Mix Tape

A good friend and I were talking about mix tapes over the past two days. The level of conversation was actually escalated to the point where I told (threatened?) her that I would make her a mix tape — not a CD, a playlist, a pre-loaded iPod or an SD card. A cassette tape with about 90 minutes of music on it.

Of course, this was seen as problematic. Not because it would have been considered a slap in the face to technological advancement. Nope. It was more along the lines of her not having anything to play the tape on in her home. I guess she got rid of the Sony Sports boombox in obnoxious yellow. (Yes — we have one.) Or, perhaps, she hocked her “auto-dub” double cassette stereo system years ago at a yard sale, not considering the future magic that would be Shiny’s mad cassette mixing skillz. So it looks like we’ll have to settle for a mix-CD instead.

But it got me thinking: where are my mix tapes? Back in high school and college I considered myself, in very modest terms, mix-master Shiny. Where other kids my age were excelling at organized sports, academic achievement and getting girls, I would reign supreme over the home stereo system, learning exactly where to cue up the right track. I was the prince of the pause button. The Duke of Dolby B. Lord of the cassette inserts I would print out to make everything look professional.

In the summer of 1992, I spent time at my college buddy Roberto’s home — he had a setup with multiple CD players (!) and was able to let me do some of my own mixing and cross-fading. And I made a few choice mixes that summer. I was so impressed with myself.

Anyway — I found them in my closet. And decided to pull them out to see how they held up.

Notice the sleek Bookman font lettering on the laser-printed insert? The slick smoothness of the clear Fuji cassette shell? The sticker with the number 6 placed strategically between those two gear-shaped hole things? That’s professionalism, people. Here – let’s take a look at another viewpoint:

Not only that, but I decided it was time to dust off the mix tape and take it for a spin today. I wanted to see how it held up over time.

Yes, I drive a ten year-old car that has a cassette player in it. Our past few vehicles have undergone surgery to receive CD (and later, MP3-CD) players in them, but we later realized that it was probably more practical to keep the cassette player and buy an adapter for use with an MP3 player. Today I removed that cassette adapter and pushed in a real cassette tape. What would happen? Would all the tape unravel and gum up the in-dash system? Would I have to resort to listening to Kriss Kross make me “jump, jump” without a full dynamic range?

Surprisingly it wasn’t that bad! The tape was very muffled at that exposed portion where it had been stored in a dusty box for over a decade. But once I got past that portion, it actually sounded quite good! Well, good enough to blast and not notice a huge difference from the CDs or MP3 player fodder I was used to. (I will say, however, that I could discern no difference whether or not Dolby was turned on or off.)

So — I listened to it in its entirety! Over the duration of a commute to work and a commute home (during rush hour in the rain). Here’s the playlist for Shiny Happy Mix Tape: Volume VI:

Side A:

1. Thompson Twins – Revolution
2. A-Ha – Take on Me
3. Extreme – Play With Me
4. Frankie Goes To Hollywood – (some extended dance mix of) Two Tribes
5. Tears for Fears – Watch Me Bleed
6. Don Henley – Boys of Summer
7. Public Enemy – Fight the Power
8. Roxette – Joyride
9. Midnight Oil – When the Generals Talk
10. Joe Jackson – Steppin’ Out

Side B:

1. Nine Inch Nails – Head Like a Hole
2. Prince – Sign O’ The Times
3. Howard Jones – Life in One Day
4. Aerosmith – Love in an Elevator
5. The Art of Noise featuring Tom Jones – Kiss
6. ABC – Be Near Me
7. Yes – Survival
8. Kriss Kross – Jump
9. Concrete Blonde – Tomorrow Wendy

I generated quite a few thoughts listening to this compilation for the first time in at least ten years.:

* Again, the sound quality wasn’t too bad. Then again, my hearing isn’t what it once was, so that may be why I think so. I remember when CDs came out and I was so amazed by the brilliance of the music. Or maybe I just wanted to be dazzled. Why the hell am I talking about CDs anyway? Moving along…

* How did we survive with fast-forward / rewind at turtle-like speeds? Seriously — I wanted to skip through a track to see what was next. And that alone took me a minute and a half. It’s similar to being used to your TiVo and then suddenly going back to a VCR — and realizing that it takes 20 seconds to fast forward through a 30 second commercial. So, on the most part, I was stuck just listening. Even through…

* Yes songs really drag out for a long, long time. I used to be a huge Yes fan, seeing them in concert several times from high school through college and beyond. (I might even see the current lineup this summer.) And perhaps my ADHD has become even more fine-tuned, or now we’re living in more of an “on-demand” society, but their songs all seem to be too fuckin’ long. Don’t get me wrong — their songs are classics. Masterpieces. But they simply can’t be listened to during bumper-to-bumper traffic.

* My taste in cover songs has really changed. I used to love the Thompson Twins’ cover of the Beatles’ “Revolution.” And now? I think it’s a lame excuse for a track to hook people to buy their album. This was the same album with “Lay Your Hands On Me.” Why didn’t I put that on instead?

* I can’t think of the song “Take on Me” without imagining the awesome (for its time) video in my head. Self-explanatory.

* Early Extreme rocks big-time. We’re talking about before the “More than Words” era. The song I chose is on the “Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure” soundtrack. Excellent, indeed! The song really holds up, while…

* Early Tears for Fears tries too hard to be The Cure. Or the other way around. But it’s pre-goth goth. The song I chose, “Watch Me Bleed,” is on an album called “The Hurting.” Then again — one of the other tracks is the original version of “Mad World” before it was covered for that Donnie Darko movie.

* Damn, the Cold War was kind of unnerving at one time, wasn’t it? The Frankie Goes to Hollywood song had little sound clips from fallout drill recordings. I was too young to remember most of that, but I do remember the video with Reagan and Andropov (I think?) impersonators beating the shit out of each other in a boxing ring. Oh — and there’s also Reagan impersonations in this version of the song. Remember when everyone was doing the Reagan voice? That could have made me millions in a different era…

* Midnight Oil was more politically aware than Bono ever was. The scary-looking bald dude even got a seat in Parliament! I wish they were recording more…

* Remember when we thought that Concrete Blonde was bad-ass because they had that strong-sounding woman lead singer? Now — just not so much. Sorry…

* Howard Jones should go on tour. I saw him on “Hit Me Baby One More Time,” a performance show which has has-been singers singing the hits of today as covers. I forgot which one he did, but he was stylin’. He looked really old, though. But in his defense — he is.

* Love In an Elevator is really quite a brilliant song when you think about it. The musical composition of it combined with the orchestral blends and vocal harmonies make it quite exceptional.

This is really a great mix-tape. I might give it away as a prize or something for a future contest…

So — anyone else have any mix-tapes from yesteryear? What songs were on it?