3 Songs From the 1970s That You Probably Listened to on 8-Track as a Kid

Remember good ol’ 8-track tape? This old-school sound-recording technology was around from the mid-1960s to around the early 1980s before the compact cassette tape became the hot new thing in music media. More often than not, 8-track players were installed in new cars in the 1970s. It was the most common way to listen to music for a hot minute. And if you grew up with these chunky cartridges as a 1970s kid, chances are you listened to the following three songs (and their accompanying albums) on your 8-track player on repeat. Let’s take a look!

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“Obscured By Clouds” by Pink Floyd

This Pink Floyd song (and its album of the same name) was far from their only release on 8-track. Still, it’s a fine release, and it was one you could find easily on this old-school medium. Some of them are still floating around places like eBay today.

“Obscured By Clouds” and the album it opens from 1972 is a gorgeous prog-rock work with a folk edge. It’s one I can imagine was a treat to listen to in your car, cruising down a sunset-lit highway.

“In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida” by Iron Butterfly

How about a one-hit wonder to really transport you back to the era of 8-track tapes? “In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida” by Iron Butterfly was released in 1968 (though it remained popular throughout the early 1970s) on 8-track and a number of other music media, too. Like Pink Floyd’s above-mentioned release, this acid rock jam was the title track of its album of the same name, and the whole thing is a treat for the ears of prog-psych rock fans. 

The album version of this song is pretty hefty, clocking in at about 17 minutes. The single version, though, was cut down quite a bit to about three minutes.

“She Needs Someone To Hold Her (When She Cries)” by Conway Twitty

If you grew up listening to 8-track songs in the 1970s in a country music-loving family, this gem probably made it to your rotation.

You might notice a pattern here. “She Needs Someone To Hold Her (When She Cries)” by Conway Twitty was released in 1972 on the album of the same name. It was a big hit for the country crooner, too. This song made it to No. 1 on the Hot Country Songs chart by 1973, and it was, of course, released on the classic 8-track player.

Photo by GAB Archive/Redferns