Book 'Em, Danno

But that reminds us of a truly dead art form: The cassette-only punk-rock release. There are some ephemeral classics—like The Replacements' "When the S— Hits the Fans," and Black Flag's "Everything Went Black." We have especially fond memories of the latter, because we once had Henry Rollins sign our copy, whereupon we were informed that the cassette predated Henry Rollins. D'oh! (He signed it anyway, with a gold-ink pen. Sweet!)

Tell us about the cassettes that survive in your collection... in the comments.

Comments (5)

I have a bunch of tapes that I just can't bear to throw away, though I'll probably never listen to them again. The Feelies "The Good Earth" is a great one with many many roadtrip memories attached to it. Also, Richard Thompson's "Small Town Romance." These were both albums I never got around to buying on vinyl or CD, but loved dearly.

Posted by Hans | December 4, 2006 5:00 PM

My much beloved and oft-played Time's Incinerator by Soul Asylum. Even if CD technology had existed at the time, I would still want this on tape. There is something about the a boom box, a cassette tape and a "record" button that will just always warm my heart, that high-quality digital reproductions will just never replace.

Posted by Ali Lozoff | December 5, 2006 2:21 PM

And then there were those self-produced indie albums that only got released on cassette because CD production was so expensive (back in the days before CD-Rs). Farm Accident's two cassette albums were better overall releases than their Red House CD "Vane". Alas, my Bertha's Mule got eaten by my Sony boombox.

Posted by Dave Teegarden | December 5, 2006 7:47 PM

The article perpetrates a fallacy about cassettes: that they are not durable. This is rubbish. I have quite a few of them that have bounced around my vehicles, luggage, and gym bags for years. They have been under the visor, beneath the seat, and left in the sun. Yet they still play, some after 20+ years. If a cd is left out of it's case it may be unplayable after a trip to the grocery store!

Like many music fans, I have a great number of mix tapes, some were given to me and some I made. Many of the songs I will not get around to replacing in a digital format. They remind me of a person, place, or time that cannot be erased. And I still play them while biking around the lakes (I might be the only person by Lake Calhoun without an ipod).

And like many musicians, I still have boxes of tapes from live shows I have played, and demos of songs given to me by bandmembers to learn the new material. Most of these no one else will ever hear, but they cannot be replaced.

Posted by Michael Reiter | December 5, 2006 8:19 PM

Funny you mention that, Michael.

Cassette tapes ARE well protected from the elements (other than the two-inch strip at the base that's exposed). In some ways, CDs are a lot more vulnerable to damage. But as music PLAYERS become just as portable as disks and cassettes, the point probably becomes moot. In other words, if you can email your (legally obtained) music files to and from any of your digital devices' hard drives, then the medium becomes kinda irrelevant.

Those of us caught in the transition are bound to have dozens of mix-tapes and cassette-only releases that will not survive the digigtal transition, and we'd better keep tape players around to keep listening. (Just the way, a few years ago, I shopped at three different stores over four days to find a turntable to listen to my vinyl copy of Hüsker Dü's Zen Arcade: totally worth it!)

Posted by Hans | December 5, 2006 8:33 PM