Various Artists: Survival Sampler: Excerpts from the Survival Sampler Cassette. US promo, June 1984 (Warner Bros. PRO-A-2161). Design: Michael Hodgson. Photograph: Kevin Stapleton.
Two days (!) after "Two Tribes" hit #1 in the UK, Warner Bros. released a cassette-only compilation of UK/Aussie artists (The Smiths, The Cure, Depeche Mode, China Crisis, et al.), packaged with a special twist: it came in a pull-top canister that was styled after the sort of survival rations one might find in, say, a fallout shelter. This six-track vinyl "sampler from the sampler" was issued for promotional purposes, and its cover art features a bullet list of early-'80s signifiers. Apparently nothing moves units like a waiflike post-holocaust hottie, staring a cassette like it's an object from another world, despite the fact that she has a Walkman strapped to her belt, clearly retains access to competent nail care, and is coiffed with a mane that would do Tina Turner proud. (Perhaps the tape could be used to bind wounds, or be woven into a snare to capture small, radiation-scarred mammals...but she's going to have a hell of a time playing the thing, since the EMP from the nukes probably scrambled it.)
