Mini Review: Mix Tape by Thurston Moore
Ok, here’s how this post was born. A bit ago I posted on some Joy Division shoes. Matthew R Walker posted an interesting comment that led me to his blog. Searched around for the post he referenced and then spent a little more time checking out his postings (lotta interesting stuff there) and came across this beauty on an old mix he’d made - where he lovingly puts the playlist with a description of each piece and why it was there. Then at the bottom of that he puts a link to this Thurston Moore piece on Wired where he talks about mixtapes and how stupid the recording industry is. That reminded me of a book I’d seen and wanted to get several years ago at St. Mark’s Bookshop but by the time I went in to actually buy it, they were already out of ‘em. Fortunately after that trail of webiness, I found it and Amazon Primed it to myself. So awesome.
That Wired piece is actually the introduction to the book (or, I suppose, the introduction to the book could have been taken from the Wired piece, I’m really not sure). The book, fully entitled: “mix tape, the art of cassette culture” is a compilation of photos (or xeroxes?) of various people’s mix tapes. Each person provides text according to their personality, some provide very little, other’s provide a song by song analysis of what was on the tape and many others provide a story about them at the time they made the tape and the reason why. The girl or boy they were trying to impress. You know… why we all made mixtapes back then. Some people in the book I know, David Choe, Ryan McGuiness, DJ Spooky - lots of others I didn’t know who they were, but this personal trip into their past was really amazing. I don’t know who Jim O’Rourke is but I fully relate to putting a weak track on a tape for a girl, just because you know she liked it and then sort of regretting it. Ahh, those were the days.
The book is really great if you can remember a time when you spent hours on end figuring out just the right songs and just the right order to put music in. If you had determined that pressing pause instead of stop when you changed tracks would give you a smoother transition. Personally, I was never much for art on the tape cover preferring a basic track listing, but I know many others who’d make it look just so. It was kind of momentous to slave over a mix, write up the cover and then hand over that tape to the girl in question. You wouldn’t know if she dug it or not until the next day! Now, it’s different what with playlists and MP3’s. But the love and soul behind a good mix stays the same.
I think Thurston Moore was so right when he said this:
Once again, we’re being told that home taping (in the form of ripping and burning) is killing music. But it’s not: It simply exists as a nod to the true love and ego involved in sharing music with friends and lovers. Trying to control music sharing - by shutting down P2P sites or MP3 blogs or BitTorrent or whatever other technology comes along - is like trying to control an affair of the heart. Nothing will stop it.
October 6th, 2007 at 11:50 am
Hey there! The book sounds amazing and I am going to try and hunt it down. I am with you regarding Thurston Moore’s comments, that there is a “true love” of music implicit in making tapes, CDs or in some forms of file sharing. Music is so intensely personal and formative to our identities that the desire to share is a natural outpouring of this. When I discover a musical gem my first instinct is to always share it with others so they can experience it as well
This is something that the RIAA doesn’t seem to get ( and why the have filed & won a lawsuit against a single mom in Minnesota who shared some songs online). Thankfully some artists (like Moore) see the value and inevitability in sharing music. I am therefore thrilled to bits at what Radiohead is doing (see my latest blog post) and how their love of music and respect for fans has resulted in them offering their latest album via a “pay what you want to” format through their website.
Anyways, I enjoyed your posting. I would be totally into exploring mixed tape culture further in a blog format, as the great care and thoughtfulness that goes into making and packaging a personalized compilation is in my mind a valid art form in and of itself. If you or anyone you know is interested in collaborating on something of this nature I would be happy to discuss further. Cheers!
October 7th, 2007 at 10:32 pm
Wow this is great! I must have made a thousand mix tapes in my day and I still have a lot of them. They consist of everything from home made live metal songs to full mixer mixed opuses that played seamlessly the whole side.
I remember making “live” mix tapes where I would write each song down and listen to the songs one at a time to find a proper order. Sometimes it would be on vinyl and sometimes on other cassette tapes, so I had to make sure I did not put 2 vinyl songs back to back as I only had one record player and 2 tape decks at the time. I made mixes for every occasion, skateboarding and skiing (mostly punk and techno), falling asleep, driving, chilling, dancing, anything. Great post. I am sure I can find some to scan as I usual did artwork on the tape itself and the inserts. (white out was a favorite mix tape cassette medium cause most of the cheap bulk blank tapes were black)
October 11th, 2007 at 10:09 am
You mixed tape masters might want to keep an eye on this site:
http://mixaloo.com/
October 15th, 2007 at 7:47 am
Michael, let’s talk! :) Let me know what you think of the book if you get it, it’s pretty great.
Poyla, you should definitely scan the best of the best in. I want to see it, dammit!
Ronin, yeah, mixaloo seems interesting, although, it’s a little questionable selling your playlists to your friends… I mean, it kinda misses the point of the mixtape.
October 26th, 2007 at 1:25 pm
Great post! I found you via the Pipes site as I’m currently researching for a new project. Being a life long Sonic Youth fan since 1982 (yes, I’m that old!), I couldn’t resist reading it.
I’ve put those ‘weak’ tracks on tapes for a girl but it was always as a way of getting her into the cool stuff, and you know what, it always worked!
October 26th, 2007 at 1:28 pm
Nice! Yeah, I’m that old too. :) Although I admit to only being a little bit into Sonic Youth (except the Ciccone Youth album, which is pretty stunningly awesome).
I see, though, you were using those tracks as sort of gateway tracks… this first track is free, subsequent tracks require good taste! ;)
May 15th, 2008 at 7:25 am
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