Jean Michel Jarre 
Music for Supermarkets

In 1983, Jean Michel Jarre was asked to compose the background music for the supermarket-themed art exhibition Orrimbe show. Jarre agreed, recording Music for Supermarkets (French: Musique pour Supermarche) between February and May 1983. The exhibition, created by some young artists and friends of Jarre, ran at the Jean-Claude Riedel gallery between 2 and 30 June 1983, and the works of art on display would be auctioned off afterwards. Inspired by this, Jarre decided that the music accompanying the exhibition could be a one-off piece of art as well, and thus Music for Supermarkets would have only a single, unique copy pressed, to be auctioned for charity at Hotel Drouot. After the exhibition had ended, master tapes and plates were destroyed, making this the only existing copy in the world.
(In the inside cover, 11 polaroid photos show the step-by-step creation of the disc, leaving one slot so that the final owner could add his photo with the album. )
The album owner was first kept anonymous, but later revealed to be a certain M. Gerard, who after a car crash woke up to the radio playing Jarre's track "Souvenir of China" (from the Concerts in China album) this album cost him 69,000 francs (10,500 euro). 
As of 2007, the album has been sold two times,its current owner is unknown
Shortly after its sale, the album was played in its full length on Radio Luxembourg. Jarre launched the album with the words "Piratez moi!" (Pirate me!), and bootlegs of the radio broadcast do exist, although at a very poor quality (the radio station was an AM station). Some of the music, however, has been reworked into subsequent Jarre albums, so the music from the album is not completely lost for the public.
The following tracks were reworked: M.F.S. part 2: Used in "Fifth Rendez-vous part 3" on "Rendez-vous" (1986). M.F.S. part 4: Used in "Blah-Blah Cafe" on "Zoolook" (1984). M.F.S. part 6: Used in the second half of "Diva" on "Zoolook" (1984).

Release Info

Label:          Disques Dreyfus
Country:      France
Released:   1983
Genre:        Electronic

​Estimated:$9000