Monday, January 9, 2012

A Brief Look At The Concept Of Mixtapes

By John Shields


Mixtapes are also known as mixed tapes. Whatever name you choose to call them by, they refer to compiled songs that have a specific order and are recorded on an audio cassette tape. A mixed tape is generally also created with the objective of creating a collection of songs that reflect the creators style and musical preferences.

This means that you can compile the songs to include your favorite tunes or you can create something that has a certain concept and it could even be to reflect a certain theme or even a particular mood.

The essayist Geoffrey Obrien says that mixtapes are an American art form that is widely practiced in that country. Others that are very enthusiastic about such tapes also believe that these represent an artistic representation of songs put together in a definite manner. When these tapes are mixed together in the right manner, they can become wonderful musical experiences in which the sum of all the parts will be greater than the individual songs.

When the Beatles era came to a close, a new one began in which pop music albums began to be sold which were different because they held many individual songs that were recorded and compiled together in the same manner as a mixed tape was recorded before these albums came out.

This era soon also came and went and new digital means of recording audio songs began to take over which led to more affordable and more exciting mix of musical tunes which were now being sold as CDs and as MP3 music. These new inventions changed the way that music was compiled and heard but despite their sophistication, modern CDs and MP3s could not completely overshadow the audio cassette which continued to remain the media most closely associated with a mixed tape.

The earliest mixtapes were nothing but bootleg eight track tapes that could be bought and sold at flea markets and also in truck stops. These were originally introduced in the latter parts of the sixties and they continued through the eighties. Some of the more famous such tapes had names such as Top Pops 1977 and Country Chart Toppers as well as Super 73.




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