With vinyl sales still on the rise (up an impressive 19% over 2011), the format’s flimsy plastic cousin, the flexi-disc, is also experiencing new signs of life. San Francisco’s Pirates Press resurrected flexi-discs in 2010, manufacturing nearly 400,000 to date using new proprietary technology that offers a higher quality product.

That’s a notable shift, as readers of a certain age will likely have some familiarity with flexi-discs of yore. Cheap to produce, flexi-discs were once popular as promotional one-offs. I remember having several in my record collection as a kid, including two from fast-food giants McDonald’s and Kentucky Fried Chicken.

I don’t remember what was on the flexi-disc from McDonald’s, but I still have the latter platter, served up by KFC in 1986. “Doin’ It Right” featured Chicago Bears running back Walter Payton, riding high after his team’s Super Bowl XX win. “Sweetness” was certainly no singer — Payton talks his way through most of the song — but “Doin’ It Right” isn’t a total foul from the late football Hall of Famer, The melody reminds me of New Edition’s “Mr. Telephone Man” and the sax bit recalls another ’80s hit I can’t place at the moment.

Maybe you’ll want to cue “Doin’ It Right” at your Super Bowl party on Sunday, though Payton’s performance will no doubt pale in comparison to the glitz and glam that Beyoncé plans to bring to the big game:

While much renewed attention is being paid to vinyl, cassettes are also gaining traction in some circles. Even Popservations’ top album of 2012, UK synthpop artist Bright Light Bright Light‘s eponymous debut, was released on cassette. Though it’s too soon to say how much further such re-adoption will go (are 8-tracks next?), it’s cool to see analog music experiences ascendant again in the digital age.