(MOGS) The Venerable Art of the Mix Tape
Mix Tapes. Much has been written about them, much has been said about them (well, at least in the last few years and in books later movies like High Fidelity, and Hairstyles of the Damned) There are many kinds from the "Break-Up" Tape to the "Theme Tape" to the "Best Album '.....' Never Made" to the "Road Trip Tape" ...hell check out the link above. Too numerous to mention. There even specialty ones of all videogame music (featuring bands like the NESkimos and the Mini-bosses), parodies/tributes like "Beatallica" and Mashups like the infamous "Grey Album" of Jay-Z and the Beatles "White Album" (look around, it's out there).
The Cult of the Mix Tape is a rock and roll, and hip hop staple. Its origins probably lie in what my dad called the "jam sessions and record hops" of the late '50s and early '60s, which were basically a bunch of guys in a basement or school gym or something like that, crates of 45"s and an eagerness to show off one's hipness, obscurity, and musical acumen. Today we do it with iPods and MP3 lists, laptops and CD burners...
The Mix Tape of today came about when blank Memorex cassettes hit the market, when would-be DJs and rock afficiandos decided they could assemble a better album, radio playlist or concert than their idols, and because life needed a soundtrack (especially long drives). Suddenly, everyone was their own producer, A&R man, engineer, DJ, and something was created, which in a way, is an art form all in and of itself. 
My earliest memories of music are of my dad, who spent a short time as a radio DJ in Philly, cutting mix tapes from his famous "catalog" - over 2000 sides of '45 vinyl. Some of it worth quite a bit. When I was a kid he was cutting those tracks to cassette, now he's cutting them to CD. All the while, he made mixes for the guys at work, for friends and family, for me and my sister, for the car, you name it. Especially to prove a point - that point usually being he'd forgotten more about jazz, big band, doo-whop, R&B, Soul, Motown, and the Philly Sound than you could ever hope to know. It's how I was introduced to black music and why I didn't listen to anything newer than 1979 until I was about 12 and a friend gave me a copy of Appetite For Destruction
(yeah I rode the bus all the way through high school, I suck). Another friend gave me a mixtape cut from "And Justice for All" and "Symphony of Destruction" .... That led to me taping songs off of radio and MTV (headbangers ball and 120 minutes mostly) ...which led to me making mix tapes for my 2-3 high school friends, mostly for the bus ride. Yes there was a tape for a girlfriend, all Beach Boys and Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons. In the mid-90s yes.
Jump ahead to college. Now I'm into CDs, and I get introduced to punk and indie rock and roll and computers...Car mixes and long trip mixes are the rule of the day for friends and teammates, also mixes for studying and sleep. Next comes tech school. Now I'm DJ'ing for parties and cutting mix tapes for workouts (the LAST magnetic tape mixes I put together were in 2000 and I still have 'em) I'm DJ'ing and mixing old-school hip hop, funk, and techno for my classmates, and a little '70s love because we have a ton of prior-enlisted oldheads in the group. Now I go to Korea. I think I cut CDs for half the base. The squadron bar is full of tapes I made, and some of them are of the bands I played in (Mrs. Leery, Nurse Betty, and Download _012.jpg - The Robert Paulsen Project.
Cut to the present. Mix CDs and playlists for deployments. CDs for the different squadrons. CDs for people at work. Still fun. A few of them are listed under "Angry_MOGS" at the link at the beginning of the post. I'm going to try to put my best ones up there and see how they stack up against some of the other pros. If my pop ever stops with his Luddism, he might have his on there too, then you can see a master at work.
Further reading: MOGS' Mixes
Stumble It!
Robert Paulsen Project=hotstuff!!....love those eclectic mixes, dude....Right now--as I type this--I'm immersing myself in the new Coheed/Cambria CD which is sooo awesome--I met those dudes at a "secret" party last week at Webster Hall(yeah, right...secret)...got an advance copy of this album (it came out in stores today) and all I can say is: getitgetitgetit--amazing mix of genres....talent out the you know what...Claudio is surprisingly normal/nerdy in person..... OK...must immerse myself also in paper writing....
Posted by: carly | 20 September 2005 at 17:43
Ahhh, the mixed tape. Brings back memories from of when I used to make 'em for an army boyfriend in Germany. It was a ritual and I especially loved naming the tape, a lot of thought went into it. It had to be cool and au courant but without pretension. It was also through the mixed tape I discovered punk and alternative music which led to a whole buzzcut, combat boots, black attire look for me during university.
......OH MY GOD!!!!!! You won't believe what I'm hearing, I can hear my neighbor in the apartment next door having sex!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! YUUUUUCCCCCKKKK!!!!!!!!!! Sounds like a porno with no picture. GAG! I gotta hit the road and come back later when the cacaphony is over.
Posted by: Stella | 20 September 2005 at 19:15
Carly - thank you for your compliments and the words on Coheed - lucky girl :)
Stella - thank you the mix tape story, and then making me spit my soda out all over my monitor :)
Peace out
Posted by: MOGS | 20 September 2005 at 19:43