When I met the husband (in August 2000) I was still living in the land of cassettes. He bought me, for my first christmas present, a new stereo that had a cd player. I was beside myself with excitement at the application of new technology to my life (not to mention being beside myself with excitement at the clever, gorgeous, funny and incredibly generous catch I’d landed only 4 months previously).
Today, I still love cds but I do occasionally hanker for my cassettes. I’ve got a lot on cassette that we never bothered to get on cd. To mention but a few, Guns n Roses (Appetite for Destruction, not that Use Your Illusion rubbish), Dubstar, Sneaker Pimps, Dust Junkys, various soundtracks (The Crow and The Commitments leap to mind immediately but there are others that don’t begin with a C) and all sorts of other curiosities.
I had a sudden need to listen to Sweet Child of Mine last week so I got down the big box, where all the cassettes and vhs videos hide, and picked out a few choice albums to listen to.
There’s something to be said for listening to an album over and over and over again, then hiding it for 10 years and listening to it again with fresh ears.
I have been totally living in the past for the last week – it’s been great.
Ahhh the memories! I remember doing that too!
Cassettes require patience that CD’s (and mP3′s) don’t.
You have to listen to whichever side is ready. (Well, you don’t HAVE to, but it seems disloyal to skip over the b-side and rewind to a again.)
And then there’s the very precise rewind-STOP if you want to hear a track again.
Then there are the cassettes my brother copied for me which have all of the tracks listed in his handwriting.
It’s fun to drag my cassettes out again – “Everyone Else is Doing It, So Why Can’t We?” and “Rattle and Hum.” I lost my Smashing Pumpkins and Cure tapes, (How???) but I still have the Pearl Jam one, a cast-off from my brother.
Thanks for the ride down memory lane!
That’s it! I am going to get mine out and listen to them. Such good memories! My favorite: Janet Jackson. Hopefully I still have that one.