It was so you could play 33s and 45s and make them sound funny.
When I was a teen, I bought a phonograph record of Danny Davis and the Nashville Brass. Went home and put it on the record player and was blown away by their playing. I had never heard anything like it. I thought, “These guys are the greatest ever!”
I played that album all the way thru before I realized I was playing a 33 1/3 album on 78 rpm…🤪
Remember playing records backwards?