I recently unearthed some old tapes (and by "some," I mean "hundreds")...and now you have to pay! Kidding. Ignore this all you want. In this post are very specific relics from a very specific childhood: six mixes worth of songs taped off the radio. My obsessive media gathering began as soon as we got a VCR and hasn't really changed since -- I burn shows obsessively in the event that they'll somehow cease existing (not everything goes to iTunes, I'll have you know!). Music's a different story, though -- thank god I no longer have to rely on timing to have in my possession new songs that I may or may not want to listen to recorded until they're officially released! The medium contained in this post is officially extinct.
As opposed to whole listening experiences, these tapes mostly represent cataloging -- I recorded many of these songs as I heard them for the first time, and given the obscurity of much of this junky, poppy house stuff, it was also the last time. I was completely justified in my paranoia of never hearing this stuff again with good reason: not much of it was worth hearing again.
But still, I listen to this stuff and I'm mesmerized -- being exposed to this much dance music as a 14- and 15-year-old kid certainly shaped my current listening. The comparably small proportion of hip-hop I apparently listened to from 1992 to 1993 (when these were made) has remained pretty much constant. That said, when listening to these tapes again after almost 20 years, what hit me the hardest was hearing Grand Puba's "360 Degrees (What Goes Around)" (on Radio 8) -- hearing that joyous, tactile hip-hop coming off tape felt like home to me.
I was also clearly obsessed with Janet Jackson and Luther Vandross' "The Best Things in Life Are Free" (it pops up no fewer than three times), as well as the weekly countdown American Dance Tracks, hosted by the excruciating Downtown Julie Brown (stick around for a bit and you'll hear her assert that she was "gettin' down" with every single artist on her weekly lists). That countdown was particularly great because it allowed me to finally hear so much of the stuff that I'd read the names of when I'd scan the Billboard dance charts (which I would do whenever I could, though I remember as a child only rarely being able to swing the $6 per issue that Billboard charged).
It's funny how much this stuff seemed to matter then and how little it matters now. This used to be my playground, truly.
(Added bonus: My voice can be heard on a few of these, mostly calling in with hot-or-not type of votes for new songs. This happens immediately after the first song on Radio 4.)
(Note: You can download any mix by click the button with the picture of a down arrow in its player.)
Cool.
Posted by: X | June 07, 2011 at 01:35 PM
Am I a leprechaun? Is this the end of the rainbow?
Posted by: sarahspy | June 07, 2011 at 01:38 PM
Mind.BLOWN.
Posted by: Norma | June 07, 2011 at 01:46 PM
FUCK YES.
Posted by: www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=22001673 | June 07, 2011 at 02:16 PM
Mr. Vain is one of the most amazing songs ON EARF.
Posted by: Norma | June 07, 2011 at 02:53 PM
An ode to radio tapes! I love it.
Posted by: The Dyv | June 07, 2011 at 03:51 PM
rich, sometimes it scares me how similar our musical histories are. the difference being i made sure to buy every week's billboard (or make my parents, oh how i must have annoyed them) to read bill coleman then larry flick talk up the new dance releases, and obsess over the charts. and i would record whole swaths of the weekend mixshows. just hit record and walk away, so i could listen throughout the week. i simply cannot wait to dive into these. thank you.
Posted by: KT | June 07, 2011 at 04:42 PM
So cute. And such an intrepid li'l music explorer.
Posted by: W.C. | June 07, 2011 at 08:56 PM
Crucified! That song pops up on my running mix to this day.
Posted by: ger | June 07, 2011 at 09:22 PM
I find this to be both fun and kind of trippy. While I share a like mind with you when it comes to movies, our musical tastes are very divergent with the occasional over-lap. Oddly enough, my mix tapes (like you, most of mine were made from the radio)and yours cover a lot of the same ground...over half are stuff I love, which I really didn't expect to see. And that half? I all have digitally now. Granted, it seems that you have moved on from most of these things, which means I'm very probably lame, but that's okay. At least we share a musical history of a sort. Once upon a time I had the potential to grow up to be cool.
Posted by: torrinpaige | June 08, 2011 at 12:04 AM
Oh my GOD. I am not alone. I didn't think I was the only kid who obsessively listened to radio, putting tape over the holes on those cassettes Memorex designed to look like faces & taping every hot thing that played as I scribbled the titles down & named the cassette something retarded like "R&B Jamz #7". I Didn't think I was the ONLY one, but seeing that you did the EXACT SAME THING just makes my heart happy.
I not only taped giant mixes of shit, but I at one time was obsessed with obscure Michael Jackson & Jackson 5 demos & so had like THIRTY or so cassettes of shit like MJ & Freddie Mercury, MJ and Paul McCartney, MJ, Randy & little Janet fucking around in their home studio, et cetera.
I went through boxes of these last winter and along with about 100 or so VHS tapes (similar compilations) I had to throw them all out. I felt like a piece of my childhood died and went to the landfill, but at the same time I thought: None of this shit matters now but it was so FUN when I was recording it. Meaning, it served its purpose.
Man, I'm rambling and Beyonce is pulling out these crazy Phil Collins-isms on my eardrums as I type. Let me shut up now & scroll back up to swoon over those tape shots.
Love it, Rich.
Posted by: Zett | June 08, 2011 at 02:02 AM
LOVE IT!!!!
Posted by: Crystal | June 08, 2011 at 07:43 AM
This is art.
Posted by: csvec | June 08, 2011 at 11:04 AM
Oh, man, the pictures alone bring back such intense memories of my '80's youth! I can practically taste the Cool Ranch Doritos and Cherry Coke!
Posted by: Melissa | June 08, 2011 at 11:27 AM
Rich, I feel like we should have met by now and this post pretty much confirms it. We both grew up on the Jersey Shore, love dance music and now the mix tapes and reading Billboard at a young age. I linked to this post on Facebook and said that you're my brother from another mother.
Posted by: Rebecca | June 08, 2011 at 01:05 PM
I hope you are planning to write a memoir someday, Rick. I really enjoy reading your recollections of your earlier life. :)
Posted by: Rosie | June 08, 2011 at 02:05 PM
Awww crap I called you Rick. Kill me.
Posted by: Rosie | June 08, 2011 at 02:06 PM
Kids these days just don't have to wait and wait next to their radio with their finger on the "pause" button, trying to get the latest best song. I recently unearthed boxes of cassettes, sadly I had made my own cd mixes over my old radio mixes.
Posted by: spoilsport | June 08, 2011 at 02:23 PM
Ahhh this is awesome! Thank you so much for sharing. Your voice sounds so cute in "Radio 4" haha.
Posted by: Kelsey | June 08, 2011 at 02:43 PM
rich :-) i love you :-)
Posted by: Carson | June 09, 2011 at 12:00 PM
Hearing the crummy sound volley back and forth between the right and left channels on "Don't Lose the Magic" ... This is a Proustian moment.
Posted by: Eric H. | June 09, 2011 at 11:45 PM
OH MAN! I LUV YA RICH! THIS SHIT IS CRISP! This is why your blog is the shit. No one brings back the hits!
The jams are HAWT!
Posted by: Ari B. | June 10, 2011 at 01:06 AM
Love it...I used to do the same thing. The central library in Syracuse would get Billboard, and I would either take the bus down to read it or I would call the information desk and get whatever info I needed. Sadly, all of my mix tapes are gone, but they def molded who I am as a music fan.
Posted by: John | June 10, 2011 at 09:13 AM
Do you know who performed "Latino Swing?" I like it but can't find any more info b/c the title isn't google-able enough.
Posted by: www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=22001673 | June 10, 2011 at 12:17 PM
I totally found it! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mhVwyUSdvLU
Posted by: www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=22001673 | June 10, 2011 at 12:20 PM