Pocket Rockers


Pocket Rockers was a brand of personal stereo produced by Fisher-Price in the late 1980s, aimed at elementary school-age children. It played a proprietary variety of miniature cassette which was released only by Fisher-Price themselves. Each tape had two songs in mono. Tapes were available from several pop stars, including Michael Jackson, Whitney Houston, Tiffany, or Debbie Gibson and even rock stars like Bon Jovi or The Bangles. They were designed to be as much of a fashion accessory as a music player, and for a brief period they were enough of a youth craze to be banned in some schools.
The advertisements featured a song in the tune of Creedence Clearwater Revival's "Down on the Corner".
The Pocket Rockers line was discontinued in 1991, following a sharp decline in sales. Today, the player and cassettes are sought after by collectors.

Recording technology

Inside the Pocket Rockers cartridge, the same 3.81 mm tape like in the Compact Cassette is used, running at same tape speed of 1⅞ Inch per second. The upper two tracks contain one mono recording, each. Winding the tape into a Compact Cassette, the recording is playing backwards. The lower two tracks were not used. The tape head is bottom top mounted Compact Cassette player head. The small Endless tape cartridge based on a technology invented by Bernard Cousino is operated by a belt-driven capstan. Unlike standard cassettes, the pinch roller is part of the cassette rather than the player.

List of featured artists and songs

;Bananarama
;The Bangles
;The Beach Boys
;Beastie Boys
;Chuck Berry
;Bon Jovi
;Boston
;Breakfast Club
;Belinda Carlisle
;The Champs
;Phil Collins
;Cutting Crew
;Danny & the Juniors
;Taylor Dayne
;Exposé
;The Fat Boys
;Genesis
;Debbie Gibson
;Bill Haley & His Comets
;Jan Hammer + Glenn Frey
;Whitney Houston
;Michael Jackson
;The Jets
;LeVert
;Huey Lewis and the News
;Lisa Lisa and Cult Jam
;Kenny Loggins
;Los Lobos
;Madonna"
;Mike + The Mechanics"
;Ray Parker, Jr. + The Monkees
;Tom Petty
;Pretty Poison
;David Lee Roth
;Bruce Springsteen
;Tears for Fears
;Tiffany
;T'Pau
;Wham!
;Kim Wilde