Cassette Fetish

[ghostworks]

cassettes!

 

I was a kid in the 80's, and cassette tapes were the 'in thing' of the decade

 

I had albums, of course, and even then preferred them sonically - but tapes were portable, and you could record your own mixes

 

how could we not love them?

 

they were just as ground-breaking as iPods and streaming music services are today

 

in 1985, a slim case of cassettes and a Walkman was the coolest thing you could possibly hope to ever own

 

and yeah, cassettes eventually showed their limitations (we all dug tapes out of the car stereo, spools of black spaghetti all over the place)

 

all these years later, tapes are truly a 'dead technology' - they offer none of the audio superiority of vinyl, are much more fragile than CD's, and new music titles are no longer available in cassette format

 

SO WHY CAN'T I GIVE/THROW MINE AWAY?

 

it's hard to remember sometimes, but tapes were 'everything' to me once upon a time - my identity, my freedom, my escape, my creativity

 

so maybe it's nostalgia for those wide-open days of discovery when I used to buy tapes 'blind' (with no idea what the band sounded like I would buy based on cover art, song titles and price)

 

and maybe it's the sheer size of my collection (at least 300-400) and their largely pristine condition

 

I have a dual tape deck hooked up to a receiver in the basement, and every few months when I'm working on a project in the shop, I pop a tape in (mixed tapes I made in the early 90's are my current favorite) - even with the drop-outs and occasional garbled and warbly passages, they're fun to listen to

 

all of my 'serious' listening is done via the turntable in the studio or FLAC rips to the external HD on the PC

 

at times I've thought of taking all of my tapes and donating them, or giving them to a niece (complete with dubbing deck and a Walkman) but no one cares

 

so I keep them

 

they've now become fetish objects - 'things' that are neat to have, remind me of certain people/places/emotions, but have no literal value (even the rarest collectible cassettes I own aren't worth enough to part with them)

 

so - here are a few pictures of some of my tapes (and maybe a story or two about them)

 

and, if you still have any cassettes (and why) let's see/hear about them - got tape stories? let's have them

 

 

I TAPES

[ghostworks]

http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e129/4WAT/CASSETTE/CS_FORCE10.jpg

 

^ one of my 'blind buys', probably 1988 or so

 

I'll give you one guess as to why I picked this one up

 

you'll notice, I played the living hell out of this tape - it's full of weird AOR goodness, kind of a Queen-meets-Aerosmith via Supertramp thing going on

 

now remember, this was the pre-internet days

 

so although I loved Force 10 to death (my best friend became just as obsessed with it) there was no information about them - nothing

 

no magazines covered them, no music store employees had heard of them, nothing - Force 10 was my own 'private' band to champion and obsess about

 

they were a complete mystery ("why are they singing about pigs with wings and mobile homes?" "what are those grunting noises?") and I think that was part of the attraction that fostered my obsession with all things music that remains today

 

* I did eventually look Force 10 up, and found out they used to be called Russia, and had an album out under that name as well (which I tracked down on eBay for $1... incredibly, it's even better than the Force 10 tape)

 

 

[ghostworks]

http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e129/4WAT/CASSETTE/CS_GENESIS.jpg

 

^ bought... probably 1987

 

I have to keep reminding myself - there was no internet, no music magazines covering 'old' bands, no discographies (even in the libraries - I know, I asked)

 

the cover is about as disingenuous as it gets - Genesis in the mid 70's performing live

 

at the time, I was a huge Collins-era Genesis fan, so when I flipped it over my heart skipped a beat:

 

"The Serpent"? "Silent Sun?" "In Limbo?" what live songs are these? it must be something rare!!!

 

the music turned out to be their first album 'From Genesis To Revelation', repackaged to appeal to their current fans/popularity (Spain import)

 

you can imagine my horror when I heard a bunch of poorly produced hippie singalongs and moody beatnik skiffle (with Phil nowhere to be found)

 

this was one of the first tapes I'd ever seen with a sticker (black and silver) track listing on the cassette itself (I found out later it was mainly a European thing)

 

I never did like a damn thing off of it, but kept it in my collection because it was 'different', and certainly unique among my fellow Genesis fans

 

 

 

 

 

 

[ghostworks]

http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e129/4WAT/CASSETTE/CS_ZEP.jpg

 

^ pretty sure 1987

 

oh, how I 'hated' Zeppelin in the 80's

 

I was a Rush fan 1st, and hotly defended Rush against every other band

 

even when friends tried to play 'Heartbreaker' for me to show the obvious influence for 'What You're Doing', I would have nothing to do with them

 

it didn't help me like Zeppelin any that they were immensely popular at the time - from the football jocks to the tough guys to the girls who took French, everyone loved them (which meant - as an art/music geek - I instinctively hated them)

 

so, when I found this very odd copy of Led zeppelin II for .25 at a yard sale, I surprised myself by picking it up

 

I thought at the very least it was different - no one I knew had any tapes that were just a sticker affixed to an open plastic shell (with a pink! cassette inside)

 

I listened to it, and it didn't make much of an impression at the time (but yeah... ultimately I realized what an idiot I had been about Zeppelin when I heard 'III' and 'Houses Of The Holy')

 

 

 

 

[ghostworks]

http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e129/4WAT/CASSETTE/CS_FM.jpg

 

^ again, likely 1987

 

I remember the day I saw this tape at a used record store, I nearly had a heart attack

 

here was a band that I'd been hearing about from my idols (Rush) since I'd become a fan - they wore their t-shirts, toured and played volleyball with them, even had one of their members guest star on my favorite Rush album - but nobody else had ever heard of them

 

none of my friends, no one who worked at the record stores - nobody

 

so here was my chance - for .99 I was going to finally get to listen to this strange band that no one but Rush had ever heard of

 

at first pass, some songs seemed too simple for Rush to be impressed, but by side two I was a fan (still am)

 

of course, my Rush-fan friends thought this tape was the rarest and coolest thing they'd ever seen or heard once I put the Rush connection together for them

 

we probably listened to it more that winter than HYF

 

 

Edited December 11, 2011 by ghostworks

[Invisible To Telescopic Eye]

I suffer from a similar affliction...I still have all of my tapes BUT NO TAPE PLAYER!!!!

[ghostworks]

QUOTE (Invisible To Telescopic Eye @ Dec 10 2011, 07:36 PM)

I suffer from a similar affliction...I still have all of my tapes BUT NO TAPE PLAYER!!!!

the good news is that - should you ever want one - high quality players are a dime a dozen

 

I've found Technics, Onkyo and JVC decks literally on the side of the road for free

 

Sony, Aiwa, Denon - all found at flea markets and Salvation Army/Goodwill stores for under $20

 

it would cost me more to ship one to you than it cost me to pick up!

 

 

 

 

[1 of the 7]

I have about 75 or so myself. My boyfriend has a player in his truck and at his house, so we listen to them sometimes. The problem is that they're shedding more each time they get played, so they won't last much longer.

 

For some reason, I had a mass throwing out of VHS tapes (mostly Star Trek episodes I'd taped), but kept the music ones. I probably thought I'd have a cassette player longer than I'd have a VCR. The opposite turned out to be true.

[nappy2112]

I have around 300 cassettes and 300 albums all collecting dust.

[ucsteve667]

label release cassettes always sucked....so I have scant few in my vault.

But for me, when I bought an album I immediately recorded it onto a chrome or steel tape and put the record away. I also have a huge amount of RUSH and other boots on cassette, that I will soon transfer to digital with my new ufo202 RCA-USB interface...Now I just have to get a cassette deck again heh

[micgtr71]

I bought Hold Your Fire on cassette at a used record store so that I could listen to it in the car. I already had the lp but at 3.99 I couldn't pass it up.

[Cyclonus X-1]

Cassettes were the way to go when I was a little kid, so I used to own a bunch of them. However, since I had even worse taste in music back then than I do now, most of those albums were quite awful and have long since been disposed of. I've held on to a few of the good ones, though--Rocks and Toys in the Attic come to mind. I do still have a cassette player, but that's largely because some of the stuff I used to come up with on my own is recorded on tape, so if I ever feel like subjecting myself to that old racket for nostalgia's sake, I can go ahead and do so.

 

Anyway, I've enjoyed the tape stories you've posted, ghostworks. Cool thread.

Edited December 11, 2011 by Cyclonus X-1

[Bastille Dave]

back in the late 70's/early 80's my music purchases were split down the middle 50/50 buying cassettes and vinyl. I wish I'd have bought all vinyl, mainly because cassettes just dont age gracefully no matter how clean you keep 'em. I still bought cassettes even up to about 2003, but only from thrift stores for like 25 cents and only hard to find stuff, and then I'd convert it to CDR.

I still have hundreds of tapes I just can't seem to get rid of either.

[Hatchetaxe&saw]

I have 500 cassettes, They're in my bedroom in my mom's house, but I can't throw them away.

 

And the mixtapes are gold. Talk about snapshots.

[Tony R]

I rarely bought releases on cassette, I preferred vinyl, but loved to make mix tapes for personal listening. Thrown them all out now except for a few 70s Rush boots. Edited December 11, 2011 by Tony R

[Invisible To Telescopic Eye]

I did what a lot of you did and buy on vinyl but record to cassette and I agree as well that time is their worst enemy. About 10 years ago I found a copy of Marillion-Clutching At Straws I had purchsed in '87 and tried to play it on a cheap cassette player (I no longer have) and it started to play really slooooowly and eventually just shredded which sucked 'cuz it was the only copy I had.

 

The first time I realized I was wearing out a cassette was Signals in '82. My original copy started playing slightly more slowly in Digital Man and I realized, "HOLY SHIT!!!...I'm wearing this tape out!!!!" That happened many times with my tapes.

Edited December 11, 2011 by Invisible To Telescopic Eye

[danielmclark]

I have a few dozen cassettes left, maybe... 50? 60? Quite a few mix tapes in there. A few months ago I dragged them out and recreated the mixes as iTunes playlists. Found most everything and acquired what I didn't already have digitally.

 

Then iTunes crashed and wiped them all out.

 

But I still have my cassettes

[TullSkull]

Did the same as many did. Got the music on LP and recorded them to the tape, made many tapes of mixes I wanted to hear, many are kind of mood tapes. Got like 300 of them and they are in the shop just sitting.

[ucsteve667]

QUOTE (Tony R @ Dec 11 2011, 05:35 AM)

I rarely bought releases on cassette, I preferred vinyl, but loved to make mix tapes for personal listening. Thrown them all out now except for a few 70s Rush boots.

Mix tapes were an artform, and I still have many of my old ones. Every now and then Ill do an hr of MY SHOW with the set list taken from such mixes. They seem to really hold the sentiment from the time they were made. My whole show is pretty much built on that format I guess

[ghostworks]

http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e129/4WAT/CASSETTE/CS_ASIA.jpg

 

^ I found this one well after my cassette-playing days were over - 2001 perhaps?

 

always loved that first Asia album, so when I spied this version (Korea import) for $1 at a yard sale I picked it up just for the 'cool' factor

 

I'm a graphic designer (among other things) by trade, so odd/unique packaging is sometimes enough to get me interested, regardless of what's inside

 

I love the fact that this tape was presented in a cardboard slipcase, with full-bleed color graphics on the front, as well as color title panels on both sides - a fantastic packaging job all around (far superior to the standard J-card design of US cassettes)

 

I don't think I've ever played it

[ghostworks]

QUOTE (ucsteve667 @ Dec 11 2011, 03:21 PM)

Mix tapes were an artform

and a love letter and a lifeline and an inside joke and...

 

absolutely ('The Mix Tape' should probably be its own tread )

[danielmclark]

QUOTE (ghostworks @ Dec 11 2011, 02:21 PM)

http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e129/4WAT/CASSETTE/CS_ASIA.jpg ^ I found this one well after my cassette-playing days were over - 2001 perhaps? always loved that first Asia album, so when I spied this version (Korea import) for $1 at a yard sale I picked it up just for the 'cool' factor I'm a graphic designer (among other things) by trade, so odd/unique packaging is sometimes enough to get me interested, regardless of what's inside I love the fact that this tape was presented in a cardboard slipcase, with full-bleed color graphics on the front, as well as color title panels on both sides - a fantastic packaging job all around (far superior to the standard J-card design of US cassettes) I don't think I've ever played it

I hated the J-card format. I would have much rather had cardboard slipcases like we got with "cassingles" or imports like this one.

[ucsteve667]

QUOTE (ghostworks @ Dec 11 2011, 03:23 PM)

QUOTE (ucsteve667 @ Dec 11 2011, 03:21 PM) Mix tapes were an artform and a love letter and a lifeline and an inside joke and...   absolutely ('The Mix Tape' should probably be its own tread ) all about the flow....

[ghostworks]

http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e129/4WAT/CASSETTE/CS_YES.jpg

 

^ 1984, definitely

 

(am I really going to admit to owning this? hell, at this point why not... )

 

as a long-time Yes fan, I couldn't get enough of 90125 back in the day

 

I bought this the day it came out, just like so many other tapes back then - on name brand alone

 

and yeah - I played it a half-dozen times to convince myself it was as awful as I thought it was

 

(certainly nothing like the quality and variety of remixes we've had for the last 15 years)

 

ironically, I appreciate Trevor Horn's work on these songs much more today than I did then (nowadays these mixes almost sound contemporary):

 

Leave It (Hello/Goodbye Mix) - 12 Inches On Tape

[Hatchetaxe&saw]

QUOTE (ghostworks @ Dec 11 2011, 08:35 PM)

http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e129/4WAT/CASSETTE/CS_YES.jpg ^ 1984, definitely (am I really going to admit to owning this? hell, at this point why not... ) as a long-time Yes fan, I couldn't get enough of 90125 back in the day I bought this the day it came out, just like so many other tapes back then - on name brand alone and yeah - I played it a half-dozen times to convince myself it was as awful as I thought it was (certainly nothing like the quality and variety of remixes we've had for the last 15 years) ironically, I appreciate Trevor Horn's work on these songs much more today than I did then (nowadays these mixes almost sound contemporary): Leave It (Hello/Goodbye Mix) - 12 Inches On Tape

My cassette of 90125 nearly had a permanent residency in my Aiwa walkman(how pissed must Sony have been when we all called our many-branded portable cassette players "walkmen". Ah, the chauvinism! No walkwomen! Up the '80's!).

What type of walkman did you guys have? I loved Aiwa. And it had a rewind button. My earlier ones hadn't, just FF....FFS.

 

 

And Dolby Noise Reduction. It took hiss out alright, and everything else. A complete waste of time.