Sir Mix-a-LotSorry I've been such a truant lately about posting! Where do the weeks go?

I was cleaning out my closet this weekend, and I finally got rid of some old mix tapes I'd had since junior high.

Do you guys remember those? I used to be the queen of mix tapes in the late 80s to early 90s.

This was back before cars had cd players. So most of my friends had cds, but we would transfer our favorite songs to cassette tapes so we could listen to them anytime we wanted.

Yeah, imagine that!!

It was especially cool if you had a Walkman, or a tape player in your car. You were totally rad!

We didn't have portable cd players, or mp3s, or iTunes. If you didn't like a song on a tape, you had to fast forward through it! And if you liked a song a lot, you couldn't just hit the "Repeat" button. You had to rewind!

We made mix tapes for all occasions. I remember getting a couple from my friends for my 13th birthday.

A boy who liked me in high school made me a mix tape, full of romantic songs.

Another boy I rejected made me a mix tape, full of sad and angsty songs.

When my grandfather died and my dad had to fly back to Asia for his funeral, I made him a mix tape full of his favorite show tunes and Carpenters songs, to listen to on the long and lonely plane ride.

When I went on a road trip with my college roommates, we made several mix tapes in anticipation of the trip. There are certain songs from the mid 90s that evoke memories of those trip, when I hear them on the radio now.

This weekend I dug out those old tapes, marked with that strip of paper with my childish handwriting on them, with labels like Spring Break '97 and THB's Summer Mix 1988. They were covered in dust and unplayable now (since I don't even have a cassette player in my home anymore), I did feel a small sense of loss.

Thankfully, I can just download those songs off the Internet! But after I play them, they disappear into nothing.

As opposed to these creaky old tapes that stack up and gather dust and occupy space in more than just my memory.

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10 Comments:

I recently started digitizing my mix tapes from my teenage & student years... I can only do it at my parent's house because I don't own a cassette player either any more, so I started doing it during xmas, but there are soooo many and the quality is terrible ;)

By  Len, at 5:33 AM  

I have a ton of those mix tapes too and I'd not part with them for the world! I think my fave is from spring of 1990, had a lot of sad songs on it, but still, I love to listen to them and know that I'm so happy now!

xo

By  Jannie Funster, at 1:28 PM  

When I stumbled across all of my old mix tapes, I had to go out and buy a tape deck just so I could spend the weekend in the garage listening to all the old "jams." What really amazed me was the sheer amount of music I had apparently taped off of the radio, since nothing I listen to these days even plays on a radio station. :)

By  Stuck, at 8:27 AM  

i missed that whole phenomena. i have some tapes that for some reason I hold onto even tho I haven't had a tape player in 6 or 7 years.

By  Pearl, at 5:29 PM  

Have you heard Sarah Vowell's "This American Life" story about mixed tapes? I think you'd like it.

By  Anonymous, at 11:48 PM  

Did you say "Totally Rad?"

By  Melman, at 10:05 AM  

i remember those mix tapes. it's crazy how things have changed.

By  maria, at 12:59 AM  

i love my mix tapes. i don't think i could ever part with them, even though i don't even have anything to play them on anymore!

By  * meish *, at 1:24 PM  

You didn't call yourself THB in 1988! You used to blog as Lotus. :-)

My first car had an 8-track player in it. I moved to the big time and installed a cassette deck, but had a stereo with a CD player in my room. I don't like the music I put on mixed tapes anymore.

By  Todd, at 9:48 AM  

Ah, I had the best mix tapes. I don't know where they are. My father still has a tape player though.

By  Blonde Justice, at 8:30 PM  

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