Christmas shopping may be over for 2024, but memories still linger. In fact, you probably have childhood memories of shopping that stick with you regarding the sounds and sights. If you grew up in the 80s and 90s, you may remember shopping at Kmart. The once giant chain is down to one store in the mainland United States, but its legacy still looms large. In fact, it’s still noteworthy enough that a former employee is giving you a chance to relive its glory days with audio cassettes of its in-store music.
Different stores and business have their own strategies about what in-store music they play. For example, Walmart has their own “radio” station that broadcasts in their locations. It’s a concept they’ve brought in and out of existence, and is the current reason why a few months ago I was able to hear Roxy Music’s “Avalon” while I was shopping for groceries. Kmart had tapes that they would play, and we know this thanks to a scrappy band of people including Mark Davis.
On the Internet Archive, Mark uploaded (with the help of others) an assortment of tapes that were played in Kmart on certain days. Take for example, the tape from April of 1991. It starts with a kind of jazzy orchestral number called “Sunrise” by the Ray Kelley Band and then slips into a commercial. It then comes back to a particularly unique choice, “Down the Road Tonight” by Bruce Hornsby with Huey Lewis on backing vocals. I’m actually very familiar with this song since I’m a huge Bruce Hornsby fan. I can tell you the song was not released as a single and is about a whorehouse.
Actually, there’s a LOT of Bruce Hornsby on these things. If the tape was issued after 1986, odds are there’s a Hornsby song on there. You’ve got a lot of soft listening stuff from other artists too, Alan Parsons Project, The Carpenters, Hall & Oates, Chicago; the kind of things you’d imagine hearing in a store in the early ’90s actually. Plus you get a lot of instrumental covers of things that you never asked for either. Did you ever dream of hearing the Francis Moore Orchestra cover Gordon Lightfoot‘s “If You Could Read My Mind?” Well now that dream can be a reality on the tape from February 1990.
This is a treasure trove of nostalgia and we’re grateful other people have found it as well since it deserves all the attention it can get. As retail stores continue to struggle, it’s nice to preserve a piece of their history like this. You might even discover a hidden gem of a song that you never knew. Personally, I’d recommend that Hornsby track, “Down the Road Tonight.”
