Definitive list of music bands/groups that included computer programs on their analogue audio music physical media releases (LPs, singles)

Question

Is there a definitive list of music pop/rock bands/groups that included computer programs as part of their physical analogue audio music releases? (vinyl LPs, EPs, singles) etc?

For this to be possible, they would have used an established encoding process for recording programs on to tape, e.g. Kansas City Standard or variant, including CUTS.

Vinyl analogue audio music media would have sufficient audio frequency bandwidth and dynamic range to accomodate such recordings error free, I should think.

Such a concept of combining music audio and digital data on physical analogue media resembles the concept with the CD: where CD mixed mode and CD plus CD extended standards. CD audio was the red book standard, CD-ROM was yellow book and CD plus (separate audio and CD-ROM parts on same CD) was the blue book standard - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rainbow_Books Some of those latter standards appeared to come after the aforementioned here vinyl with computer program concept - wonder if that inspired those later CD standards?

I've kicked off this Q&A with an initial answer.

It occasionally still happens; a recent example would be OKNOTOK. — user3840170, Dec 20 '21 at 15:29
"8-Bit Show and Tell" has several videos on this topic. I think first one was : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6_CZpFqvDQo — Brian H, Dec 20 '21 at 15:44
See also How do I extract the program from the Radiohead "Nude" tribute by James Houston? — Stephen Kitt, Dec 21 '21 at 09:33
FYI: "Definitive" might not mean what you think it means. If there's a definitive list of bands, then the category is defined by the list. Nothing that any band did or said would matter. The only thing that would matter would be whether or not the band was on the list. You probably are asking for a complete list. Or, maybe you want an authoritative list: That would be where somebody you trust—some authority —gives their assurance that the list is correct and complete. — Solomon Slow, Dec 21 '21 at 21:17
@solomon slow +1 yes like if discogs provided a means to search recordings by a tag for this — therobyouknow, Dec 21 '21 at 23:17

score 4 · Answer 1 · answered Dec 20 '21 at 17:26

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Isao Tomita encoded messages in the TARBEL (actually Tarbell) cassette format on his album "The Bermuda Triangle" from 1979.

answered Dec 20 '21 at 17:26

Will Hartung

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score 1 · Answer 2 · answered Dec 20 '21 at 12:31

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Back in the mid-late 1980s, I saw that rock/pop band on Number 73, Saturday Morning Kids/Youth ITV show, talking about it in an interview. I can't remember the band name. However some searching suggests it could have been one of these: Mainframe - Talk to Me ( ref: https://stardot.org.uk/forums/viewtopic.php?t=15405 ) or Kissing the Pink - The otherside of heaven ( ref: https://orchardoo.com/histsingle2.htm ).

Podcasts are now becoming a means of distributing such recordings too:

https://www.theregister.com/2021/10/22/zx_spectrum_radiolab/ https://forums.theregister.com/forum/all/2021/10/22/zx_spectrum_radiolab/#c_4355654

answered Dec 20 '21 at 12:31

therobyouknow

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It may be appropriate to make this answer CW, as per https://retrocomputing.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/975/. On the other hand, the same post kind of demonstrates this did not quite work the last time… I leave the decision to you. – user3840170 Dec 20 '21 at 13:53
+1 thank you @user3840170 . My response: I don't know yet. Of course, my Q&A is well intentioned; my ongoing contribution to stimulating the discussion and enjoyment around retrocomputing. – therobyouknow Dec 20 '21 at 15:02
According to IMDB, Kissing the Pink made two appearances on Number 73: the second appearance, on 30th March 1985, is the better match date-wise to the release of The Otherside of Heaven. – Daniel Hatton Dec 21 '21 at 21:40

score 1 · Answer 3 · answered Dec 20 '21 at 22:10

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The band Information Society did this on at least two of their albums.

The album Peace and Love, Inc. contained a message by one of the band members.
The album Don't Be Afraid contained a scavenger hunt.

answered Dec 20 '21 at 22:10

da66en

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Definitive list of music bands/groups that included computer programs on their analogue audio music physical media releases (LPs, singles)

3 Answers3