I have noticed a strange phenomenon on some American 45RPM singles from the 1980s that I have purchased from various sources online.
On many, I find "bubbled up" patches on the 45 label itself (the part that has the record label, song, etc). The record almost always plays fine, and is not badly warped, if at all. The label doesn't seem dicolored or blotchy. It kind of looks like the glue bubbled up underneath the label, as if it were a pizza bubbling and cooking in the oven.
I can feel the ridges of these patches against the end of my finger tips, when I feel around the label. I keep them separate from my other records, just in case. Is this water damage? Were American pressings full of defects in the '80s. Can anyone help? Thanks.
It almost sounds like water damage, although it could just be a bad case of inferior adhesive. It may be due to the way they were stored (from the buyer) as well. Any one else notice this problem and if so, do you have a solution?
Hi Dee Dee,I have quite a few of these records and my suspision is that they're bootlegs or they're manufactured by bogus makers.Buying online is a danger in this case.-Ross
The reality is in most cases that there are 2 labels instead of one and you will find that if you peel off the "bubbly" one you will find a nice clean one underneath
I had that exact thing happen on an lp that I purchased. The lable looked all messed up and being a curious one, I started picking at it. Sure enough, it came right off and there was a nice, clean lable underneath!
A lot of the major record label 45's that were hit singles in the 80's were NOT bootlegged or pirated domestically. I would have first dibs at saying this is mainly a case of either storage issues & moisture. Also, if the records themselves aren't damaged and play just fine, then they are most certainly not bootlegs/pirate copies, if they are up to industry standards of recorded sound! Moisture is a bad enemy to record labels, and it is for this reason as to why caution is to be made when cleaning your records in a sink with soap!
In any event, I will go with moisture, and unfortunately there is nothing you can do about it except to invest in another copy. With that said, if you are not finicky as a collector as far as how the record labels appear, and you are mainly using the records for playing purposes, then you have nothing to be concerned about, unless you choose to replace each 45 in the future. Just my 2 cents...........
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