Re-discovering your old music

In another thread I noted the joy of re-discovering cassette-taped music I originally recorded in the 1980s but hadn't listened to for at least 25 years (my stereo system has a cassette player but I hardly ever used it).

About an hour ago I started playing a tape simply called "Assorted Oldies." What a treat. Rascals, Lovin' Spoonful, Buffalo Springfield, Hollies, Chicago, Small Faces, very old Beatles, Eric Clapton, Kansas, Joe Cocker, Thunderbyrd ... I can hardly wait to attack the other cassettes as the summer progresses. I found another "Assorted" tape I made that featured the name of a state was in each song title, and another with songs about former girlfriends (not all complimentary).

"Dialogue Part I & II" is on now. Feels like I'm cruising off to a Badlands or lake cabin weekend again, armed with a case of Schmidt with the geese on the cans.

 

My cassettes -- and player -- are long gone. But Grooveshark has taken up the slack.

Among the songs on my latest mix:

"I'm Telling You Now," Freddie & The Dreamers
"Will You Love Me Tomorrow," by the original composer, Carole King
"Cosmic Dancer," T.Rex
"Because," The Dave Clark Five
"Song On The Radio," Al Stewart (remember him?)

 

I don't ever want to hear REO Speedwagon again.

But Boz Skaggs is still cool.

 

I have loads of assorted cassettes I made back in the day and I keep meaning to pull some of them out and give 'em a listen, no doubt they'd take me back to those days of summers by my buddy's pool or cruising up north for a long weekend.

And Boz Scaggs's latest album is pretty good.

 

REO Speedwagon has some great songs.
My first concert was REO Speedwagon (on the Good Trouble tour - 1982) with Survivor (Eye of the Tiger tour) as the opening act.

 

My wife keeps telling me I should throw out all the cases of cassettes I have of Springsteen bootlegs in the basement. I figure I've upgraded and have over 90% of them on CD now, but for some reason I can't part with 'em.

 

I think this would be great if you're about 50, unless you listened to primarily to Led Zeppelin or Pink Floyd.

As someone who is 40, I can't escape my old music. It's rare that I can turn on the radio and not find Def Leppard or Bon Jovi on one station or grunge on another.

 

Ah, the days when we had to trade bootlegs on cassette or record the album the minute you got it home in case the needle went through the crappy vinyl. Now we download them online a day or two after the show.

I have loads of vinyl and cassettes, haven't had a turntable hooked up in years, have a couple boom boxes around and my stereo has a tape deck but haven't tossed a cassette in to listen to in ages.

 

I have a lot of the music digitally - Violent Femmes, the Smiths, the Cure, Dead Kennedys, Black Flag, etc.
Some of the more obscure stuff I had on vinyl I have not yet replaced - Screaming Blue Messiahs, Baltimora, Scraping Foetus Off the Wheel and Gene Loves Jezebel come to mind.

I listen to a lot of music from the 80s, as well as the 60s, 70s and 90s.
I hate most of that 80s radio rock - REO Speedwagon, Journey, Bon Jovi, Boston. I didn't own it then, and I don't own it now.

 

It's even better if you're older! Here's the playlist from the "Songs of the States" cassette:

SIDE A: "Louisiana Lou," Allman Brothers; "Leavin' Louisiana in the Broad Daylight," Rodney Crowell; "Louisiana Rain," Tom Petty; "Georgia Rhythm," Atlanta Rhythm Section; "Georgia on my Mind," the Band; "Back in Georgia," Charlie Daniels; "Mainline Florida," Eric Clapton; "Illinois," Dan Fogelberg; "Virginia," Marshall Tucker Band; "Stop in Nevada," Billy Joel, and we fade it out with "New York Connection," Tom Scott.

SIDE B: "Sweet Home Alabama," Lynyrd Skynryd; "Green Rolling Hills of West Virginia," Emmylou Harris; "Old Tennessee," Dan Fogelberg; "South Carolina," the Outlaws; "Down by the Arkansas Line," Elvin Bishop; "Texas Morning," Michael Murphy; "Alberta Bound," "North Ontario," Gordon Lightfoot; "Ohio," CSNY; "New Mexico," Rick Danko; "California Blues," John Fogarty, and we fade it out with Chicago's "West Virginia Fantasies."

 

That's a great mix tape, micro.

Listening to old cassettes is fun, but tough for me because the only working cassette player I own is in my 1995 Camry. Since I only take it on short trips, it takes a while to listen to one of those old, 45-minute-a-side mix tapes.

 

Just wondering: Why is it all the DJ-free, corporate, programmed broadcast stations play the hell out of "Take it on the Run" but you never hear "Keep on Loving You"? Wasn't the latter a bigger hit?

It's odd how some songs become heavy-rotation on 1980s format stations, and other big hits are forgotten. Somewhere, a Clear Channel computer has a secret formula.

Or maybe it's the old BCS college football supercomputer, reprogrammed for corporate radio ...