wnyc.org / 93.9fm / am 820

Comments

• [1] Toby June 19, 2008 - 12:01PM

  Making a mix CD with iTunes is quite easy, so it is an advance that makes the whole process easier. Although, I can't remember the last time someone gave me a mix CD.

  
  
• [2] Brian from Maplewood, NJ June 19, 2008 - 01:46PM

  I made tons of mixes for friends, and some for people that I wanted to be more than friends with (the ultimate love letter). For me, the format of creating a cassette mix added a wonderful emotional layer to crafting a message. Not only did you have to listen to the song in real-time as it dubbed onto the cassette (giving you time to carefully consider the lyrics and the intended message), but you had to sequence your selections so that the 45 minute tape flip point would end on a note that was both musically and emotionally logical. You could tell a story from beginning to end. The listener (hopefully) knew that the entire sequence was crafted with care, just for them. That nuance faded a bit with the drag-'n-drop nature of CD creation (although you could still put together personalized artwork for the case). For me, the magic of creating mixes was lost completely with the mp3 playlist. Unless you intersperse your voice between tracks, there's no sense of personalization involved. If there's nothing tangible in the presentation, then how do you make the connection?

  
  
• [3] B.C. from Bronx June 19, 2008 - 02:10PM

  I received my first mixtape in junior high. It was from a young girl who was infatuated with me. Unfortauntely, I was "dating' her best friend.

  The best way the young girl could try to show her affection for me was through the mix tape. She handed it to me as we ended the school day.

  It was a recording of Richard Marx ballads with her crying in the background. (I guess she taped the songs of those "black platters" called albums and she cried on the microphone.)

  To this day, I still get the creeps hearing any Richard Marx song.

  
  
• [4] AR from Brooklyn June 19, 2008 - 02:12PM

  I received so many mixed tapes from boys (mostly friends who wanted more). These tapes turned me onto new music and also gave me insight into the workings of their emotionally reserved authors.

  But perhaps the best mixed tape I received the summer I was torn between two boyfriends (a new boyfriend and an ex who'd wooed me back). The new boyfriend made me a tape filled with songs relating to our situation- Neil Young DOWN TO THE WIRE a rare Bobby Womack version of CLOSE TO YOU.

  Today ...I'm with neither guy but the tape lives on! I think if it were made online it wouldn't be as meaningful. It's the handwriting on the tape, the sense that this person personally pulled out their music thinking of me... It just wouldn't be the same.

  
  
• [5] Gabriel from NYC June 19, 2008 - 02:12PM

  What now? The mixtape is gone and nothing to my knowledge has successfully replaced it. What do kids do now? Even if someone made you a mix CD once you put it into your music program the mix is gone pretty much gone.

  
  
• [6] Rich from Ues June 19, 2008 - 02:13PM

  fiona maazel. As in Lorin?

  
  
• [7] John from Bklyn June 19, 2008 - 02:18PM

  I have a great mix-tape from 1985. It was given to me by my Goth-y girlfriend at the time. It has some great music that capture the era perfectly; Siouxsie, Cure, Japan, Bauhaus, Sonic Youth, etc. I STILL listen to it! If it was replaced by a CD or iTunes mix, it just wouldn't be the same. I love the low-fi hiss and crackles. It also brings back fond memories and reminds me that I was once involved with a fun and interesting person. It also has a great hand made collage cover.

  
  
• [8] nk from brooklyn June 19, 2008 - 02:18PM

  I'm curious about how many contributers are married or have significant others and if their significant other is aware of how nostalgic they are to these mixed tapes or their first romances.

  
  
• [9] tim from brooklyn June 19, 2008 - 02:19PM

  On a happier note, my mix tapes finally worked and I married the girl of my dreams, and for a recent birthday I made CD versions of those old tapes for use in her new car ;)

  
  
• [10] Meghan from NYC June 19, 2008 - 02:21PM

  I made many a mix tape. Spent hours spreading out my CD's out and finding the right flow from song to song. I have a lot of my old tapes and for the ones I lost, i have been trying to recreate them. They have many memories of driving around and listening to a specific order of songs. To this day, when i hear a song come up, i immediately expect a specific song to come next.

  
  
• [11] molly from manhattan June 19, 2008 - 02:22PM

  I love that you are doing a show on this topic. I love mix tapes-making them and receiving them. I still have all of the tapes ex boyfriends made me. They are the most amazing 'pick me ups', if I ever need to feel cared for.

  There is a great book out there called "Love is a Mix Tape", by the music editor of Rolling Stone. It's a beautiful love story, told using mix tapes, about his relationship with his wife. Everyone should read it.

  
  
• [12] Patrick from Salt Lake City, UT June 19, 2008 - 02:22PM

  Perhaps I'm not a purist of the mix tape realm. I believe the allure and romance of a mix tape/ CD/ playlist is the the emotion involved in its creation. It encompasses what you feel at any given moment and can reflect the fabric of the relationship as it changes. Sometimes, it can influence the direction of the relationship. Making a CD allows you to do that easier, and more frequently, thus sharing your feelings and sentiment more readily. Seems good to me.

  
  
• [13] al oof from brooklyn June 19, 2008 - 02:22PM

  i don't know why mixtapes are so associated with romance. i made mixtapes for buddies and they did for me. i don't like the appropriation of this platonic pastime by annoying googly eyed folks.

  
  
• [14] margaret from fort greene, brooklyn June 19, 2008 - 02:24PM

  i used to give mixed-tapes to everybody - lovers & friends alike. they were a great b'day gift. now i sometimes give mixed cds. but my best mixed tape memory is the tape swap i did with my upstairs neighbor in the West Village. i was in my late 20s and Evan was a mere 6, but he gave me some kickin' mixed tapes and he tells me that the tapes i made for him were like his music bible. now he's 20 and we're still exchanging music. a very special friendship started from a mixed tape!!

  
  
• [15] Zak from Brooklyn June 19, 2008 - 02:24PM

  I disagree with all the anti-CD sentiment. To be frank, in spite of my iPod I still listen to CD mixes as mixes.

  I dated a woman for a year and a half in college and we broke up because I graduated a year earlier than she did. Through convoluted circumstances--true love? nostalgia?--we ended up back together some two years later, her in Seattle, me in Chicago. Our reunion was wonderful and it was capped by a birthday gift she sent me: a mix CD.

  Entitled "If Our Relationship Were A Movie Some of These Songs Would Be on the Soundtrack." Opening with "Anyone Else But You" by the Moldy Peaches (this was SEVERAL YEARS pre-Juno) and closed with the song "They Were You" from the musical The Fantasticks. In between was an almost exact musical mapping of our relationship.

  Although the relationship ended in flames one Thanksgiving Day in an East Village bar, this CD remains a very precious thing to me.

  
  
• [16] hollyamber from manhattan, ny June 19, 2008 - 02:26PM

  I made my first mixed tape for myself. I was in the 6th grade and really, REALLY loved the song "Eye of the Tiger." I put a blank tape in my little pink bombox and hit record every time the song came on the radio. I filled the entire tape with the song; it took me months to finish the tape!

  Then, to the chagrin of my mother and neighbors, I put my bombox in the front basket of my banana bike and rode around the block playing the tape with the song repeating over and over. I still have the tape, but my husband's put an embargo on it... I wonder why?

  
  
• [17] thatgirlinnewyork from manhattan June 19, 2008 - 02:27PM

  i always made mixed tapes for guys i was sweet on. call me a big fan of lo-fi/analog sound, too--i don't find doing mixes with itunes or my cds as fun as i did with vinyl.

  i made mixes for myself, and still have some that haven't oxidized. they're like little time capsules of earlier days, and vinyl gone by (via a jealous ex-boyfriend who took all my vinyl!). oy.

  i am guilty of taking back mixes i made for an ex when we broke up years back. it was like re-thinking the sentiments i recorded him every valentine's day.

  i still think it's the ultimate romantic gesture, and have done them for my husband and friends who i want to turn on to my music.

  
  
• [18] Bruce Katlin from Astoria, NY June 19, 2008 - 02:30PM

  It's 1974, I was in the 11th grade. My heart was just crushed by my girlfriend Linda. So, I created my self-loathing, sobbing, the world has ended tape which included the following tracks:

  ~Neil Young's "Tell Me Why"

  ~America's "Horse with No Name"

  ~The Rolling Stones "Sympathy For the Devil

  ~Neil Diamond "Sweet Caroline"

  ~Led Zepplin "Dazed and Confused"

  ~James Taylor "You Can Close Your Eyes"

  ~Jackson Browne "Late For The Sky"

  ~ Suicide Is Painless" by Johnny Mandel for MASH

  
  
• [19] thatgirlinnewyork from manhattan June 19, 2008 - 02:31PM

  and there was a distinct art in mixing the selections over merely slapping together a list of songs you wanted people to hear. loved the challenge of finishing each side of the cassette without cutting anything off!

  
  
• [20] tad from brooklyn, ny June 19, 2008 - 02:32PM

  i am 23 years old and i have been making mix tapes since i was in the 5th grade. when i first met my fiancée i used to make her super elaborate mix tapes with little books and extensive liner notes. today i still make mixes and try to do them the old fashioned way, but a lot of people don't have tape players.

  
  
• [21] thatgirlinnewyork from manhattan June 19, 2008 - 02:33PM

  my husband reminds me that he serenaded me with (paid for!) selections from itunes when we first met. it was, indeed, so exciting to receive a song in my email inbox every time. sigh!

  
  
• [22] KJ from NJ June 19, 2008 - 02:33PM

  I have tapes from my late husband (who died when I was 28, he was 29, 3 1/2 years ago) that I'm afraid to play for fear they'll break. We started dating when we were 19 and 20. A variety of classical, show tunes, soundtrack songs, Billie Holiday, and rock is to me, a normal mix tape from that era of my life. I have a strong affection for those tapes we made each other, including the sometimes less than skillful edits between songs. At this point, I'm happy to have the physical tapes and his handwriting on the jackets, even if I never play the tapes again, and just remember them in my memory.

  And yes, my new husband does know I have them, and has absolutely no problem with it. :)

  
  
• [23] Mike Crofton from New Canaan, CT June 19, 2008 - 02:38PM

  Your mixtapes discussion brings to mind John Cusack's "High Fidelity", based on a novel by Nick Hornsby. All time classic and not to be missed.

  
  
• [24] frank from boston June 19, 2008 - 02:39PM

  there is no comparison to cd's and tape. cd's are too easy, they don't have the labor built in to show how much it meant.

  If a casset tape is the hand baked cake, where the butter and sugar were creamed by hand,

  the cd is a hostess cupcake, stolen from a corner store

  that said, the vast majority of tapes I made were because I loved the music and wanted to share that with the person I loved, friends or lovers and rarley expected the music to convey anything other than great music.

  tapes are also ephemeral, and therefore to be treasured more, they couldn't be endlessly duplicated, and enjoying them was all the more intense, the perfect tape you made for this summer probably would fall apart by next summer.

  that said, I tend to make cd's these days, because hey, its so much easier and they last better

  
  
• [25] Zak from Brooklyn June 19, 2008 - 02:43PM

  I think people are grossly over-romanticizing outmoded technology. Vinyl still has a purpose, b/c it sounds great, even if it doesn't last. But tapes sound like muddled crap and they always have. I don't think a CD is any less of a lovingly made thing as long as the thought behind it was there.

  
  
• [26] Kyle Supley from Brooklyn June 19, 2008 - 02:44PM

  At 27 years of age, I caught the tail end of the mix tape era, remembering many of the girls trading them around in Elementary School and Junior High, but my favorite memory of mixed tapes is actually not quite a personal story, but during Junior High I was addicted to visiting the local Salvation Army and found a few mix tape gems that had been cast away by their original owners, much to my excitement and nostalgic pleasure. One tape in particular was titled (written in colored marker) "Hot hits of 1984!" Yes, complete with the exclamation point. I loved the tonality the cassette had as it sounded as it had been left to bake on a few too many Corvette dashboards. Also as I was fully invested in discovering forgotten songs from my early childhood at that time (I was 16), this tape acted as a perfect time capsule - re-introducing me to song I had heard as a young boy. Songs such as "The Glamorous Life," "Sunglasses at Night," and "Eyes Without a Face." I never realized that those tapes would be seen less and less. Glad to see this site has been made for other nostalgia aficionados.

  
  
• [27] Mike June 19, 2008 - 03:36PM

  Cassette from my Ex really is great. We've been doing our part to revive the the digital version of the mixtape over at Mixwit for a few months now. Check us out: htttp://mixwit.com