This is a bit random for my "mommy-Blog"... but it is a subject close to my heart... in a way :) Does anyone remember the ART of the mix tape?? It was a process that required thought of song order and progression, balance of artists, fast and slow songs, set a mood... having to find that song that was JUST the right length to fill the end of the tape - you don't want a long silence or cut off song at the end! ...then there is the hunting down the songs you want... whether it be waiting all afternoon to record it off the radio (and ALWAYS having the dj talk over part of it or cut off the song!) or having the task of queuing up another tape *if you were fortunate enough to have a double tape deck* next to it and having the timing of pressing play and record at just the right time - and having to RE-queue if you missed it... it was a labor of love. Don't even get me started on vinyl to tape! :) Timing the needle to the record button is an art that I have perfected over the years :)
All of my mix tapes were labeled with special names to tell me the mood I was in. The others were labeled by number. One of the tapes I came across today in a box was mix # 14. I, of course, am playing it right now on my stereo and the pops and hisses of tapes and records are SO SATISFYING compared to crisp digital music... It sounds weird, but I am happy about it :) So far we have a radio dj interrupting my Beastie Boys song followed by what sounded like the next song on the radio. I loved when 2 in a row would play on the radio that you wanted while recording :) but back to the point :
Now the mix tape has evolved (or de-evolved in my opinion) to the mp3 disc... or just an ipod with little thought process or work involved... the fate of your music is left to a shuffle button. I am not a fan... "back in the day" if you recieved a mix tape from someone, you knew it was a thought-out & personally selected group of songs tailored to your tastes with you in mind... everything down to the order the songs are presented. When a tape was from ME, I KNOW this is true. A mix tape was almost a narrative of how I felt through music... whether it be a gift for someone telling me how I felt through lyrics or just a tape to pop in my boombox or later on in life, in my car, reflecting my mood. Pictured is an actual tape I came across today that is labeled with the secret code language my 2 best friends and I made up in middle school and that I can STILL read fluently... haha we made a language so no one else could read our notes or diaries. Someone looking through my notebooks after I die might wonder what the hell the books filled with symbols really mean... hehe Telling you what this says would be giving a KEY clue to our code, so no can do! I love nostalgia :) oh, and I forgot to mention our life changing discovery of taping over the holes in the top of a cassette tape would make you able to record over an actual released tape instead of purchasing new blank ones! After this discovery, most if not all of my tapes were made from unwanted cassette tapes found at yard sales :) UNLESS they were a gift, then I went all out and bought a new tape :)
Again with the tangents! Back to my point.Nowadays, if someone hands you a cd, it is usually an alphabetical chunk of music copied from the computer or other cd. Not to say that a person cannot go through their easily downloaded,uploaded, ripped or purchased on itunes or whatever music and select particular tunes to make a cd... all I am saying is that its not the same. VIVA LA CASSETTE TAPE! haha Call me a mix tape snob... meh I guess I am :)
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