Take Another Little Piece of My Heart, Baby
love in the time of mp3s
Have you ever thought of giving away a piece of yourself for Valentine’s Day? If you live dreaming of the early 1990s like I do, you might want to consider compiling a mix tape for your beloved. Handing someone a collection of your favorite songs is like saying, “Here is a piece of my heart-- I hope you like it.”
Since the 1980s, the mixtape has been a symbol of youth culture, youth sharing, and social networking skills. However, MP3 players and the advent of compact discs have spelled doom for cassettes of late. Devoted users of magnetic tape are opting for the cold calculation of computer software over the soft hiss of analog recording.
In recent years, however, nostalgic hipsters and heartsick romantics alike have reclaimed the idea of a mix tape. In 2005, Thurston Moore of the band Sonic Youth published Mix Tape: The Art of Cassette Culture, a coffee-table book heralding the age of mix tapes. In the book, Moore’s friends-- also famous musicians-- share stories about the mix tapes they have received or compiled, and Moore offers his own commentary on the history of the mix tape as a gift concept. All of the stories are endearing, and they make readers pine for the days when friends prepared meaningful song mixes as gifts, instead of picking up a generic gift card on the way to the birthday party-- a handmade Valentine encased in a piece of plastic.
The renaissance of the mix comes at a bad time for cassettes. Like the 8-track and vinyl record that preceded it, the compact cassette has suffered its own popularity decline and technological setbacks. Compact discs became the recording device of the future, and the tape deck was put out to pasture.
Several years passed before car manufacturers caught up with the new wave in audio technology, so unless drivers could find a few mix tapes lying around, they were stuck in radio limbo. By now, the tape deck has disappeared from most cars. I was crushed when my parents replaced our old car with a new, CD-only monstrosity. There is nothing better than driving around with a tape blaring from the speakers, playing a mix of your favorite songs. You feel so suburban, so young, so enveloped in mother mix tape’s warm glow. The cold, empty sound of an MP3 will never measure up to the inviting aura of a cassette.
Besides stirring memories of a happier time in music recording, music mixes (playlists, to all you iTunes users) are a beautiful way to communicate the emotions you are experiencing at the moment. Mix tapes can express sentiments that could never be captured in an e-mail:
“I love you—why do you hate me?”
“I want a sandwich, but all I have is our friendship.”
“We’ve known each other for a long time but don’t know each others’ names and are too stubborn to admit it.”
Or simply:
“I love you. You love me. Let’s be together.”
Mix tapes are the infinitely cooler and more articulate older siblings of IMs and Facebook messages. Why not take advantage of this more intimate and meaningful form of communication while cassettes are still available?
If you cannot come up with a list of songs that stimulates you, have no fear! Tinymixtapes.com allows users to place a request for a specific type of mix tape. If the request strikes indie-ironic gold, the site will post a list of songs to match the themes you specified.
But let’s face it—Valentine’s Day is today. So think hard about that boy you like who sits in front of you in calculus class, or that girlfriend you’ve been holding onto for just this moment. Open up iTunes and make a playlist of the songs you know they like, or the songs you think they should like. Burn a CD-- transfer to a tape if you are among the truly daring--, and you have your very own mix tape shouting, “Play me! I’m all yours.”