As a child of the late 60s and the 70s, it always irked me when people called a 45 centre a “spider”. “Oh, that’s what it was called”, they said. “They”, being amateur historians who weren’t there when 45s were the most popular way to play music and needed the special bit of plastic to fit them onto a record player spindle! Harrumph, and other sounds of indignation…
Some didn’t believe me. Fine! Don’t believe me. Believe the – ahem – Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
Derek recently made a return trip to the hall with some friends and brought back a 45 centre spinner keychain for me.
And on the back, an explanation of its history.
We called it a 45 centre. Spacer must have been the industry term. No matter, it certainly wasn’t a spider because if it was, I never would have touched one!
Well, there apparently is a difference of opinion when it comes to the center thing for 45’s for a recent Alan Cross two-part history of rock, a particular design of that thing was called a spider. There were various versions back then and I likely had them all.