Was the Oil Crisis to blame for poor LP Sales in the '70s?

The Crude Oil needed for the Vinyl in the late '70's was running pretty low..But,I wonder if that's why Lp sales slumped considerbly duiring that time,or,was it just poor publicity?

 

LP sales didn't slump until the 80's when cassettes overtook in the format wars...

 

Yeah, I didn't understand the thread title either...I don't remember any such slump, God, the record stores I was in from 1970-1980 were doing a booming business ?!?!

 

I recall it was blamed for higher prices and poor vinyl quality, but not sales...

 

The Oil Crisis coincided with Peak Vinyl, the biggest era of growth for LPs. The tread title is a non-sequitur.

 

The record industry, for those who were around then and remember, did indeed enter a recession in the late 70s, right around the time the disco craze died. That recession ended in late 1982, right around the time of Michael Jackson's "Thriller" was issued.

 

Right. However the "Oil Crisis" of the Seventies is usually thought of as the first "crisis", the one that started around 1973. I was working in record stores by 1974, I remember the returns for thin, warped records. Didn't slow down sales. The later LP slump was brought on by genre over-exploitation leading to death by a billion returns. Say what you will about Disco, as the genre entered its death spiral—as all dance based eventually must, only to be revived at a later date—more and more people dismissed it. Punk and New Wave repelled as many as it attracted, Hip-Hop was barely getting off the ground.

 

Yeah - after all, the mid-'70s kicked off the era of the megasellers, when "only" going platinum was considered a disappointment for some acts. Albums like Frampton Comes Alive, Rumors, and the SNF soundtrack sold oodles.

 

I didn't think Hip Hop had made the scene at all untill the 80s, unless you count the Lost Poets.

 

Last Poets, and though they certainly count, Hip-Hop really started with DJ Kool Herc, Afrika Bambaataa and Melle Mel on the streets of the Bronx in the mid-seventies. It didn't reach "college radio" till the Eighties, so how is this day different than any other? In any case, it took a little bit of time before the movement made its mark on LP sales.

 

C'mon, don't any of you remember the huge lines outside of record stores that ran down the block? Odd-even days? I couldn't go shopping on the day of my birthday. I had to wait until the next day. How about that no topping-off rule? I couldn't just go to buy a 45. I had to buy the whole album!

 

70s

"I recall it was blamed for higher prices and poor vinyl quality, but not sales..."

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I usually think of the 70s as the decade of megasellers like live albums (Frampton, Kiss, Bob Seger, Grand Funk, etc.) and big selling studio albums like Rumours, Boston s/t, Dream Weaver, Foreigner and others. Perhaps the 80s, Thriller excepted, might be the decade of declining sales.

I have heard the oil crisis of the early 70s as being responsible for the decline in LP quality. In the late 70s we used to always think of UK and European "imports" as the pinnacle of LP quality compared to the noise prone, thin US LPs. Now that I am buying old vinyl from 50s and 60s I am amazed at the quality and weight of US LPs from those earlier decades.

Scott

 

Right. I was living walking distance from the Capitol pressing plant near Eagle Rock, saw them re-grind returns. That explains a lot of why LP quality started to decline in the mid-Seventies.

 

Right. The oil crisis didn't seem to have any immediate effect on the record business. I think the later cause was due more to the economic recession of the late 70s.

No arguments from me on anything you posted!

 

Hip hop got it's first big hit in late 1979.

 

Geez, the 70's were the decade FOR albums sales. Oil crisis or not. And that includes the second & third tier acts.

I just saw a PBS show on Latin music in America - talked about the history of the Fania label. Not much of a dent here, but massive sales world wide, and this was the 70's.....

 

I always found it curious that the slump in record sales coincided with the release of the Sgt Pepper soundtrack.

 

When the crisis hit vinyl quality, that's when I started seeking out and buying imports. I certainly found the quality better in general and only about 1/3 more in price !

 

I'd say no...IIRC, record sales never slumped at all during the 70's...

 

That would be at the peak of the disco era, late 1978.

 

While the UK may have remained superior to the US, I've heard complaints about the decrease in the quality of UK pressings during this time period as well.

 

"ditto"

 

I blame it on the break up of the BEATLES.

 

"Rappers Delight" by The Sugarhill Gang was the first Rap hit I ever heard. Still most Top 40 stations and some black R&B stations considered Hip-Hop novelty music until the mid-to-late 80's.

I don't think the Oil Crisis hurt the record companies any - in fact I think it helped them. People were more inclined to save gas, stay home and listen to music. And the music industry didn't have the tough competition for home entertainment like they do now.

Sony Betamax and VHS had been around for a few years. But decks and tapes were hard to find and very expensive.

If you were lucky to have Cable TV back in the late seventies most likely you only had 12 channels. The first time I saw a 36 channel cable box was in the summer of 1982. (whats this thing called MTV?)

And the video game and computer industry was still in it's infancy in the mid-late 70's too.