Although it seems strange for a music lover such as I am, but I never had a Walkman. I never even owned a pair of headphones until I got my iPod in 2006. What I DID have was a dual cassette player with a radio so that I could make mix tapes. I would tape off the radio mostly as I had no money to buy my own tapes, but once I started babysitting with regularity I could buy my own tapes and I would use them to make mix tapes as well.
Oh the mix tapes that I would make. They were an even split between dance music/party mixes and songs dedicated to my latest love/break-up. There’s a part in a book where my favourite character is throwing a party and she’s going through her CDs and she asks her brother what to play, “Educational or comforting favourites?” I love that line because that was always my dilemma; do I educate the masses and risk having everyone standing up against the wall staring uncomfortably at the floor, or do I have loads of familiar pop music that everyone will have a good time? I would choose the latter sprinkled in with some of the former.
I remember playing one of my very favourite B52’s songs at a dance and no one was familiar with it. The dance floor was cleared with the exception of me and my sister. We didn’t care, we just took up the whole dance floor and sang our heads off. Towards the end of the song some of our friends dared to join us. Suffice it to say, that song never got played again. Too bad, it’s an awesome song. (Dance this Mess Around – it’s awesome, you should check it out).
I remember playing one of my very favourite B52’s songs at a dance and no one was familiar with it. The dance floor was cleared with the exception of me and my sister. We didn’t care, we just took up the whole dance floor and sang our heads off. Towards the end of the song some of our friends dared to join us. Suffice it to say, that song never got played again. Too bad, it’s an awesome song. (Dance this Mess Around – it’s awesome, you should check it out).
I never gave my mix tapes away. I mentioned my poverty – that was not a joke. My blank tapes were precious to me and I could not afford to just give the tapes away. I also never ever wanted to be that pathetic ex-girlfriend that would make a mix tape of love songs for the guy that dumped her in an attempt to win him back. I made my mix tapes to play at parties and dances and to soothe my lonely, broken heart.
I really did have some awesome mix tapes. I used the formula described in High Fidelity. The songs had to be in a certain order to set the mood I was going for. I don’t have many left, but I still do have some of my mix tapes kicking around somewhere. I need to find them and turn them into playlists.
I’ve been a little late to the party with the whole iTunes thing, but once I got my iPod and realized how un-scary digital music is, I was all on board. I love the playlist option on my iPod Touch. LOVE it. I don’t have a lot of free time to make playlists like I did when I was a kid alone in my bedroom, but the playlists I do have are so excellent. I have one for dancing, one for working out, one for the olden days, one with quiet music, etc.
My latest creation is my Summer playlist. I love my summer playlist. It sounds just like summer to me. My iPod Touch has this feature where you can edit the playlist while you’re listening to it which is just about the greatest thing ever because the only way to really know if a playlist is going to work is while you are listening to it.
Oh how I wish I had the time to sit alone in my bedroom with my tunes playing and the liner notes laying all around me on my bed with my notepad listing the songs and crossing them out and putting them in the right order…
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