Child of the 80's - Mixtape Madness

                In a day when MP3’s are the common way people listen to music it is easy to forget the days of the classic mixtape.  Despite the advances in technology of the 21^st century it is still possible to find audio cassettes out there.  They may be increasingly rare now but in the 1980’s they were the go to mode of listening to music.  Do you remember?

                The audio cassette was invented in 1962 by Philips and progressively gained traction in the music genre during the 1970’s, battling it out with 8-track tapes.  However cassettes really took off in the 1980’s with the growing availability of the Sony Walkman, the portable cassette player.  It was introduced in the United States in 1980 and as of 2009 had sold more than 200 million units.  As important as the Walkman was for making ones music portable, there was another invention that changed the game just as much: the dual deck cassette recorder.

                
     This invention meant that no longer would people have to ‘only’ listen to whichever tape they had, or listen to the radio.  This invention meant that now we had the ability to take our favorite songs off of different tapes and make our own personal mixes.  The most widely used brands in the day were Maxell and Memorex.  This was a fabulous way to give gifts to friends or crushes back in the 1980’s.  A personal mixtape could say things that the old school love notes could not.  If you gave someone a tape with Foreigner’s ‘Waiting For A Girl Like You’ it meant more than ‘roses are red, violets are blue.’  Plus you could always write a little love note on the inside of the tape sleeve, or on the tape’s label.

                One aspect of the tape recorder in general, not just the dual deck, was the ability to record off of the radio.  This meant if you timed it just right you could possibly snag that track you’ve been dying to have without having to buy the entire cassette.  It was the 80’s version of digital piracy.  Still this was often thwarted when radio DJs would talk and talk over the musical intro to the song, or play some sort of station ID just before the song ended.  Getting a clean crisp recording or a favorite track was nearly impossible.  I can remember countless times I wanted to grab my favorite song off of Cape 104 or PIXY 103 using my SONY dual deck and having to make do with it being talked over at the beginning or end.   

                Every now and then when going through boxes in my mother’s basement I will come across old mixtapes that are now 20-25 years old.  I was still creating mixes until the turn of the 21^st century, this time ripping music from my compact discs.  
    
     According to StorageCraft.com it is thought that in pristine condition audio cassettes can have a lifespan of thirty years.  However ones that have received lots of playback tend to last half as long.  This is just a heads up for anyone with classic mixes that one day they may want to play on some retro tape deck.  They might work, or the tape might get caught in the gears of the player, and we all know that winding the tape back in using a pencil can be a pain in the ass!

                Thanks for reading and be sure to come on back for more bitchin’ 80’s memories! 

Click here for my last Child of the 80's Blog about living the Happy Meal life!