Mention of Australia’s own Russell Morris over on the 1969 Singles thread reminded me that his fan club was the only one my older sister (who positively worshipped him) ever joined. Can’t recall what she got for her membership fee back then, but there must have been something…membership card, glossy 8 x 10, newsletter…?
Probably considered more of a girl thing back then, but anyone here ever join a fan club of any sort?
Paul Wad says
Yep, I was in the Pet Shop Boys fan club until it closed a couple of years ago. The fan club magazines were great and were the reason I joined. I have a full set. They also sent out other goodies and at Christmas sent out a card, often signed by the pair of them. The cards looked great, as you would imagine from them, and the design often was based on the look of their latest records. One year they sent out a CD single with their Christmas song on it. It was going for silly money on eBay, but then they released a version of the song years later.
I think I may have joined a James Bond fan club at one point too, again for the magazines that they sent out.
Moose the Mooche says
Dennis the Menace – with Gnasher’s Fang Club as a twofer. Amongst other things you got a hairy badge (steady!), with the face of the fiendish canine looking not unlike Slade’s Dave Hill.
minibreakfast says
Me too! Something like a 50p postal order it cost, then a seemingly endless wait, in those times of “please allow 28 days for delivery”.
Moose the Mooche says
There was a secret code-word or mnemonic to be used between fans to signify membership. So secret that I can’t remember it.
See also: all current passwords.
Black Celebration says
DING
(Stands for Dennis Is Never Good)
And then you reply…
Moose the Mooche says
DONG
(Dennis – Ooooh, Nice Galoshes!)
Black Celebration says
Oh no – now the whole world knows!
Moose the Mooche says
Faded… but the flame still burns.
Pretty well-designed badge, I think.
NigelT says
The Searchers Appreciation Society….joined in the pre-internet late 80s/early 90s to keep up to date with releases, dates etc.
Sitheref2409 says
The Searchers?
The hell you did.
NigelT says
Oh yes!
retropath2 says
On their farewell tour as we write, I believe
NigelT says
Indeed – their last gig is 31st March. Remarkably, they have never stopped gigging since inception (the 4 piece lineup was formed in 1962). Most bands of that era have stopped and reformed and rarely have an original these days – John McNally is still there, as is Frank Allen who joined in 1964. I interviewed Frank last year – it was his call to stop touring, but John wanted to carry on!!
Freddy Steady says
Dennis the Menace too.
And ABBA . The only thing I recall is the fan club was based in Swindon.
Barry Blue says
Sheep Street in Swindon, it was.
Freddy Steady says
Bloody hell Barry, thanks! It might not seem important but thanks.
deramdaze says
Thank ewe for the music.
I like funny jokes.
Freddy Steady says
That’s not bad Deram! For you…
Moose the Mooche says
Another Dennis!
I never got to Conference, the local branch could only afford to send one delegate. Some bloke called Clapton.
duco01 says
Re: “The only thing I recall is the fan club was based in Swindon”
Are you sure you don’t mean “The only thing I recall is the fan club was based in Sweden”?
Franco says
Joined the Subbuteo players association back in the late 70’s. I still remember being sent a news letter with the surreal photo of grinning cricket umpire Dickie Bird “flicking to kick” on its front cover. Stranger still was the vaguely sinister, Fascistic looking, Eagles head on a football metal badge that was also included. It always reminded me of one of those medals that Adolph handed out to the bedraggled remnants of the Hitler youth outside the Fuhrer bunker, hours before the fall of Berlin.
Rigid Digit says
Subbuteo club thing still going in early 80s (when I joined).
Interest soon waned – Subbuteo was a bit rubbish really.
Paul Wad says
I was only telling my son the other day that whenever I wasn’t outdoors, as a kid, playing football, I was indoors playing Subbuteo. As my younger sister wasn’t interested, I used to play it myself, taking shots whilst also operating the goalkeeper. From the age of around 9 I drew up my own leagues, full set of fixtures and everything. I even allowed each team to ‘sign’ a couple of players. One of the players Barnsley signed was Barcelona’s Miguel Asensi, I recall! Anyway, I played many leagues and Barnsley always did quite well. Devising football leagues/cups was a bit of a hobby of mine and wasn’t just restricted to Subbuteo and the other football game with tiddlywinks that I used to like. Give me two different coloured dice, a full set of Shoot team tabs and a small bag and I could occupy myself for hours playing FA Cup tournaments. With a second set of team tabs I could play leagues too.
I took my Subbuteo over to Liverpool when I was doing my nurse training, as my girlfriend (a local lass) had a young brother, so I played against him. It was around the time of the 1990 World Cup and there was a toy shop in Liverpool by the bus gyratory that stocked all the teams, so I bought loads of them (as many as I could on a student nurse’s salary) and we played our own version of the World Cup. I left it all at her house, as her brother played it with his mates too. I moved to Brighton several years later, as my girlfriend had got on a course down there. I didn’t take my Subbuteo, me and the girlfriend split up and I never saw the Subbuteo again. I was with the lass for 6 years, but when we split up the most upsetting thing was that I’d lost my Subbuteo set. Some of it I’d had since I was 7 or 8 years old. I did ask her if she’d fetch it back down (along with a stack of board games I’d also left round there) when I heard she was going home one weekend. I won’t use her exact wording, but it was along the lines of go up to Liverpool and give her dad a call and arrange to go round and get it. I chose not to.
When I told my lad the story he suggested I bought a new set so we could play, but I don’t think I could last 30 seconds on my knees flicking little plastic footballers around before I’d fall on the pitch and squash the lot (I still have nightmares of when my Auntie Sandra walked into our dining room without looking down and stood on one of my goals, also crushing the goalkeeper. However, when she turned up a couple of days later with a set of the international goals and a set of the goalkeepers with caps on that were stood up tall, rather than curved in a diving motion, it softened the blow!).
So, a couple of years ago, when I visited the National Football museum in Manchester, despite all the fab things in there and the exhibition of Stuart Roy Clarke’s brilliant photography on the top floor, the thing that had me standing staring for half an hour was the 1970s Subbuteo poster that had a picture of a player from all the teams they did. I used to pore over that poster when I was a kid, looking at all the obscure teams from around the world and their garish kits, 90% of which I’d never seen in any shop I’d ever been in. And I hadn’t seen that poster for 40 years. So sod Duncan Edward’s shirt and Geoff Hurst’s boots and whatever else was in the museum, the 1970s Subbuteo poster was the best thing in there. I never knew there was a fan club though.
retropath2 says
Always a bit OC, um, I mean enthusiastic in your ways,eh, @Paul-Wad ?
Freddy Steady says
Loved Subbuteo too. Favourite thing was the Scoreboard for some reason.
Paul Wad says
I got a few accessories too. Basically, anything that popped up in the second hand shop my parents used to get my Subbuteo stuff from around the time of Christmas or my birthday. I loved the scoreboard, and I also had the TV tower, ref and linesmen, a stand with a few spectators, corner and half way flags, throw in takers, corner kickers and the queen and a trophy (I think there was a Duke of Edinburgh too, but I may be wrong). I think I also had a manager/coach/physio set and ball boys, but I may be wrong.
The throw in takers were really tricky to use, Either the ball used to go flying halfway around the room or the throw in taker used to go flying off his spring and go flying across the room himself. The corner kickers were brill though. Me and my mates used them for taking free kicks with and we scored some spectacular goals with them, that often threatened to take the keeper off his little stick. The stand, on the other hand, was a pain in the neck, as it just kept getting in the way.
The best thing of all though was my bedroom carpet. I had the attic room, where the carpet was probably as old as my dad. Our house had been in my family for several generations when we moved into it. In fact my little sister lived there after she got married, so her kids were the 5th or 6th generation to live there. It was horrible when they moved, even if they were moving to a better house. But I digress…
The attic carpet had that quality that Subbuteo players would kill for. The pitch stuck to it! Once you had smoothed the wrinkles out it took a lot to mess it up. Playing on the downstairs carpets you kept having to tidy the pitch up as it got ruffled up. The only problem with the attic was that of you hit a shot too enthusiastically you, depending upon which way you were kicking you could end up losing the ball or a player down the stairs. Not a problem most times, as you simply went down and retrieved it. But occasionally the cat was lurking down there, so it wasn’t unusual to have to chase the bloody thing around the house trying to get your ball or your star striker back.
fortuneight says
I recall that the corner flags in my original starter set lasted about 10 minutes into my first game before I knelt on one. Thereafter the remaining three stayed in the box.
I never got why there were goalkeepers who had their arms down, and those who were diving for a shot. Why use a smaller keeper when there were bigger ones?
Tiggerlion says
The one with the arms down was broader and his head didn’t leave much of a gap under the crossbar. You simply manoeuvred him from side to side. The diver had to be twisted as well as he was shifted. The simpler technique made it easier to save the majority of efforts on goal.
Inspired by a Frannie Lee freekick, I’d put a couple of players in front of the ball if I got one within shooting range. I’d tap the ball to them and back and fro until the three players formed a triangle, a platform for the ball raised from the pitch. A judiciously weighted flick would then send the ball over the defensive wall past a helpless goalkeeper & into the net.
Happy days.
Paul Wad says
Crafty! Glad I wasn’t playing against you.
Did any of you ever get the Subbuteo rugby set, with the weird plastic ball with the holes in for the scrum? I’m not a rugby fan and don’t really know the rules, so I was at a disadvantage from the start, but it just wasn’t anywhere near as enjoyable as the footy version. I’m not sure why my dad got me it, to be honest. Must have been very cheap.
The Test Match Cricket was also difficult to play because the pitch was rubbish and wouldn’t stay flat. We did used to get some game play out of it, and Yorkshire did very well in my league, funnily enough, but it was very frustrating when a certain 4 turned into a 1 because of a crease on the pitch. I could never work out why the batsman had a vacuum cleaner instead of a bat. It did set me in good stead for when I used to help the scorer out at Barnsley CC in the late 80s (when we had Goughy playing for us), as I got used to how to mark a scoring pad.
Tiggerlion says
I enjoyed them both. I especially enjoyed converting the tries playing rugby. That kicker was great. There should have been a Subbuteo American Football. Imagine that!
Franco says
The goal keepers on the end of a spring always flattered to deceive. One hard shot and they would snap. However like all Subbuteo products beautifully packaged in those iconic green boxes. I think, maybe during the late 80’s early 90’s the players stopped being hand painted. I don’t know what process they used but it enabled me to buy the Soviet Union team with the CCCP lettering on the front of the shirt. And you know what! A few years later I gave that side away to a “fly by night” girlfriends little brother just to try and impress her. What a bloody tool I am. That cataclysmic mistake will live with me for ever. Bloody Hell!
GCU Grey Area says
Weird the things Subbuteo did.
Sewer Robot says
I find Mr Wad’s notion of the 70s players appreciating such a smooth modern surface really sweet. I wonder, Paul, when staging your tricky potential-banana-skin cup ties, did you smear lumpy wet clay over the surface? Use your big sister’s hairdryer to generate a gale? Tilt the pitch a little when Yeovil Town were at home? (Come to think of it, I had an orange ball and never once did I nick the shaving foam from the bathroom cabinet).
Speaking of cups, the accessories I liked best were the trophies – I had the F.A. Cup (yes, when victorious, you could remove the lid and place it on your head and yes, I did) and the European Cup. They were both ace but I was a bit narked that Big Ears was no larger than the domestic trophy.
(If memory serves, even in the early eighties they were still hawking the Jules Rimet trophy and you couldn’t get the inverted arm covered in custard in the shops).
Paul Wad says
Well when my aunt stood on my goalposts at least I could recreate the 1977 England-Scotland game.
My uncle had nailed my cousin’s pitch to a piece of plywood and they played with it on the kitchen table. Much kinder on the knees, and the knees of your trousers, but the ball never stopped rolling. It was rubbish. Like playing on ice. Much better on a carpet. Except that time I was playing round at my mate Sean’s house, in their living room (cos of the best carpet for sticking the pitch down, of course). We got well into the game, I was attacking, got excited, slid around the side of the pitch to finish the move off when his mother screamed at me. Seems I’d accidentally knelt on the family pet tortoise, who must have been coming to watch the game. Don’t worry though, cos I was a skinny little thing, so the tortoise came to no harm. They never showed that happening during that England-Brazil game in the advert.
fentonsteve says
“Some tortoises are on the pitch! They think it’s all over!”
Paul Wad says
Right, I’ve only gone and bought the 1977 Subbuteo brochure/catalogue/poster that I had off eBay!! Last night it seemed like a great idea to frame it and shove it on the wall in the office or spare bedroom where I have a variety of footy related stuff on the wall. I thought it would sit nice alongside the framed George Best or Bobby Moore signed pictures. This morning, however, I think it may be a footy related picture too far and I suspect that the missus is going to knock that idea on the head, or knock me on the head. Right looking forward to having a good look at it though. Some of the obscure foreign teams are on eBay, so they must have existed beyond their picture on the poster.
Sewer Robot says
That’s you, that is! (about 50 seconds in):
count jim moriarty says
Pity they couldn’t spell Peloton…
Moose the Mooche says
Courtesy of Kraftwerk, I could spell peloton at the age of 9.
Didn’t know WTF it was though but.
GCU Grey Area says
Merde.
Je suis désolé.
*La défectuosité obtiennent mon manteau.*
Paul Wad says
It has been said….
Blue Boy says
And then there were Subbuteo cricket and rugby. Rubbish they were.
Rigid Digit says
Marc Bolan Fan Club (late 80s).
Run by John and Shan Bramley in Sheffield.
Used to get a quarterly newsletter (Rarn) which told me of any mention of Marc Bolan anywhere in the media (no matter how brief).
They also ran Marc On Wax Records (had the licence for all 1972 to 77 recordings, but not the artwork license. Hence all the T.Rex re-issues on MoW came in new sleeves).
Got some special releases from the Fan Club, but read much later that John Bramley’s remixing technique resulted in the complete knackering of some demo recordings, and other tracks rendered with 80s Studio drums, bad sound mixing and distortion. Or actually doing nothing but re-recording the tracks to another piece of tape – example: the “re-mix” of Children Of The Revolution does not sound markedly different to the original
Moose the Mooche says
Endlessly reycling old stuff with only slight differences? Dude sounds like a pioneer to me. He saw the future of the music industry right there.
Tiggerlion says
I was in the Marc Bolan fan club, too. He still has one. 62 fans and counting.
http://www.fanpop.com/clubs/t-rex
Rigid Digit says
And a real dedicated bunch they seem.
“I have a couple of albums. I’ve heard the others on youtube and might get them in the future”
(too cynical?)
Tiggerlion says
And which is your favourite cover?
Uncle Mick says
I was in the Mud Fan Club and among the goodies they sent me was a “Lean On Me” sticker. This was proudly attached to my school bag and my school pals proceeded to humourously ….lean on me.
Sitheref2409 says
Warlord. Lord Peter Flint.
Barry Blue says
‘The name Peter means stone’
That was the cracked code.
fortuneight says
I don’t recall joining a club, but I did discover that if you wrote to record company press offices expressing an interest in a band, you’d get press kits and photos. I even got some album sleeves (great for the bedroom wall) and a computer print out of some Blue Öyster Cult lyrics (which in the pre internet age, was like hitting the jackpot). And Leo Lyons autograph.
Sniffity says
I’ve only ever been a member of two organisations – in the mid-80s, I read in an issue of SIG that Fanderson were going to release a 7″ EP with previously unreleased Barry Gray music, including the UFO theme. It would only be available to members….off went the OS money order.
Shortly after I joined Six Of One, appreciation society for TV’s The Prisoner – mainly because having only having seen one episode (the first ep was screened on a “25 Years Of TV” series by a local station), I figured it was the only way I might make contacts to get copies on VHS….the official releases came a year or two later, making membership slightly redundant, though they did release a rather good soundtrack LP too.
Johnny99 says
Many years ago I joined the Elton John Fan Club because I thought you might get priority for gig tickets (you didn’t but you did get some sort of metal badge). At an even earlier age I was in the ISpy club.
I did the “writing to a record company” thing too and got a load of press release stuff from The Doors press office after playing “Weird scenes inside the goldmine” to death.
JQW says
Other than the Dennis The Menace Fan Club and the Airfix Modellers Club (membership gave you a badge and a current catalogue) and the Atari VCS Owners Club, I can’t recall joining anything.
Never even bothered to send a postcard to 3 Alveston Place, Leamington Spa, CV32 4SN!
retropath2 says
Does CAMRA count?