I’m sure you guys all have your own mix-tape memories. Tapes you’ve made for yourself… tapes you’ve made for other people… tapes other people have made for you.
But I need to talk for a moment about the Mix Tape Letter. This is the letter from your friend/boyfriend/girlfriend/crush that includes places where you are supposed to stop reading and hit “Play” on your dual cassette stereo and listen to the song dripping with meaning and emotion…. This extreme method of teen communication was usually reserved for a fight.
“If you really thought that I said that about you then [Hit Play Now]…”
(Simply Red’s “If you don’t know me by now” comes on the stereo)
but it was occasionally used to express feelings of unrequited love
“I should know better than to like you this much [Hit Play Now]…”
(“Teacher” by George Michael comes on the stereo)
Or perhaps it’s the “We broke up but let’s get back together” mix tape letter that has the required “I miss you” by Klymaxx…
I can remember getting them from a few boys…. and making a few of my own. My best friend Steph and I used to make these for each other when we’d fight… a mixture of songs that were meant to sting and ones that practically begged for the fight to be over (“That’s what friends are for”, et al) My problem was that I had almost no cassette or records growing up.
We were almost always poor and so when I’d make my tapes, I had to use my mom’s old records… Led Zepplin, Steppenwolf, Bad Company, Chicago, The Who, Beatles… with a little Carpenters mixed in…. which wouldn’t be that bad today, but in the late 80’s Wham! era… it’s was very, very, very, very……… bad.
They came at me with “Love, in itself” by Depeche Mode and “Don’t Dream it’s Over” by Crowded House…. and I come back with… “I aint Gonna Cry Tonight” by Barbara Streisand… and “Thank You” by Led Zepplin…..