Sunday, December 27, 2015

At Flashbak: Devo for Pioneer Laserdiscs


My second Flashbak in the past week gazed at Pioneer’s marketing attempts for the new technology of laserdiscs.




“In my previous Flashbak article this week, I remembered Star Trek star Leonard Nimoy hawking Magnavox videodisc systems in 1982.

In 1984, Magnavox competitor Pioneer brought the heat with a full line of commercials, in-store videos, and other promotions for its own laserdisc player.

First up, the punk/new wave band Devo -- at their post-Doctor Detroit (1983) apotheosis – headlined a 12 minute video for Pioneer, shown in stores. 

Declaring it their “business to keep up with the state of the art” in terms of video and audio, the band members promised to help consumers pic out “the best,” most “mind-blowing” and “most sophisticated” choice for laserdiscs.”

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