The Strange History of Cereal Box Records

Explore the craze that took grocery store shelves by storm.

By Dr. Jennifer Otter Bickerdike

Advertising, like music, often calls for innovative ideas when aiming for sales. In the 1950s, cereal companies leaned into records to push more products to children, leading to two decades of strange, often cardboard, records. Companies like General Mills worked with everyone from chart-topping artists to their mascots to add sound to their cereal. In 1951, the company teamed up with Walt Disney Productions to include a 6-inch featuring two songs from Alice in Wonderland in the cereal boxes, marking the beginning of the elusive cereal box record.

The Disney collaborations continued throughout the 1950s. In 1956, select Wheaties’ boxes featured cartoons “performing” tracks, with various renditions spread across different boxes, creating a collect-them-all mail-in situation. Those lucky enough to get their hands on all the versions could hear gems like Mickey Mouse singing “The Gadget Tree,” Chip ‘N Dale crooning “The Laughing Song,” Goofy barking “It’s Great To Be Goofy,” and Donald Duck performing “Donald Duck’s Song.”

However, records were not just for kids. General Mills also targeted home chefs in the vinyl grocery store revolution. The same year the Wheaties record appeared, boxes of cooking staple Bisquick — sold under the Betty Crocker umbrella — featured a cut-out record. The vinyl showcased the many uses for the product, consisting of flour, shortening, salt, and baking powder, with an array of recipes from “Muffins” to “Answer Cake,” all having individual tracks.

Monster Adventures In Outer Space

Count Chocula, Boo Berry, Frankenberry

1979

Children’s, Story, Promotional

Flexi-disc, 6″, 33 ⅓ RPM, Card Backed, Single Sided

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By the early 1970s, General Mills realized that, instead of using someone else’s product and mascots as they had with Disney, they could create their own characters to market directly to kids. The first two cartoon personas, Count Chocula and Frankenberry, appeared in advertisements bickering over who had the better bowlful.

The animated shorts fit in with other morning cartoons for children, making the monsters entities onto themselves. T-shirts, sheets, and other items featuring what eventually became a trio when blueberry Boo Berry joined the squad in 1973 were omnipresent. Unsurprisingly, the spooky group became the stars of their own set of cereal box 45s. The first two flexi-discs feature all of the haunted trinity on The Monsters Go Disco and Monster Adventures in Outer Space. The Count is the only breakout star from the monsters to have his own flexi-disc with Count Chocula Goes to Hollywood.

On the 1979 Disco, Boo, Frank, and Count find themselves “frightfully lonely” on a Saturday night. Hitting the club provides the elixir to their woes. The four-minute adventure concludes with the ghouls winning a dance contest and Frankenberry coming away with the new moniker of Franken-Boogie.

Not wanting to be left out of the cereal box record craze, Post joined the fad. Super Sugar Crisp, like the Monster Cereals, had a cast of animated characters; the main character was a blue turtleneck sweater-wearing bear named Sugar Bear. Like any self-respecting breakfast cereal avatar, Sugar Bear had a band consisting of himself, Shoobee Bear, Doobee Bear, and Honey Bear. Specially marked Sugar Crisp products included several different Sugar Bear flexi-discs.

In a precursor of the Olympic Games, which had McDonald’s as a sponsor, Kellogg’s included on specific boxes of one of their cereals a “workout” record. Kids could first gorge on a bowl of sugary deliciousness, then endeavor to feel the burn with mascot Toucan Sam. Sam’s routine consisted of putting your hands on your head, touching your toes, marching in place, touching your nose, and hopping on one foot.

Post was determined to bring the child consumer along into their tween and teen years. The behemoth teamed up with popular young heartthrobs of the 1970s on several cereal box flexi-discs. Bobby Sherman racked up several singles on Post. Songs like “Easy Come Easy Go,” “It Boggles the Mind,” and “Bubblegum and Braces,” appeared across various product lines such as Cinnamon Raisin Bran and Honey-Comb.

Post continued their rock n roll partnerships with The Monkees. By 1970, the original broadcast run of the hit television series had finished, but the show retained its popularity. Post sponsored the Saturday morning repeats of the serial and released some of the most beloved songs by the group on the back of Frosted Rice Krinkles, Alpha-Bits, and Honeycomb. In total, there were three different records, each with four songs, some of which became household favorites like “The Monkees Theme,” “I’m Not Your Steppin’ Stone,” and “I’m A Believer.”

At the same time, Post began working with the cartoon rock band, the Archies. In 1969 and 1970, the brand released approximately 17 single-sided cereal box singles. These include hits like “Melody Hill,” originally found on the Super Sugar Crisp Box, “Archie’s Party,” found on Honeycomb, and “Love Light” on Alpha-Bits.

Sherman, the Monkees, and the Archies were just a build-up to what Post had up their proverbial breakfast bowl. In the early 1970s, they put out what may be the ultimate cereal box record releases: a series of flexi-discs featuring none other than The Jackson 5. Appearing on the back of Alpha-Bits, Super Sugar Crisp, and Frosted Rice Krinkles Cereals, the cut-outs included some of the Jackson 5’s biggest hits like “ABC,” “I’ll Be There,” and “Never Can Say Goodbye.”

The group also appeared in advertisements for Alpha-Bits, showing them piling out of a long white convertible before spelling out words made from the cereal, the jingle serving as a homage to the group’s hit “ABC.” A quick search on YouTube features a collector playing one of the 40-plus-year-old cardboard discs by the Motown stars. As time went on, the cereal box record, like most marketing gimmicks, went out of vogue, but their delicious history remains one of record collecting’s strangest seasons.

For more cereal-flavored fun, check out this “Cereal Killer Soundtrack” list created by Discogs user CykoMF.