1991, ProSet MusiCards....and the legendary New Edition

 

I think I first saw them at the Phantom of the Attic

            Despite macabre-esque name, the Phantom of the Attic was a comic book shop in the Oakland (i.e. college epicenter) section of Pittsburgh. But I was still in high school. I know that it was 1991, but I can’t tell if it was early or later in the year. And that’s important. It’s the difference between me being a Junior or Senior. The difference between me having more free periods during the day, or maybe taking the chance of getting caught by one Mr. Wheeler during lunch.

Mr. Wheeler was in charge of discipline at my school. He stalked around the place calling boys Jumbo or Hambo, or whatever stupid name he could come up with. He was in charge of making sure we had our hair short, wore no facial hair, and basically marched around like good automatons for Jesus. Wheeler wore short-sleeve shirts in the dead of winter with no jacket. He combed Oakland during lunches trying to catch truant students who’d rather spend the time pouring over CDs in Record Mart and super-sizing their lunches at Mickey D’s over the stifling environment in the cafeteria, choking down whatever was being served that day.

You did not want to get caught being a truant by Mr. Wheeler.

            Especially for comic books.

            Or for cards.

            Non-sports cards to be exact.

1991 ProSet Super Stars MusiCards.

Anyone remember these babies?

Whether I was skipping lunch (probably not…I was a mediocre student at best, but I wasn’t a truant) or it was one of my free periods, I know it was the Phantom of the Attic comic book shop that stocked these MusiCards. Phantom didn’t generally stock cards that I was interested in. They trafficked in non-sport cards and I wasn’t a real non-sports card guy. I dabbled. A pack of Batman movie cards here. A pack of Garbage Pail Kids there. The closest I came to all-out non-sports card fanaticism was in the summer of 1983, when my brother, Phineas and I bought Return of the Jedi cards. I probably had more Jedi cards than baseball cards in 1983.

But those cards were all for not.

Anyone reading this blog knows what HAPPENED to all of my 1980-1983 cards.  

But I always held out hope that Phantom would get into the sports card game. When I went there with my comic book loving friends. I’d peruse the counter area in hopes that the store would suddenly have packs of Topps, Fleer, Donruss, Score or Upper Deck. But for as geeky as comic book collecting and sports collecting were, the two rarely crossed paths where commerce, that wasn’t a flea market or yard sale, was concerned. Music and sports cards most certainly never crossed paths, unless it was me at home going through my cards while I had a cassette or the radio playing.

But there they were sitting there right on the counter.

ProSets Super Stars MusiCards.

I was instantly intrigued by them.

I knew the name ProSet from their foray into NFL football cards in 1989. I’d bought my fair share because, as with everything else card-related in the late 1980s/early 1990s…they were everywhere. And I was buying anything and everything sports card related. But music cards? Well, that was new to me. Not new to the hobby. The non-sports card world had been rife with music cards for years. Off the top of my head, I know that Elvis had his own cards. So did The Beatles and The Monkees. The Partridge Family had cards. Michael Jackson had his own card set. I’m sure one can find a trading card of Frank Sinatra.

And in 1989 Topps put out their first sets for these strapping young men.

By 1991 I was getting heavy into buying music. Mostly R&B and Rap music. I had more disposable income by then. In April of 1991, I got a mall job slinging sports clothing like Starter hats and jackets. Bye-bye lowly newspaper route, rabid dogs, and people not answering their doors when I knocked. My new mall money went into sports cards, yes. But it also went into CDs and cassette tapes. If I’m being honest, more of the paycheck was going to music rather than cards. The cash certainly wasn’t going into a savings account. It wasn’t in my restless, profligate soul to save a dime, despite my parent’s encouragement to do so. I never had money so I spent it when I did.

That’s the thing when people who have no money suddenly get it.

You want to spend it.

I wanted to spend my money on ProSet Super Stars MusiCards.

The set itself (340-cards over two series) is a curiosity and I’m curious as to whom it really appealed to back then. MusiCards encompasses such a wide range of artists (and musical tastes) that finding someone equally jazzed about getting Huey Lewis, Sonic Youth and Al B. Sure! in the same pack had to be a feat. MusiCards certainly tapped into the zeitgeist of the times. Vanilla Ice and M.C. Hammer had five cards each in the set. 

Of course, so did Led Zeppelin.

See what I mean about the set being all over the place?

I’m not saying Zep fans and the accolades of one Robbie Van Winkle or Stanley Burrell wouldn’t occasionally break bread. But I don’t think they were getting stoned and putting on tunes together. They probably weren’t collecting cards either. Who in the hell DID this set appeal to? Sportos? Motorheads? Geeks, sluts, bloods, wasteoids or dweebies? Dickheads?  The only thing that truly unifies MusiCards is their gaudy design that SCREAMS 1991.

Those slanted neon bars on the top and bottom of the cards.

That paw print or Rorschach test pattern (or whatever the hell) on the backs.

MusiCards are sooooooo 1991, they make me want to get myself a chicken fajita from McDonald’s, crack open a can of Pepsi Wild Bunch, pop a Color Me Badd CD in the stereo or throw on MTV, and just chill out for a few hours until the Fresh Prince or 90210 comes on the TV.

I’d actually forgotten all about them until a few years ago when my brother sent me these in the mail.

The first card is of Ralph Tresvant (card no. 297), the de facto lead singer in 1980s R&B group New Edition. The second card is of R&B swing kings (and bandmates of Mr. Tresvant) Bell Biv DeVoe, of never trusting a big butt and a smile fame. The BBD card is actually from ProSet’s MusiCards Yo! MTV Raps set, although Messers Bell, Bivins and DeVoe do, in fact, have two cards in the MusiCards set proper.

The backs of the Yo! MTV Raps cards are just as flashy and of their era.

My brother sent me them because he’s a nice guy…and he knows how huge a New Edition fan I am. Still am to this day. There was a time in my young life where I daydreamed and hoped to become the first white member of New Edition. Why not? I can carry a tune. And I know all the lyrics.

It’s the dancing that would’ve counted me out.

I talk a lot about baseball cards on this blog, about baseball card firsts for me, etc. But New Edition’s 1984 MCA debut record has the distinction of being the first album (bought on cassette) that I ever purchased with money that was my own.

I used to say that it was birthday money. But the NE album came out in July of 1984, so I’m beginning to think that I must’ve been suckered into doing some kind of chores for that cash. Like I said above, money burned holes in my pockets back then.

Like a Barry Bonds or Bobby Bonilla card in 1991 sports card packs, cards featuring members of New Edition would’ve been the ones I was looking for in those 1991 packs of MusiCards. My boys from Boston were HUGE in 1991. But not as a collective. Not having had an album out since 1988’s Heart Break, the members of New Edition went the solo route in 1990. And they were pretty successful at it. Bell Biv Devoe’s debut album Poison went to No. 5 in the U.S. charts (number 1 on the R&B charts), Ralph Tresvant’s debut solo album hit No.17 on the U.S. charts (No. 1 in R&B), and Johnny Gill’s album went to No.8 and No. 1 respectively as well.

Only resident bad boy, Bobby Brown, didn’t release an album.

The members of New Edition were everywhere in the first few years of the 1990s.

On MTV.

On BET.

On awards shows.

In packs of cards.

I was so jazzed to get the Tresvant and BBD cards, that I went online and tracked down the other New Edition related cards from the ProSet Super Stars MusiCards set.

As for MusiCards themselves. They’re still out there. When I went home to Pittsburgh in April, an antique store that I visited had the cards selling for $1 per pack. I should’ve bought some. If they’re still there when I visit in July…I just might. Willie Stargell and Terry Bradshaw cards be damned. I want me an INXS rookie card.

Or maybe a double of the New Edition card.

 Thanks for reading! Happy Collecting!

 If you’d like to see the checklist for 1991’s ProSet MusiCards you can do so HERE

 If you’d like to learn more about seminal 1980s-1990s R&B supergroup New Edition, you can do so HERE or watch Part 1 of their 3-part BET bio pic HERE

NEXT FRIDAY: 2021 Topps Series 2…and all of the baggage that comes with it.

While we're on the subject of music and MusiCards....I have a new novel out The book is entitled 

P-Town: Forever 

P-Town: Forever is about five members of a failed singing group who get back together in their 40s after a single they recorded 20 years ago becomes a sudden semi-hit. If you’re interested you can find it HERE  and you can find it HERE where you can also read the first chapter.

...Or you can reach out to me via this blog, as I have copies ON HAND: