Back in the ’80s and ’90s, what was the best way to show your crush that you liked them without being, like, way totally obvious? Through a carefully thought-out mixtape, of course! It wasn’t just the music on the recorded cassette tapes that made these mixes so heartfelt and thoughtful — oh no, you definitely had to make a special handwritten booklet to go with the tape that was lovingly decorated and also explained why each song was included. You know, thoroughness.
Mixtapes skyrocketed to popularity in the 1980s when the compact audio cassette tape became usable to the general public. Though cassette tapes had been in existence for some years prior to the ‘80s, they weren’t very suitable for music — they were mainly made for dictation. It wasn’t until the late ‘70s and ‘80s that cassettes became popular thanks, in part, to the introduction of the Sony Walkman, which made music portable in a way that it never had been before. Not only that, blank cassettes also made it possible for you to make your own portable mixes, and thus the mixtape was born.
Though the real decade of the mixtape was the ’80s, mixtapes persisted throughout the ‘90s as well, slowly morphing over to the Mix CD, which was very similar to the mixtape in that you could still include special artwork and liner notes. Still, there was nothing quite like sitting at your boombox with your mixtape at the ready, waiting for that one particular song to come on the radio, then scrambling to hit the record button at just the right time… only to have the damn DJ talk over the first few seconds of the song. Luckily, cassette tapes were easy enough to record back over, but then you had to wait again and just hope and pray that the DJ didn’t ruin the intro again (or outro, for that matter) of your next song. You see, a mixtape was truly a labor of love.
Sadly, with the rise of digital music, the power of the mixtape has pretty much been lost. Mp3s and digital streaming have certainly made listening to all sorts of music much easier, and you can technically still make mixes on Spotify, Amazon Music, and the like. But, digital playlists don’t quite compare to getting that personally curated mixtape that you could hold in your hands and carry around with you as proof that someone cared enough to make you something truly special.
My high school boyfriend and I made a mix CD with a special cover and comments on why we included each song, and let me tell you, from what I remember of the songs that we included, it’s a real trip into the year 1999. I even remember the name we gave it: “Ruckus Causing Pertinent People.” What was the reasoning here? We liked the words ruckus and pertinent and, you know what, we were nerds, okay? Get over it. Our song ended up being the Backstreet Boys’ “I Want it That Way” because we literally heard it every time we were together. What a time to be alive.
Did you make your crush a mixtape, or perhaps you had someone make a mixtape for you? What are some of your favorite memories of jamming on your Sony Walkman to a specially curated mix? Let us know in the comments!
- Sony created the original Walkman in 1979, and its popularity made the word “walkman” an unofficial term for personal stereos from pretty much any brand.
- The first compact audio cassette tape was created by Phillips and appeared at the 1963 Berlin Radio Show, which is one of the oldest industrial exhibitions in Germany.
- In hip hop’s early days, the music only existed in live form, so performers’ music was spread via tapes of parties and shows. Hip hop mixtapes first appeared in the mid-1970s in New York City.
- In 1966, the first albums were released on cassette, including “Wild is the Wind” by Nina Simone, and “The Shadow of Your Smile” by Johnny Mathis.
- The first boomboxes were invented in the mid-60s, but rose to popularity in the late ‘70s, and were particularly popular with young people in large urban areas like NYC and LA.
- Sony created the original Walkman in 1979, and its popularity made the word “walkman” an unofficial term for personal stereos from pretty much any brand.
- The first compact audio cassette tape was created by Phillips and appeared at the 1963 Berlin Radio Show, which is one of the oldest industrial exhibitions in Germany.
- In hip hop’s early days, the music only existed in live form, so performers’ music was spread via tapes of parties and shows. Hip hop mixtapes first appeared in the mid-1970s in New York City.
- In 1966, the first albums were released on cassette, including “Wild is the Wind” by Nina Simone, and “The Shadow of Your Smile” by Johnny Mathis.
- The first boomboxes were invented in the mid-60s, but rose to popularity in the late ‘70s, and were particularly popular with young people in large urban areas like NYC and LA.
