Musique pour Supermarché

Production

In 1983, Jean-Michel Jarre was asked to compose the background music for the supermarket-themed art exhibition Orrimbe show. Jarre agreed, recording Musique pour Supermarché (English: Music for Supermarkets) 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 Musique pour Supermarché 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. It instantly became one of the most expensive and collectible albums in history. 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 M. Gerard who, after a car accident, had woken up to the radio playing Jarre's track "Souvenir de Chine" (from Les Concerts en Chine); this album cost him 69,000 francs (10,500 euros).

The music today

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 broadcast on AM). Some of the music, however, has been reworked into subsequent Jarre albums, so the music from the album is not completely lost to the public.

The following tracks were reworked:

Track listing

The above timing is approximate, calculated from bootleg recordings, as the original record is not available.