Tuesday Night Music Club

Artist: Sheryl Crow
Released: 1994

Do record clubs still exist? I ask this because I haven’t received one of their direct-mail packets in years. Have they disappeared, or are they involved in some sort of internet subterfuge; luring people in through endless spam that still promises “12 CDs for the price of 1.” Although Columbia House and BMG were, well, rip offs, they could be used to the subscriber’s advantage. The key, at least with Columbia House, was to ignore the rules. Sure, you paid for that one CD and the shipping fees for the other titles, but after that you just skipped purchasing “3 CDs at club price.” They would send you letters from “collection agencies” that demanded the money, but the company had no legal power to actually follow up its threats.
BMG tried a different tact to sucker you into purchasing CDs. They would send you a postcard every month with the club’s “official selection.” If you didn’t want the title, you sent the postcard back. If you did, or just forgot to send it, you received the CD. Although I learned to just send the actual CD back upon its arrival, I did find myself paying for and keeping the title the first time it happened. Hence, Tuesday Night Music Club. I believe I listened to this album once. It then proceeded to sit untouched in my collection for around three years, until my junior year college roommate found it and began to play “Can’t Cry Anymore” incessantly. I actually gave him the CD to keep, but it ended up back in my possession at the end of the year. There it sits, unopened for nearly nine years, which is almost as long as my copy of Mercury Rev’s Deserter’s Songs (but that’s for another entry).