This 1980 Ampex ad connects its consumer cassettes directly to the professional recording world by featuring two of the biggest acts of the era – Blondie and the Bee Gees. The headline, “The Tape That Launched a Thousand Hits,” pushes the idea that the same company supplying professional studios could also bring that recording quality into home and car cassette decks.
The timing was especially strong for both groups. Blondie was coming off Eat to the Beat, which was mastered on Ampex professional tape and earned the band Ampex’s 150th Golden Reel Award in 1980. The Bee Gees, meanwhile, were still closely associated with the massive late-1970s disco boom that had made them one of the decade’s dominant pop acts. Ampex was also actively using Blondie in its blank-tape promotion that year, including a Debbie Harry poster offer tied to cassette purchases.
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