Was the mixtape a portable playlist? Was it a means to tell someone you loved them? Did it affect the Cold War? Did it make hip hop and rap possible? Was it Illegal? Was it an art form? The answer is yes.
The Cassette Tape
In 1963, an engineer working for Phillips invented the cassette. His name was Lou Ottens. Lou was trying to solve a personal problem. He felt magnetic tape reels were cumbersome. He wanted something that could fit in his pocket and still deliver the power and quality of a reel to reel tape.
It was unveiled at the IFA in Berlin shortly after creation and was met with little to no fanfare.
New Decades and New Life
In the late 70s the cassette would gain in popularity. In short time it would march into the 80’s and change the world as we know it.
By the time I was in high school everyone had a Sony Walkman and the cassette player was in most cars and stereo systems and almost everyone had a boom box ranging from the compact to large behemoths. You had music that could be played from the home, in the car, at the gym, while jogging or riding the bus. And as much as people make fun of the sound quality, it was where most of us discovered Dolby.
The record companies had no problem reselling us music we already owned in this new format that dominated the market in sales. But there was something they did not expect. The dual cassette tape. With the dual cassette deck in your home stereo system or boombox, you could make your own mixtape. And we bought blank cassettes and did just that at a fever pitch. It changed everything.
The Personal and Romantic Mixtape
The personal mix tape is what most people think of when they think of mixtapes. The ones who were alive in the 80’s speak of it with nostalgia and fond memories.
Gen Z is well aware of the mixtape. In their exploration of analogue tech, they are not gravitating to the cassette in the same level they are with vinyl, film photography, and other things (thank you for bringing back vinyl!). That said, they do know the etymology of the playlist comes from the mixtape and they lean into the spirit of personal expression and gifts to friends and lovers.
The Art of Creation
From start to finish a mixtape usually took hours, but it could sometimes take days, weeks, or even longer. Planning, recording, and documentation/cover were the big three components.
The planning. Every mixtape had a purpose.
Was this your mood music, a gift for someone, or an expression of love and affection? What songs were going to be in this masterpiece? Did you have all the songs or were you going to have to borrow them from a friend, the library, or stalk your favorite radio station for hours to get the track you wanted? What was the flow going to be? What about the transitions? Were you going to have your own fade ins and outs? Would you be narrating a message between songs? What about the cover and the insert? Would it be handwritten just the facts of the songs or would you include art into a small, but meaningful space?
Once you had the pieces in place, the real work began. In 8 to 12 songs you were going to spend the next few hours creating a message. This was often a very personal message to yourself. A celebration, survival on the dark days, and encouragement for when you needed to be inspired.
If it was to a friend you were giving them not only something they would enjoy and discover, but you were giving them a piece of you. This was more potent and special than just going to the mall and getting a poster or album. This was you to them. Handmade. Time invested.
Then there was the crush or romantic partner. On this one you had to put your heart and your ‘A’ game into it. If they hated it, you blew it. This had to be good. You had to start off strong and keep the momentum going. The object of your affection had to feel the vibes you were putting out and gravitate to you. You had 8 to 12 songs by various artists to create a story and a soundtrack all it once. It had to show that you saw that person and were thinking of them and knew them in such a way that you could move them and let them know how you felt.
You had no sample playlists to Google. The top 40 and Billboard only told you what was being played and sold that week, not what will move another person and excite them. This was all you.
Then came the documentation. Did your work of art have cover art and a title? Did you list the songs and the artists? This was an important moment to document and tie together what you had created.
My Mixtapes
My personal mixtapes did not document the songs. I knew what was on them. I simply wrote a word. Some I remember were named, “Pissed”, “Scared”, “Pumped”, “Running”, “God”, and the most important, “Survive”. Survive had a part 1, 2 and 3. The “Survive” mixtapes kept me from succumbing to the constant thoughts of ending it all that haunted me in my teens.
When I made them for a girl, I listed the songs and artists in order and also handwrote a poem. Sometimes the poem was my own. Other times is was from one of the greats. I wanted her to know this was me and I was thinking about her. I made 4 in high school and college. 2 fell flat on crushes who were not moved. One was to a girlfriend who said she loved it, but in a conversation recently, she did not remember it.
But the fourth one. I gave it to her at 10 AM one day before class. In the late afternoon she was at my door. When I opened it, she had the mixtape in her hand and she totally John Hughes movie scene put an arm behind my neck, leaned in, and kissed me. We did not last very long, barely a semester of college, but flames that burn out fast are hot and bright infernos you do not forget even if you get burned.
Mixtapes Behind The Iron Curtain
With the rise of the Soviet Union and Communist China we had a Cold War that had us on the brink of nuclear annihilation. There were also teens just like us locked out of the early days of rock and roll, Motown, pop, punk, new wave, and so much more. China, Moscow, Poland, East Berlin and others has oppressive regimes that made sure that the youth were not exposed to western culture and art. Frankly, we have racist and religious and political forces in the West (I’m writing about you someday, Tipper!) that have tried to “protect the youth” from the influences of art, but it was less deadly and did not result in a gulag or death (yet).
As early as the 1950’s, Russian youth who were nicknamed ‘stilyagi’ would raid hospital dumpsters to get their hands on X-rays and create what was known as ‘bone records’ or ‘music on the ribs’. Using the vinyl of the X-ray prints they cut records that had poor quality. It was poor copies of poor copies, but it was something.
With the 1980’s and the cassette came a portable, easy to copy and modify, and easy to smuggle format of music to distribute and discover. Suddenly rock and punk was finding its way behind the Iron Curtain. And the art humanized the youth of the West. The power of art within the music alienated a generation from an oppressive political system. This subverted the political order and control which would eventually led to the downfall of the Berlin Wall and ultimately the Soviet Union. Thus came Glasnost and the end of a Cold War.
The mixtape subverted an entire political system and united youth from different cultures. I hope music still has that power. We could use it.
Hip-Hop, the Mixtape, and the RIAA
In a famous interview with David Bowie on MTV, he challenged how little black music from black artists they were playing in prime time. MTV host Mark Goodman tried to simultaneously deny and defend the practice poorly. So it goes without saying that early rap and hip hop artists were not getting play there. But it was not just MTV and white pop radio. Motown and black radio and record labels were not embracing this new and important genre of music.
DJ’s and early Rap artists were fighting creatively to be heard. They made their mixtapes and sold or freely distributed them anywhere they could. This ranged from clubs they played at, trunks of their cars in back alleys, and all points in between. They could not get a song played or recorded by the industry, but they could make an entire mixtape and get the art to people yearning for it.
As this expression of the mixtape and a new music genre became popular, it was then that the RIAA stepped in and started prosecuting. Many people my age discovered the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) when they started suing 12 year old kids for downloading music in the late 90s and early 2000’s while Lars Ulrich of Metallica whined about this new medium and made the 12 year old the enemy to music as opposed to the recoding industry.
But in the 80’s the RIAA saw the rise of this new music and leveraged copyright laws to try to shut down the voice of black youth. This is something the recording industry had done for decades before this until they found a way to profit from the art.
Despite the forces that tried to suppress new voices in music history, the mixtape and the artists making them won the battle as hip hop and rap are now integrated into the fabric of our culture. Some are still unhappy about this, sadly.
The RIAA and the KGB Were Right: We Were Pirates
In a 2003 interview with the New York Times, Frank Creighton, a former director at the RIAA, stated that, “money did not have to be involved for copying to be illegal.” Every single one of us were pirates. According to Kester Brewin in his book , “Mutiny”, pirates rise up when forces hold tight control over something that should belong to the commons. So yes, the RIAA, the KGB, and Lars were right. We were pirates. And every mixtape was a subversive act of mutiny. But that mutiny created art, expressed love, helped us survive another day, toppled oppressive regimes, and enabled a genre of music that is on the 4th generation of creators and fans. This is what the RIAA, Governments, and Lars fear?
Gen Z still has a fight for love, art, freedom, and equality. I look forward to see what they use to disrupt everything. Maybe it has begun.
Epilogue for a Deeper Dive
In preparing for this article I discovered a resource that is simply amazing. It is called the Mixtape Museum. Due to their resources, I deliberately kept this piece broad in its scope, especially in the realm of hip hop. I encourage all of you to go to a source that is telling that story far better than I ever could while also doing important things that matter. Here is a blurb from their website of what they do:
-Serve as an advocate to advance opportunities for mixtape scholars and increase awareness of Mixtape Scholarship.
-Promote the intellectual importance of mixtapes.
-Encourage, organize, and systematize preservation in the DJ and Hip Hop communities
-Foster collaboration among educators, scholars, DJs, artists, and organizations to advance Hip Hop culture
-Provide support and resources to mixtape collectors.
What they do matters and is inspiring! I hope you take the time to check them out.
What is your mixtape story?
Tell us your mixtape story? We’d love to read it in the comments!
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