Do You Remember When McDonald’s Sold CDs?
With all of the talk about his upcoming "Blame it all on my Roots" tour, I can't help but think about the time I first learned who Garth Brooks was. In the drive-thru at McDonald's.
Do you remember back in the mid-90s when you could buy Garth Brooks' The Collection CD at McDonald's? The golden arches of yesteryear had the BEST Happy Meal toys and promotions like this fundraiser for the Ronald McDonald House.
With CDs selling for $5.99 and cassette tapes for $3.99, there were several popular musical artists who participated. Elton John, Roxette, Tina Turner, and Garth Brooks were the ones we had here at the Wesleyan Park Plaza location. Apparently, other places had a Selena Collection CD, and I'm kinda salty we didn't, to be honest!
I was able to find an article from The Tampa Bay Times archives dated 1994 that says Elton and Tina were tied for second place, having sold over a million each. Garth, however, took the top spot at 3 million copies sold. These albums were special collections of greatest hits that couldn't be found in record stores.
Record stores were divided regarding this particular promotion. Some weren't concerned at all, while others weren't very happy that McDonald's was dipping their toes into the CD/cassette sales pond. While they weren't expected to take over as a music retail giant or anything, they did offer these exclusive collections at a lower price than you could buy at Disc Jockey or Tower Records. Here is a hilarious commercial that ran at the time.
Here is the track list for the collection:
1. Much Too Young (To Feel This Damn Old)
2. Alabama Clay
3. New Way To Fly
4. Wild Horses
5. Against The Grain
6. Cold Shoulder
7. Mr. Right
8. Every Now & Then
9. The Night I Called The Old Man Out
10. The Cowboy Song
I remember my dad got me the Tina Turner Collection and I wore it OUT. I didn't listen to a lot of secular music as a kid, but she was a total queen to me! I think I may actually still have the CD in a case somewhere. Did you have any of these limited-edition CDs?
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