31 Comments

I have been with my husband since 1988, and I still have the mixtape he made me in college. “Just Some Stuff 4 U” is one of my prized possessions. But I’m not buying all new cassette tapes. Been there, done that. You can’t make me buy stirrup pants again either.

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😍 I love love. Stirrup pants: 🚫

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Two things: My first tapes were Thompson Twins “Into the Gap,” Eurythmics “Revenge” and Led Zeppelin’s first album. A kind of insane mashup for my kid brain!

Two: Agree — the MC Christmas song makes me mentalllll. Great writing as always!

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AMG thank you. I feel like a grinch when people say HOW DO YOU NOT LIKE THAT SONG

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This was great! Cassettes (and cassingles!) evoke such warm memories, and I can see why younger generations are gravitating towards them too. I wish I still had mine, sigh.

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I realized I kept some mix tapes made for me hut I have no player! Omg cassingles and the extended mix… maxi-single?

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Thanks, Kirthana! (Honestly I love seeing the word “cassingle” alive and well )

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So, very nice writing on the cassette craze..I agree with all the reasons you stated,Cheryl, to explain the cravings..I remember when Sam Goody music stores had a whole catalogue of songs that you could peruse and then select as many as you wanted to make a mixed tape..it was about a dollar a selection..I did enjoy a good mixed tape based on only my choice of song..

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I am all for the analog music experience. At my "country home" I have a 5-cd stereo only, no spotify, no streaming hook-up, and I LOVE it. I spend about 5 minutes every morning selecting the day's tunes from a very small CD collection and I love the experience of opening the jewel cases, plopping it in, hitting disc skip, and then finally playing. And I listen to the 5 CDs all day long, top to bottom, over and over again. There's something really therapeutic about the whole exercise and not having to *decide* every hour what you're going to listen to.

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Wait now I need to know what the 5 CDs are!

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And just to bring it back to the cassette medium, my first cassette was Tiffany with the song "Could've Been" and her cover of "I think we're alone now"

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I definitely had that tape!

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I recently dug out all my old CDs. I might need a CD Walkman …

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My twin sister and I were recalling listening to Falling Into You by Celine Dion on our Discman while sharing the headphones circa 1996- that was our first CD.

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oh, the memories of rollerskating around my neighborhood (!) listening to Appetite for Destruction (!!) in my Barbie and the Rockers Walkman (!!!) - speaking of which, where are those skates I bought during the pandemic?

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This sounds freaking idyllic to me! (And thanks for the nudge to work on the roller skating story I’ve started researching. It was my FAVORITE ‘80s activity. I went a few months ago and became obsessed all over again)

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I forgot about Barbie and The Rockers! I still remember the theme song which I played over and over again, likely on a cassingle. "We're Dana, Diva, Derrick, and DeeDee too." (I think those were their names lol)

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Yes, the cassingles! I could sing you a few Jem songs from memory. “Twilight in Paris… city of lights… it’s everything I hoped it would be.”

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"Jem. Truly outrageous. Truly truly truly outrageous" 😂😂😂

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Oh my gosh, I still have some of my old cassettes, including a “Pretty in Pink“ soundtrack pressed in pink plastic.

I always enjoy your articles, thank you so much for the nostalgic flashback to my Gen X teenhood. 💕

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Oh I LOVE that album- I heard Left of Center at the Y yesterday, they stay playing 80s music there.

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Suzanne Vega! That album got me into Echo and the Bunnymen.

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I bet it still sounds GREAT. Thank you for reading!!

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I am hyperventilating with the nostalgia!! This is such a brilliant and fascinating deep dive! Sony Sports Walkmans for the win!! 💛🙌 My best friend Sarah and I used to synchronise ours on the London underground, going up to the West End on 8Os shopping trips. Headphones 🎧🎧 You have captured the memories perfectly, and it’s so interesting looking at the reasons for the resurgence … Also, Fawnia, absolutely, Roger Moore IS James Bond. 👏😂💯

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Thank you for the Roger Moore co-sign!! 🍸All the good new wave music came from London! And we couldn’t find it in suburban MI so I’d have my dad bring back albums and tapes when he went on business. Like he’d have to physically bring me music which is so wild to think about now!

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Top emoji choice for Roger!! 🍸😄 I LOVE that your dad brought back music in albums and tapes, and it is so wild to think about it now. Crazy! There’s an amazing instagram account, new wave music or something, which has ALL the videos, all the top of the pops performances … don’t get me started! Did you ever get to see BBC top of the pops in the US? XO

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Ohhh! I need to find this IG account! We didn’t have Top of the Pops in the States but I knew about it, maybe from MTV interviews with Duran Duran or music magazines. We really had to work for our content back then!

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Meanwhile, I was over here begging my American-British bestie at school to share her copies of Seventeen!! (And, then, watching MTV via Satellite!) 🤣XXX

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Grass is always greener right?

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Thank you!! I had a knockoff Walkman and I was very jealous of people that had the cool yellow ones

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I started out with one with the BIG orange earmuff bits, too (your piece brought it all back!!). I think I saved from my Saturday job for the yellow one - but, honestly, what I DO remember is that the earbuds were super-hard, and really hurt my ears?!) (So funny what we remember!) 😂

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