The Charm of the Cassette Tape

I remember when I was a kid I used to collect tape packs of the latest raves, you’d always be trying to get a copy of the rarest sets by your favorite DJs, you would get jealous of your mates tapes and would do swaps at school. You would keep your best tape in your pocket at all times in case there was an opportunity to stick it in a player and have a listen at any point during your day. This inevitably meant that you would always end up losing your best tapes.

We used to make tapes with special playlists on to give to girls to try and impress them, you’d do a little bit of art for the cover and if you were lucky you’d get invited round to listen to it with her. I once made a whole tape of just ‘Under the Bridge’ by the Red Hot Chilli Peppers played over and over again on both sides, I gave it to the fittest girl in the neighboring school and went on to enjoy many dinners and ‘homework’ sessions at her house.

I remember when you couldn’t drive down a by-pass without seeing at least one destroyed tape, blowing in the wind from the central reservation after it had been ejected from a car window.

Do kids still do that nowadays with mp3s? Share playlists on Spotify? Put together a YouTube playlist of tracks? It’s not the same is it. I think the hard copies of music used to bring people together, shared spirits meeting up to enjoy something they both loved. I buy most of my music in digital form now and I feel bad about that, but I am so happy that I was involved in the era when it wasn’t so easy to access your favorite music, it made it feel more special, it created magic moments amongst us. I feel sorry that the future generations will not experience that.

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