Release Name: PopSkool
Release Year: 1991
Identifiers: PV2169FC
Format: Cassette
Country of Release: England
Genre(s): Pop, Karaoke

When I first came across this tape I was pretty convinced it would have been sold in an Early Learning Centre (ELC) for the 91/92 sales season. I can’t find anything to support this assumption so for now we will have to simply consider that this was for sale elsewhere (like Woolworths maybe). How did I come to that assumption, well I for one remember owning and all of my friends owning tapes like these – playing them back in novelty shaped cassette decks.

So what is it?

Imagine those sound-a-like records that seemed to be popular back in the 1970s… now imagine the tracks being sung by pre-teens with ametuer levels of talent. That is Popskool, I mean it’s on the cover Kids Sing the Hits in PopSkool (sick early 90s spelling of school there, totally RAD!). Apparently this was included with a VHS tape which I am still to locate, which might give a bit more context to why this cassette was made. However I doubt there really needs to be a reason for this to exist; it was sold to parents who had just bought their kid the latest in portable audio technology (I recall kids styled walkmans being popular even into the late 90s) but didn’t want to shell out on expensive albums or compilation tapes. This tape was the answer, easy, cheap and kid friendly entertainment which could only be enjoyed by a child.

I can’t be too mean, these are kids and I bet in 91 they were having a whale of a time recording these songs, but I don’t think there is anyone over the age of 12 that thinks the talent on show here is anything better than what you might find at any UK pub doing a karaoke evening on a Thursday night.

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