Chu-Bops were the Hula Hoop of 1980! So declared Suzanne DuBeau of The Dallas Morning News.
That year customers at Peaches Records on Cole Avenue discovered if they really liked an album ... they could eat it. ChuBops were "pocket-size replicas of 33-rpm albums" made of bubblegum.
And Dallsites loved them. They became "a smash hit" at local record stores and convenience stores.
As DuBeau said, Chu-Bops were "the product of some genius who realized there's no limit to the ways one can market rock 'n' roll."
That summer "nine Chu-bop albums were on the market in Texas." Some of the ones sold at Peaches Records were "Abba's Voulez-Vous, Billy Joel's Glass Houses, the Spinners' Dancin' and Lovin' and other current chart-toppers."
These chewable 35-cent mini albums even came with "the lyrics of a hit song on the dust jacket."
Both kids and adults were hooked by Chu-Bops, according to to Jannelle Davis, a Peaches cashier at the time. "Everybody's curious," said said, pointing to the display by the cash register. "Most people think they're little records and don't notice the bubblegum inside. But they buy them anyway."
