The Oak Ridge Boys Discography (1959 2012) [MP3].rar
Gifford Brickley
The idea of 7" singles playing at 33-1/3 rpm was hardly new when Columbia re-introduced thatformat to the public in 1959. Back in the late 1940s, when Columbia and RCA-Victor were battling tosee which speed would replace the 78, Columbia went all the way and started issuing their now-microgroove singles on the 33 speed (see example, below right). They even added radial "rumblestrips" around the label to keep them from slipping when on a changer. But they were just weren'tpopular with record buyers and 45s quickly won out for singles. Columbia had to be content with avictory on albums. By mid-1952, the 7" 33 singles were banished from Columbia's catalog (they hadnever been in other catalogs).
When rival RCA-Victor jumped in on the stereo 45s in a big way in 1958, Columbia sat back and waited. Ultimately, they totally refused to give in to RCA's stereo-45 singles, although the did start issuing stereoEPs in February, 1959. Instead, they re-introduced their brainchild 33-single, this time in stereo, duringthe summer of 1959.
A bad idea is also a bad idea ten years later, usually. The record buying public still disliked the 33s. Assingles, you couldn't put your thumb through a stack of them to keep from dropping them, and the fidelitywasn't much improvement, if any, to most customers' ears. Within a very few months, Columbia's dreamof a single-speed industry (at 33-1/3, of course) failed completely.
By the start of 1960, the only solid customer the stereo-33 single had was the juke box operators, whostocked their stereo juke boxes with them. All the record labels began shipping stereo-33 singles to thejuke box people in little packets of five discs, along with title strips for the juke boxes and 5x5-inch slickphotos of the album from which the packet was derived. The juke box folks loved it.
A vast majority of the stereo-33 singles listed in this discography started as part of a 5-disc package forjuke boxes. By 1962, the idea of selling stereo-33 singles at the local record store was about done, andthe juke boxers started going for stereo EPs and "Little LPs" with three songs on each side, costing thelistener 25 cents instead of one song for 10 cents. The Little LPs lasted much longer than the stereo-33 singles, reaching into the 1970s.
We would appreciate any additions or corrections to this discography. Just send them to us via e-mail. Both Sides Now Publications is an informationweb page. We are not a catalog, nor can we provide the records listed below. We have no associationwith any of these record labels. Should you be interested in acquiring the stereo singles listed in thisdiscography (which are all out of print), we suggest you see our Frequently Asked Questions page and follow theinstructions found there. This story and discography are copyright 2014, 2015 by Mike Callahan.