Jukebox Title Strip Colors?

Hi all -
Not sure if anyone can help me with this, but back in the days of actual jukeboxes, the title strips came in different colors (white, pink, orange, blue, green) does anyone know if there was a rhyme or reason for the different colors? If there's a song that comes in both white and pink, for instance, is one an earlier version than the other?

Thanks for any help you can provide..

 

Red/White always seemed to be the common color. Mostly the straight Top 40 stuff.
Green was Country
I've seen Orange of softer stuff, like John Denver.

Little LP strips used to mostly be a soft baby-blue, sometimes with an LP cover pictured.

No MAJOR standard, but these seemed to be a regular pattern over the years from what I've seen goin through old juke record racks.

Hope this was some help.

 

In terms of differing background colors, it was most evident on jukebox title strips printed by Sterling Title Strip Co., Inc., of Newark, NJ. As of the 1970's:
- "Hit Pop" was usually tangerine orange or magenta.
- "Hit C&W" (later "Hit C'try") was green.
- "Hit R&B" (later "Hit Soul") was blue.
- "Hit Oldy" was purple.
Up to 1970, there was also "Hit Adult." And also pre-1970, "Hit Pop" had tomato red and sunburst orange colors.

Star Title Strip of Pittsburgh, PA, on regular Top 40 pop records, was almost always red background.

In terms of fonts used for each title strip, I've long veered towards Sterling.

 

Cool -- thanks, guys -- really very helpful/interesting!

But, if you're looking at a strip from the early 1990s, for the same 45 one is in white/red and the other one is pinkish -- think there's is there any reason for the difference?

 

There were two major jukebox title strip printing companies: Sterling and Star. Sterling was the company to more strongly advocate color background strips according to music style: Green for Country; Blue for Rhythm & Blues; Orange for Easy Listening; Red for Hot Pop/Rock; and Lavender for Oldies. Sterling also made posters to explain the color system to jukebox patrons. Star also offered color strips on request but more often came with a white background and operators were encouraged to place transparent color acetate strips on top of new releases only to encourage play. There was considerable division back in the day as to which system worked best.

 

http://books.google.com/books?id=8C...nepage&q=sterling title strip company&f=false
pages 23-24

 

Green was also used for holiday selections

 

Yellow title strips were also used occasionally for comedy/novelty records. I recall the "Waffle House" songs all had yellow strips. I think yellow may have sometimes been used to identify Latin American music as well in the southwestern states. The whole "Program-In-Color" system seemed to decline by the 80s though, as records that crossed over between multiple radio formats caused confusion and the plain white background/red template strips became more or less the default style.

 

Holy cats that's fantastic information! Thanks, Nexus! You seem to be in the know -- did Star and Sterling do strips simlutaneously for the same singles? For instance, would 'Theme from Shaft' come in both blue (R&B, Sterling) and straight red & white for Star?

And, since I don't really remember, would jukeboxes routinely have crossover between the two styles? Meaning, would they include strictly the white/red Star strips or strictly the colored Sterling strips, or some combination thereof?

Thanks very much -- I've got an old jukebox face I've acquired and using as wall art -- right now I have an assortment of both, but would like to make it as authentic as possible.

 

I remember most of them having the standard sterling colors described above. I also however remember ones that would go out of their way to get you to notice them, for example I remember a wood grain one. No clue what song it was, doubt I could even read back then just knew the numbers for the songs I iliked, but I remember there being a wood grain strip.

 

The title strips were usually supplied by the one-stop (or record distributor) who bought them in bulk from Sterling or Star, so for the most part operators would just take whatever strip came with the records. Typical Sterling Strips: http://www.restrainingbolt.com/sw/misc/music_misc/sw-music-misc-02.jpg
A typical Star Strip: http://www.zappafrenzy.com/singles/..._Drafted-Ancient_Armaments-US/title_strip.jpg
Some examples of both: http://www.groovesvilleusa.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/JukeBoxStrips.jpg The top right strip in this set is a relatively rare example of a color Star Strip while the strip just below it is a white/red Sterling Strip. Most Star Strips had stars on each side of the artist's name. Sterling Strips generally had arrows pointing inward to the artist's name. There were indeed many special strips made for individual records, the last one of which I remember was Batdance by Prince (1989).

 

Here's a link to a lot examples of Prince title strips from both Sterling and Star. Included is the special Batdance strip as mentioned above, as well as many examples of the same titles issued as both blue and red strips: http://sleevographia2.free.fr/0PTUS07jb.htm

 

Thanks a ton, guys. I found your help quite interesting and most helpful. And, loved the link for the Prince strips. As a fan, '1989' was pretty hilarious. I'd love to find one of those. [Re-creating it's no fun.]

Seriously, much appreciated!

 

Wanna make your own? Go here. It's quite a handy l'il website for you juke owners....

http://www.mikesarcade.com/arcade/titlestrips.html

 

I landed here looking for an image of the Sterling logo. There is a promo envelope (Collector's Frenzy) that seems to show a girl, perhaps dressed in a carhop outfit. Any help?