POP SHOP MEMORIES

If you are browsing this blog, then you, like me, are a Pop Shop Junkie. The very first Pop Shop I bought was Pop Shop Vol. 15, and I got Pop Shop Spectacular Vol. 2 for free as a buy one, get one free promotion.

My niece had Pop Shop Vol. 1-14 in her collection. Her records were also her holy grail. I was privileged enough to be allowed to listen to her records whenever I visited. She gave me the first 14 Pop Shops on my 21st birthday.

That was the start of my very first quest - to collect all the missing Pop Shops. I visited pawn shops, asked friends and family, and also advertised on the radio. I got Pop Shop Spectacular Vol. 1 from people who moved from Port Elizabeth to Bloemfontein just a week before she heard my request on the radio!

I managed to collect them all. Pop Shop was discontinued in 1991 when the last LP, Pop Shop Gold Vol. 4, was released. The first Pop Shop on CD was Pop Shop Vol. 45.

My grandmother was my greatest contributor to my collection, as she provided the funds to buy the LPs. The Pop Shop bug struck while I was still in school. Every day after school I would visit the local OK or CNA stores on my bicycle. If the new Pop Shop arrived (usually every three months), I would race home to get money from 'Ouma' and head back to town to get my Pop Shop. This kind of trip was ± 20 km on a bicycle but worth every pedal of the way!

No matter how well you take care of your vinyls, they eventually get scratched or repeat, or repeat, or repeat... itself as it gets stuck. This decay led to my second quest - collecting all the Pop Shop songs featured on the LPs in digital format or CD quality. It took me almost 15 years to track down these tracks, and now I'm able to revisit my Pop Shops in clear quality... OK, so it's not the same as listening to the vinyl sound, but at least the memories live on...

Pop Shop's greatest rival was the Springbok Hit Parade collection, which usually came out the same time a Pop Shop hit the shelves. The one big difference between the two was that Springbok did not feature the original artists. They featured cover versions of the songs. They usually featured other tracks not featured on the Pop Shop.

Another competitor showed its head in 1983 - Now That's What I Call Music! These albums also featured the newest tracks. Sometimes they even had a better lineup than the rival Pop Shop at the time. This was especially evident from Pop Shop 39 onwards. 

Personally, I think the track selection for the Pop Shop records led to their demise and decrease in sales. In the beginning almost 80% of the tracks featured on the Top 20 charts when you bought a Pop Shop; at the end they featured about 40%.

Martin Locke, a radio DJ, did the liner notes on the back covers of Pop Shop Volumes 1-20, as well as Best of Pop Shop and Pop Shop Spectacular.

Norman Markgraaff, track compiler at MFP, did the liner notes for Pop Shop Greatest Hits.

Radio 5 DJ Gordon Hoffmann was responsible for the liner notes on Pop Shop Vol. 21, the first double LP in the series.

David Gresham, presenter of the SA Top 20, later the Top 30, and then the Top 40, did the liner notes for the Pop Shop Gold albums. David also autographed my copy of Pop Shop Vol. 26 while doing promotion at the local CNA.

Springbok Radio was the station to listen to on Friday and Saturday evenings because the pop charts gave you an indication of which songs may feature on the next Pop Shop!

Pop Shop covers were mostly designed by Heyes Delgoffe Advertising.

The following were double LPs: Pop Shop Vol. 21, 22, 24, Pop Shop Party Pack Vol. 1 and 2, Pop Shop Gold LP Vol. 1 and 2 as well as Pop Shop Spectacular Vol. 1 and 2.

For a comprehensive look at the Springbok Hit Parade LP's visit the following site: 
http://springbokhits.blogspot.co.za/p/springbok-hit.html . 

A list of the NOW That's What I Call Music series (which was a world wide release) can be found at the following site:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Now_That%27s_What_I_Call_Music!_discography