In the beginning, so primitive,,, Your parents bought you a boom box. You're excited, you can't wait to play all your favorite tunes. You take you mom's antique cassette recorder that looks like this and hold it up to the boom box to record your favorite songs when they come on the radio.
I loved my first boom box. It looked like this:
Oh yes... it was pink and fabulous! I loved it. My parents gave it to me for my 12th birthday with 2 cassettes to play: Michael Jackson's Off the Wall and The Four Tops. Why would you give a 12 year old the FOUR TOPS??? In 1988?? WHAT???? And I wanted THRILLER, not OFF THE WALL!! But, it was still King of Pop, right??
Enter the first mix tape. It was horrible. There were DJs talking over the beginning and ending of songs, your mom would call you for dinner at the WRONG time, and your dad would yell to turn that garbage OFF! *sigh* it wasn't easy.
Then, you learned how to record off the radio from your actual boom box. It still had the DJs, but no outside noises! No Mom. No Dad. No pesky little sisters!!!
I recently found a mix tape I had made in 1991 with horrible transitions and songs that I remember loving but can't remember why! It had "I'm too Sexy" and "I love your smile," mixed with Roxette and Richard Marx! WHAT?!?
Then mix tapes gained a new meaning. You would make them for people you "liked" or wanted to date. Then, if it succeeded in sparking an interest, you would exchange tapes of songs and sometimes even of you speaking to show how much you care.
I have several of these gifts from former relationships even today! But the only cassette player I have is in my minivan!!! Too Funny.
Even my wonderful husband gave me a mix tape on the first day we met in person. That was in the year 2000. Yeah.... Mix tapes have come a long way. After tapes, we made mix CDs, Today, in 2016, we share playlists on our iPhones. The purpose, however different from the late 1980's, is the same: to create a spark.
Music is powerful, meaningful, emotional. Lyrics tell stories and share ideas and when carefully selected to put on a mix tape or playlist, they reveal the emotions and desires of the creator. The song choices could make or break a new relationship.
So, do you want to know about mine? I have a few that survived the years. The one from my husband is around here somewhere, but it was never labeled, so I'll have to find a player and listen through all the cassettes to find it! I remember the songs that he used to show his heart.
Forever Young - Alphaville
Free Fallin - Tom Petty
Mr Jones and Me - Counting Crows
End of the Innocence - Don Henley
Anna Begins - Counting Crows
Every Breath You Take -The Police
and quite a few more...
I remember the emotions as I listened to the tape and I listened to it over and over and over and over. It was a symbol of our new relationship. It was his way of telling me things that he just couldn't say. He was telling me that he would watch over me and that he was letting his heart Free Fall into love. He showed his heart and soul. I was touched beyond words.
Other mix tapes that I received over the years included one from a cousin on the west coast, when I live on the east coast! He sent Queen and Weird Al and a variety of odd and unusual music that I would never have found without him. I received words of love in the song "If you could see what I see," by Geoff Moore and the Distance from a boyfriend at a time when I just wasn't feeling adequate. I received a number of cassettes when I was touring on the road for 3 months with the Continental Singers from a boyfriend who knew I was homesick and missing the sounds of family and friends. There were words of encouragement and plenty of those compliments and pats on the back that a young girl needs to help her feel like she matters to someone. I remember listening to them over and over just to hear those words of affirmation.
One of the most memorable came in the form of a CD single. It wasn't a mix tape, just the one song. I had recently broken things off with a boyfriend who wanted me back desperately. He showed up at my house and pulled a "Say Anything" moment with his boom box. It was memorable because he said that he had heard this song and it reminded him of me. I had never heard it before because it was brand new at the time. It was Celine Dion's "Because you loved me." I actually cried at the sentiment, but I wasn't going to take him back.
So, for laughs, I'll leave you here with a photo of my husband mimicking the scene from "Say Anything" using a boom box pillow that I designed and crocheted. It's epic.
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