Tapes!

This morning commenced another day of unpacking boxes, moving random piles of things from one room to another, and arranging furniture. It was boring, lonely work and just the sort of thing that some rockin' music could have made (at least a little) more enjoyable. However, the PC et al were sneering from a cluttered corner, daring me to set them up, and the overwhelming majority of our CDs were stowed away in boxes ... and we ain't got no iPod yet.

That left a stack of Emilia's and my cassette tapes that for some reason got unpacked the first day we moved in. These relics probably haven't been listened to since the late 90's. But, I was tired of hearing the construction noises from outside, and the England v Trinidad and Tobago World Cup match wouldn't start until 5pm. So, I popped a tape into our boombox. Ahh.

First selection: a compilation of Joy Division's "Greatest Hits"

Joy Division is one of those bands that I've been listening to pretty consistently since I was probably twelve. Their music still holds up today. Heck, bands like Interpol and the Killers wouldn't even have a sound if it weren't for Joy Division. More relevant to my own experience this morning, lead singer, Ian Curtis, groaning "where will it end?" over and over on Lords of the Day gave me a good chuckle as I surveyed the mess that lay before me.

Now, I know Joy Division was a Manchester band, but being here in London listening to this cassette makes me harken back to my teenage days when I would purchase gobs of cassette tapes of UK artists. Often, I'd spend hours in my room listening ad naseum to the likes of the Smiths, the Cure, the Cult, Bauhaus, etc etc etc, thinking about how much cooler London and the UK must be than my hometown of Chickamauga, Georgia. Much of that pondering was just a bit of the-grass-is-always-greener syndrome, but whoduhthunk I'd eventually move here (twice!) as a thirty-something?

And then onto another tape. Ooh.

The Doors - LA Woman

Not just a stroll down Memory Lane anymore, listening to LA Woman was a full fledged hike. The tape (the actual, physical cassette along with its case and insert) has been through think and thin with me. I even think I was listening to it when I crashed my car at seventeen years old. Jim Morrison was my hero for the longest time. As with Joy Division (and possibly even more so), despite being decades old, the music is so frickin' solid.

After LA Woman, I started sorting through the stack for other gems. Interestingly, some music just sounds more right on cassette than other formats. A perfect example is A Message to Rudy by the Specials. For whatever reason, I hearing this taped version was better than hearing a CD or mp3 of the same song.

With all the necessary downsizing Emilia and I did for this move, it was never an issue that these (and the many other) tapes would come with us. Not that we'll ever listen to them much or that they can't be replaced by more up-to-date formats. It's just that these things are such tangible representative of such intangible stuff ... memories. Just seeing a stack of them in a corner somewhere is a wonderful reminder of whom I once was and am today. In a week or so these relics will go on a shelf or in a box and we'll move on to other formats for our musical enjoyment. Until then ... I'll continue flipping over these bad boys.

Rock on,

Tiki Chris