I have no cassettes, nor cassette decks in my possession any longer, but seeing the rise of Cassette Store Day has made me wax nostalgic for some of my old tapes. The advent of the .mp3 was and is great, and has made getting music from all over the world easier than ever. BUT as a teen whose formidable music years were spent growing up with cassette tapes there will always be a special place for them in my heart (at least the ones that didn’t get all fucked up from sliding around on the floor of my Dad’s car)…
Yes, I love my iPod for playing music and making myself mixes, but when was the last time you sat down and spent hours making a mix for someone’s iPod? Remember when making a mix tape took thought, sharing it with someone wasn’t a crime (literally), and it actually meant something? I’ve given a million mix tapes, and they all meant something. We act like they don’t, but they do, and that’s what’s so fucking cool about them. There’s a sensuous thing going on where you don’t talk about it, but you know it, they know it.* Nights spent sitting on the floor of the bedroom surrounded by albums trying to find JUST the right song to followup the last and thinking way too much about whether the tape’s recipient will read too much (or not enough) into the selections you’ve made.
So with that I present a small list of my favorite cassette tapes owned or mixed (in no particular order)…
The Smiths: Live at The Oxford Apollo Theatre. Recorded on a boom box radio in my parent’s kitchen. (See link for more than you wanted to know about this one). My first exposure to the best band EVER.
Various Artists: The Josie Mix. I made a mix tape for my girlfriend (now wife) a few weeks into our relationship. I dug her a lot, but conveying that without coming off like creepy stalker guy was tough. I recall there being some Mathew Sweet, Teenage Fan Club and no doubt something “cheerful” from The Smiths and The Cure on that tape. It worked.
I’ve given a million mix tapes, and they all meant something. We act like they don’t, but they do, and that’s what’s so fucking cool about them. There’s a sensuous thing going on where you don’t talk about it, but you know it, they know it.
Iron Maiden: Live After Death. Growing up, I was exposed to metal at an early age due to having a brother seven years my senior who was super into it. One of the bands that, for some reason, spoke to me for some time– even after I found my “own” music– was Iron Maiden. I got the double vinyl edition of Live After Death for my birthday one year.
A few months later, when just copying the album on a tape wasn’t good enough, I went to the Record Den (known more for its penny candy and vacuum cleaner repair than “records”) in the small town where I grew up to get it on cassette tape… you know, for my Walkman. Years later I would of course buy it on CD. Before you ask, YES I also have it in .mp3 on my iPod (much to my amazement and Wifey’s chagrin).
The Smiths: Strangeways Here We Come. Yes, The Smiths… AGAIN. This is another album that I have had on tape, CD and of course .mp3. I clearly remember buying this tape at Camelot Music at Westmoreland Mall in Greensburg, PA. For months I rode the school bus with my trusty Walkman listening to tales of crashing down on crossbars with pain that could make “a shy bald Buddhist reflect and plan a mass murder,” dreaming that last night somebody loved me and trying to “please the press in Belgium.”
I loved that album (fuck the critics), even though it was bittersweet since the band had broken up prior to its release. Sigh. I swear I can remember how the tape smelled. (don’t ask).
Ride: Nowhere. This album came near the end of my cassette buying days but stands out for various reasons; the purchase of Nowhere clearly found me uninfluenced by siblings, friends or radio (yes, back then people could occasionally hear a good song on the radio if you were lucky enough to have an alternative or college station nearby).
Nowhere was also one of the first in a long, LONG list of albums bought purely based on things I had read in the alternative music press. No U.S. radio airplay, no MTV videos, no YouTube, no freaking Internet, just some words in a magazine (probably a copy Alternative Press or the NME). I still can’t believe I found it at the mall!
As soon as I got in my car I popped it into the tape deck and listened as fumbling bass hooks and clattering cymbals gave way to waves of shimmering guitars, fuzz and layers of deadpan, yet still harmonic, vocals.
I drove home with the volume maxed and the soon to be familiar feeling of knowing my music collection was better than 95% of all Americans (and still is). Many a song from Nowhere dubbed their way on to mix tapes that I would listen to on the way to my shit graphics job at The Pennysaver. I would sit in the parking lot filled with dread at the thought of walking in the building to paste-up clip art and layout crap ads for pizza places and the like.
Not too soon after that I moved on to buying only CDs, then to .mp3. I am still making mixes though. Just not like most people.
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With that, I say happy Cassette Store Day to you music lovers out there. I don’t have any cassettes and there are no stores here that sell them but thanks for the memories.