and it seems so long ago

Ladies and gentlemen, the wait is over.


I'm genuinely curious what this technology entailed, seeing as the ad appeared in the second half of 1981. The ad copy makes it sound like a precursor to Windows Media Player's visualization feature, but utilizing early Reagan Era technology instead of reams of inefficiently compiled code.

1981 also seems a bit late in the trend curve to be pitching a device designed to provide Supreme Disco entertainment. Not that disco ever truly died; it merely retreated back to its underground club roots, where it mutated and adapted and gave birth to a host of splinter genres. But the marketability of the fad was at a low ebb when the ad was published, which makes me wonder if C&E Electronics were aiming for the hardcore fringe holdout demographic -- perfectly coiffed boogie survivalists holed up in hardened bunkers beneath Bay Ridge and Astoria, living off their immense stockpiles of glitter balls, cocaine, and polyester as they attempted to ride out the rockist apocalypse, safely ensconced in a sonic womb of Latin percussion and elaborate string arrangements.

The Buggles - Video Killed the Radio Star (from The Age of Plastic, 1980) - It's more than a song; it's a sparking fragment of unrefined zeitgeist wrapped up in a exquisitely-produced prog-slash-new wave package.

Wilton Place Street Band - Disco Lucy (from a 1977 single) - When Rick Dees came up with the idea for "Disco Duck," do you think he had any inkling what horrors would follow in the wake of his disco novelty hit? (I admit I may be biased in my assessment, as the only thing I ever found even remotely entertaining or amusing about I Love Lucy was the backstage feuding between Vivian Vance and William Frawley.)