cover version cassettes were being actively promoted in a magazine dealing with proper chart music - albeit one aimed at teenagers, none of whom were to be seen dead without a Walkman. It shows how much emphasis Woolies placed on these cassettes, and presumably reflects on their popularity at the time.

Thanks to Gary for the heads up, and the proprietors and editors of the "Like Punk Never Happened" blog - a fine trip down memory lane for us older viewers.

Incidentally, you can find out more about Chevron's This Is Music series here.