Top 12 (?) gimmicky "collectibles"

What was it about 3" CD Singles? They were always packaged badly.

How about Alice Cooper's "School's Out" packaged in a cover that folds open to become a school desk... the record wrapped in a pair of panties? Or Alice's "Muscle of Love", in a cardboard box with a book cover?

So I opened it up and looked for some panties. The funny thing, though, was that obviously I wouldn't have recognized what sort of panties they were supposed to be. If only the woman selling the record had realized this, she could have stuffed any old pair of panties in there and gotten an extra $10 out of me.

I also like the cover of the vinyl version of Out In Worship's LP, wrapped in shreds of a Chinese newspaper from Chicago's Chinatown. Like the cover more than the music itself, actually.

-Spiritualized's cheeky prescription drug package for LADIES & GENTLEMAN WE ARE FLOATING IN SPACE.

- Massive Attack's heat-sensitive singles box.

- 4AD's Lilliput two-disc retrospective (bound in a beautifully illustrated book)

Radiohead dod something similar iirc, albeit on a smaller scale, with promo tape copies of, er, I think it was OK Computer sealed inside a walkman.

picture discs, 6" eps, shaped discs, gatefolds, colored vinyl, different covers, handmade, handnumbered, with inserts, and never more than 1000 pressed. i guess they know their market...

Fun stuff

Also, the Sexual Mikshake single (Space Gnome) that came with an elastic-band strung facemask, that allowed you to look like an alien while listening to the glorious sounds of the album. Actually pretty much all the Sexual Milkshake releases had awesome extra crap in them

Hey, it was just a coupla days ago that I halfway pondered starting a "TS: Led Zeppelin III's wheel vs. Physical Graffiti's die-cut vs. In Through The Out Door's water-paint sleeve inside one of SIX different covers inside a plain brown bag!" thread! Then decided it was too arcane.

That Slayer blood-pack thing woulda been more impressive if the band actually DONATED some of their own plasma for authenticity, á la Kiss.

Incidentally, I remember reading an old review of ITTOD, in which the reviewer asserted that the guy sitting at the bar was Paul Rodgers! (Was that for real?)

YMCK's 8-bit picture dots with the release of Family Racing.

My cousin's copy of Styx's Paradise Theatre did that on one side.

Jethro Tull's Stand Up, with a big ol' standup of the band when you opened the gatefold. On later editions, you could see where they patched the image on the gatefold to cover where the flaps were supposed to go.

I remember Thurston Moore bragging about having a copy of a Black Oak Arkansas album with a deed to 1 sq. ft. of land in Black Oak, on a lot that had been purchased by Jim Dandy.

Also, I saw a 7" by an early 90s punk band which had the big hole drilled way off center, and the sleeve annouced the fact that it was thus unplayable. Also, on the back, there was a spot for the limited edition number, "Your Number is ___" And every copy had "1" written on it. Can't remember who it was, 'cause it didn't tempt me to buy it.

he sent me a package with 12 CDs wrapped in various different bizarre packes, along with an old framed hologram of horses, cut in half with one side upside down, around 1000 small glow in the dark rubber bands, an english flag, parts from a travel board game and a variety of other junk. also - it (the contents of the package) smelt really bad for a few months.

collectible numbered editions = dud

especially the sandpaper sleeve to The Return of the Durutti Column