On Sunday, the Ladybird and I were on a return trip from Ann Arbor. Ladybird, for those who do not know, is my "new" 1996 Pontiac Bonneville. She is full of the latest bells and whistles, but only those offered in 1996. One of those features is a lovely stereo and tape deck. As the radio played I found myself reminiscing about the days of the mixtapes.
I vividly remember sitting at my stereo, which had a turn table and a double tape deck, waiting for my favorite song to play. Quite often the song would be truncated by some obnoxious DJ, but I would tape it anyway. I also remember making my first mixtape....
In high school I had this huge crush on an upper class man named Jessie. Jessie's brother, Johnny, was dating my sister and we were lab partners in Chemistry. I found out that he loved The Beatles, and I decided to make a mixtape for a birthday gift. I took records from my mom's collection, and listened to all the songs over again and again. I carefully selected the songs to be used, and then spent countless hours making the recordings seamless.
I was so proud to hand the tape over to Jessie. Of course he was kind enough, and he didn't make fun of me to my face, but I know that his friends were laughing as I walked away. He told me it was a really cool gift, but we never were more than acquaintances and lab partners.
Years later I was driving in my sister's car and the Beatles were playing in her tape deck. The songs sounded VERY familiar. I would know exactly what song would follow. So I asked her where she got the tape and she told me she got it from Johnny years before. Apparently many people who were friends of Jessie's and Johnny's had a copy of the mixtape I made, which in a strange way made me feel pretty awesome.
In college I dated a guy, named Marshall, who made me a mixtape (AND he wrote me a song too). He told me each song on the tape was selected especially for me. That he had spent a lot of time creating the best song list for how he felt about me. I actually loved many of the songs on the tape, and played it over and over and over again. I also felt very special that someone took the time to select a special song list for me. Awhile later we broke up, but I still enjoyed listening to some of the songs on the tape. Not because it reminded me of him, but because some of the songs were pretty great.
Marshall and I hung out in the same group, and one night we were all out at the karaoke bar that we frequented. Marshall's current girlfriend was telling some of the group about this awesome mixtape she had been given. That the songs were created especially for her. I figured making a mixtape was just something Marshall did, that is until she began to name the songs on the tape. I asked if I could see the tape cover and she said okay. The two of us went out to the parking lot and shared our tape covers with each other. And you know what? The tapes were exactly the same. Nothing was different. Each song Marshall carefully selected for me, was in fact the same ones he selected for her.
We sat in silence for a few moments, and then we began laughing hysterically. Because from that point forward neither of us would be persuaded by a mixtape ever again.
But I have to wonder what teens do today to share music with each other. Do they make MP3 lists? Or do they make videos of them listening to music and post to Youtube? Whatever the case might be, technology has definitely changed the way we listen to music, and thus how we share it as well. I must say that I kind of miss the days of mixtapes decorated in stickers, the hopeful hearts and the time spent carefully crafting the perfect song list. But I suppose that is what happens as one ages...nostalgia kicks in.
