#19 The Who (+ MusiCards master set quest update)

1991 Pro Set MusiCards #19 The Who. The light show here is kinda cool, but ultimately it's not a great photo as it's so far away and most people couldn't really tell which band this was without being clued in.

Hey, what are these Brits doing snoozing under our US flag! lol.

I like The Who. Seems to me that most fans of rock music like them, though in the rankings of all-time "classic rock" bands, they're generally behind the likes of The Beatles, The Stones, and Zeppelin. But they're still in "first ballot Hall of Famer" territory, no doubt.

I'm sure you're aware of them, but for the uninitiated, I'd point you to The Who's Wikipedia entry. The short version of their history is they're an English rock band formed in 1964. Their classic line-up consisted of lead singer Roger Daltrey, guitarist and sometimes-singer Pete Townshend (writer of most of the songs), bass guitarist John Entwistle, and drummer Keith Moon. They are considered one of the most influential rock bands of the 20th century, selling over 100 million records worldwide, with "My Generation" likely being their most recognizable song amongst several hits.

The Who - "My Generation"

Moon passed in 1978 (drug overdose) putting an end to the classic era of the band, with Entwistle following in 2002 (heart attack induced by a drug overdose). The core duo of Daltrey and Townshend still regroup as The Who for a tour and/or album every few years. Zak Starkey (Ringo's boy) has been their drummer since 1996.

THE WHO - DESERT ISLAND DISC

1. Baba O'Riley
2. I Can See for Miles
3. So Sad About Us
4. Bargain
5. Love Ain't For Keeping
6. My Wife
7. The Song Is Over
8. Getting In Tune
9. Going Mobile
10. Behind Blue Eyes
11. Won't Get Fooled Again
12. Water
13. My Generation
14. (I'm A) Road Runner
15. Young Man's Blues
16. The Seeker
17. Squeeze Box
18. Pinball Wizard
19. See Me, Feel Me
20. We're Not Gonna Take It

"Who Are You" is another one that should be on there. You know what.. I'm thinking I might check out some more Who tracks on Spotify between now and the next post and maybe I'll have an updated D.I.D. tracklisting for you then. I'm admittedly not a huge Who fan-- I've been meaning to dig into their stuff more-- and may have missed some quality tracks, so feel free to point me to any other good ones in the comments below.

Though it's probably not one of their better known tracks, I might pick "Going Mobile" as my favorite song of theirs (or at least neck-and-neck with "Baba O'Riley" and the ending part of "We're Not Gonna Take It" from Tommy).

The Who have four (4) MusiCards total.. with another card coming up next, plus a couple concert poster cards coming up later. (Funny enough, this renowned UK band doesn't have a card in the UK edition of the set.) But yeah, we'll have more time to talk about The Who on this blog.


MUSICARDS MASTER SET UPDATE

No Custom Corner for this post, but I wanted to show off some recent pickups relevant to this blog. I'm trying to build a "master set" of MusiCards, meaning I want to obtain every card put out under the "MusiCards" product label, including all variations and promos. I already have the full base sets (Series 1, Series 2, UK edition, plus the Yo! MTV Raps set [both Series 1 and 2]), but there are still variations, inserts, and promos I've been trying to track down.

Here is the 10-card "Promo Pack". I was pretty thrilled to find all 10 of these in a reasonably priced lot on eBay a month or so ago. The listing's title was a mess, so it's nearly a miracle I was even able to find it. But find it I did! I had originally planned to do separate posts for these once I finally finish with the main set, but now I see that these cards are nearly identical to their base card equivalents, so a new post would be redundant. Instead, I'll include each promo card with its retail version. The first one we'll take a closer look at will be the Led Zeppelin card, which matches up with card #24. These promo versions are unnumbered on the back, so I'll have to visually match them up based on the photo. The other main difference is that the text in the Super Stars logo is a different font than the final version. The write-ups on the backs may have differences too, though I haven't checked yet. But yeah, we'll take a closer look at each of these on the blog in the future.

I had already bought the Debbie Gibson promo elsewhere, so I've got a dupe available for trade.

Oh, and there's apparently also a Promo Pack header card I need which I'm left to assume came with this promo set, but I might be wrong. The text in the Super Stars logo isn't the same script as the promos. Plus it says they're "on sale now" but I've got to assume the promo cards came out before packs were actually on shelves, building hype and whatnot. Not sure. If anyone can shed light on when/how these promo cards came out, please let me know! [Update: I now believe they were distributed with copies of the Pro Set Gazette, a magazine/catalog the company put out around the time that typically included promotional cards such as these. But I'm still not sure which cards came together.. I doubt all 11 cards came in one sealed "promo pack", more likely they came in packs of 3 cards or perhaps even mixed with other Pro Set promo cards. But who knows? I've yet to see any still-sealed MusiCard promos that could help me wrap my head around it.]

Ok, these aren't technically in the MusiCards family, but close enough. Included in the aforementioned promo lot eBay auction was this collection of 10 lenticular discs originally available via the bottom of specially-marked Slurpee cups at the convenience store 7-Eleven in 1985. I can't find these listed in TCDB, so I'm not sure if this is a complete set or not**. Some of these artists have MusiCards and some don't. These things are awesome-- stirring childhood memories of scraping up enough change in the sofa cushions to buy myself a cherry slurpee and hoping for a cool bonus disc in the bottom. These will likely be featured later on in the blog (again) if I remember, such as taking a closer look at the Police disc when we eventually get to the band in the MusiCards checklist. These things are blank on the back (stickers, apparently), though, so there's not much to them other than the 2 pictures that change with the viewer's angle (either 2 photos, or 1 photo and 1 logo/wordmark). But yeah, cool bonus for an eBay auction that I was already bidding on regardless.

UPDATES
**No, it's not complete.. I see another lot on eBay right now that includes a RATT disc that I'm missing. I don't think I'll hunt down and buy any more of these, but if you have any to trade that I need, I'd be interested in working out a deal.
***Oh crap, there's a Tears For Fears one of these?! One of my all-time favorite bands.. I might need to track down one of those badboys.
****Looks like there's also a similar set of 7-Eleven music discs from 1984 that includes Huey Lewis and the News, R.E.M., Big Country, and 38 Special among others (including some acts that were repeated in the '85 set). 7-Eleven also put out plenty of sports disc sets along these lines in the 80s, generally more common than the music ones.
*****Ok, I've just gone ahead and pulled the trigger on a 1985 complete set (14 discs) for $11 shipped. I was mainly after the Tears For Fears disc, but the completist in me is happy to have the full set now. (Maybe I'll keep an eye out for the 1984 set [11 discs] to go along with it.) So bottom line is the 10 discs in the above photo are now all available for trade so let me know if you're interested in any.

I only see one full set of '84 discs on eBay currently, and it's a master set also including the '85 set, but it seems way overpriced at nearly $100. No thanks.
But that eBay listing has some good info, so I'm going to copy and paste it here for posterity:

7 Eleven 7-11 Slurpee 3-D Lenticular Rock Disc Card Master Set of 25 from 1984/1985
There were 14 of the 7-Eleven Rock Star discs released in 1985, one disc per purchase of 7-11 slurpee drink.
There were 11 of the 7-Eleven Rock Star discs released in 1984.
There were 7 Bands that were issued for BOTH years of 1984 and 1985 and stamped accordingly as seen in my scans.
There were 4 Bands that were ONLY issued in 1984 stamped "84".
There were 7 Bands that were ONLY issued in 1985 stamped "85".
Such a cool set here and makes for an amazing Rock Music display.
Master Set of 25 discs includes:

14 total of disc produced for both 1984 and 1985 sets

•   Night Ranger (Both in 1984 and 1985 versions)
•   Loverboy (Both in 1984 and 1985 versions)
•   38 Special (Both in 1984 and 1985 versions)
•   The Police (Both in 1984 and 1985 versions)
•   Journey (Both in 1984 and 1985 versions)
•   Huey Lewis and the News (Both in 1984 and 1985 versions)
•   Ozzy Osbourne (Both in 1984 and 1985 versions. *1984 version was BLACK, 1985 version was RED)

7 total of disc just produced for 1985 set

•   RATT (Just produced for 1985 set)
•   Tears for Fears (Just produced for 1985 set)
•   Bryan Adams (Just produced for 1985 set)
•   Dio (Just produced for 1985 set)
•   Go West (Just produced for 1985 set)
•   Billy Squier (Just produced for 1985 set)
•   RUSH (Just produced for 1985 set)

4 total of disc just produced for 1984 set

•   The Tubes (Just produced for 1984 set)
•   Big Country (Just produced for 1984 set)
•   Krokus (Just produced for 1984 set)
•   R.E.M. (Just produced for 1984 set)

These are collectible discs that turn to different pictures when you turn them from angle to angle. These are NOT music CDs.
These lenticular discs come with their original backing that were meant to be peeled off when you wanted to stick them somewhere. 

Wow, I didn't expect to go down that Slurpee discs rabbithole, but moving on...

So I already have a complete set of the UK edition, but after a few drinks one evening, I went ahead and snagged this partially-opened box on eBay (about half already-opened and the other half still in sealed packs). It seemed like a good deal. Maybe there are upgrades for me, or if not then at least trade bait (Anybody out there working on a set?). But really the main thing I wanted was that "Time to re-order" insert (found loose at the bottom of the box) pictured upper right above. Yes, it's a dumb thing, but when I say I'm after a "master set" I mean it! LOL. And the master set wouldn't be complete without that insert. It's pretty hard to find (because why would anybody want that?!) and I feared I wouldn't be able to score it unless I went all-in on a box. Thankfully the previous owner who opened half the packs didn't take it.

There's still one more insert I need before the UK edition is fully complete: It's an ad for "MusiCards Collector Files", which is a pair of officially branded binders with pages for storing your cards. (I believe similar binders were offered on the back of packs, including those in the US editions.) I didn't see that card among the opened cards in this box, but perhaps a copy is within the unopened packs. I'll probably rip them soon in search for it. I suppose if I really wanted to get anal, those folders would be a part of a MusiCards Master Set, too. However, I generally keep my collection "cards only" and so I don't plan to track down non-card items... unless maybe I stumble upon a good deal. (Or if anyone has one for trade, let me know.)

Another note about the UK edition: The backs of the packs refer to them as Series 1. But I guess they didn't sell as well as Pro Set was hoping, as a second series was never released in the UK.

Early, alternate-design promos! These are pretty cool, giving you a look at what the folks at Pro Set originally had in mind for their MusiCards before revamping to the finished design we all know. The checklist for these is 6 cards deep, but with Madonna having error and corrected versions, so 7 cards total. Again, I plan to take a closer look at each of these on the blog in the future, though I'm not sure if I'll make them their own separate posts (at the conclusion of the base set) or just include them in the main posts as we go, such as my plan with the other promos I showed before (so like, include the Madonna promo card[s] in a post featuring a card with a similar Madonna photo [I'm not sure if all 6 photos correspond to respective base cards or not, but I suppose I could look into it].)

Anyways, I've now got all of these promos-- either in-hand or waiting in my COMC account-- with the exception of #2 Lita Ford. So I've got an eye out for Lita in the alt. design.

There's also another promo header card that was recently added to TCDB called Borden's Promo Pack Header. Not sure if that came in snack packs or what. Doesn't seem to be related to these early-design promos. But yeah, that's another card I need for my master set.

More incoming cards here. That hologram up top is from the Yo! MTV Raps set (technically still under the MusiCards umbrella). Personally I think the Super Stars hologram is cooler looking than this one, but happy to score the big "chase card" from the Yo! version (seeded one per case?). Now all I need are the Instant Winner inserts from the Yo set. The red one is from Series 1 and is more common (I have one, but it's been scratched off.. want to upgrade to unscratched), plus there's a harder to find Instant Winner insert available in Series 2 packs which can be identified by green/purple in the design.

The game card pictured up here comes to me courtesy of Jon at the Penny Sleeve blog, who kindly set it aside for me after picking up an unopened pack of Series 2 MusiCards. The Series 2 contest was for a trip to Australia. The more common version of this is from Series 1, which was for a trip to London. Thanks to Jon, I've now got both the Super Stars vacation contest cards!

There is still one card from Series 2 that I need: the 10¢ Coupon with pink spots. The more common version from Series 1 features yellow spots (I've got a ton of these, as they came in every other Series 1 pack [platooning with the London trip contest card]).

As for the Dread Zeppelin "wardrobe malfunction" card.. sigh.. man, this is a frustrating one for me. I see variations online where the nad is lighter (skin-colored) (see TCDB), but then I always end up with this "hot pink nad" version (which I suspect happened somewhat similar to how Fleer first handled the '89 Billy Ripken situation). And yes, I hate the fact that part of my card collecting hobby involves taking a close look at some dude's nuts for slight variance in skin tone, but here we are. LOL

Anyways, let's go ahead and put all the cards I need in one handy list:

MusiCards Needs
Series 1 #166 variation - Dread Zeppelin (skin-colored nad)
Series 2 NNO 10¢ Coupon (Pink Spots)
UK Edition NNO Advert ("Pro Set MusiCards Collector Files" binder ad)
Early Design Promo #2 Lita Ford
NNO Promo Pack Header ("On Sale Now")
NNO Borden's Promo Pack Header ("free with purchase of 2 Borden snacks")
Yo! MTV Raps - Series 1 NNO Be an Instant Winner (red)
Yo! MTV Raps - Series 2 NNO Instant Win Game (green/purple)

(This is as of March 2020. I'll try to remember to update this list crossing off cards as I secure them.)

Looks like I've got just a few needs remaining, then I'll have a full 1991 MusiCards MasterSet! If you have any of those available or could point me to where I could find them, I would be very interested. Will trade or buy for the right price.

OTHER STUFF THAT MIGHT TECHNICALLY BE INCLUDED IN A MUSICARDS MASTER SET THOUGH I WON'T SPEND TOO MUCH TIME TRYING TO FIND:

According to the Instant Win cards, there were 10 autographed (and framed) Yo! MTV Raps MusiCards available as first place in that contest (behind the Grand Prize which was a trip to NYC to watch the show taped live). I'm not sure if these cards featured a special design or were just base cards from the set that were signed. And I'm unsure which ten artists were included. If there are actually any of these certified auto cards "out there", I'd be interested in them (at least seeing pictures of them, even if you want to hold onto them, which is totally cool.)

And I've seen claims online (perhaps confused or purposely misleading) that there are variations of the hologram cards (different colors other than the standard "green"), though I'm skeptical of that. If anyone has a MusiCard hologram variation, I'd be very interested in seeing it.

There's also that purported third variation of #15 John Lennon (Logo at bottom right; left hand raised). I'm dubious of this existing, though I'll keep my eyes open for it.

And then there's the aforementioned MusiCards Collector Files binders (one regular size and a smaller one for dupes, apparently). Again, I'd be open to picking it up if I find it for a good price, but not a priority for me at this point.

And as for all those "10¢ Coupon" insert cards? Those were good toward purchases from the Pro Set Gazette, a free magazine/catalog thing you could send in for (published 2 or 4 times a year) and use to order stuff like band shirts and posters (as well as other Pro Set related goods, such as NFL and NHL stuff). Not sure if there were specifically branded MusiCards items available (other than probably the binders they always seemed to be pushing), or more likely were simply regular merchandise from the musical artists that Pro Set was offering as a reseller. But figured I'd mention them. It's now occurring to me that the promo cards mentioned earlier in this post (both varieties) were probably originally distributed as freebies with Pro Set Gazette issues.

One more thing.. on the back of the Borden's Promo Pack Header card, it mentions a send-in offer for Fairy God Dude posters. No idea who or what Fairy God Dude is (a band? the mascot for Borden Snacks or something?). But if this is a MusiCards branded item, I figure I'll mention it here. But again, I'm mainly just focused on the cards and don't plan to track down any non-card items as part of this collecting quest of mine.

Oh, and lastly, stuff like wrappers and empty boxes and even magazine ads could probably also be included in a (deep voice:) "master set"... but (for the fourth time), I try to keep my collection cards-only.


Geez, long post! And sorry it was a bit of a mess as I was basically researching for it as I was writing it and just kept it stream-of-consciousness instead of rewriting like a good writer would have done.

Thanks for reading! More of The Who next time.