The Art of the "Mix Tape"

I got my first car. A '77 Cutlass Supreme and it came equipped with an 8-track tape player. Something had to be done as the only 8-tracks available were my dad's Kenny Rogers and the First Edition or some other country stuff...so after driving around a week I went to a car audio shop and purchased a cassette deck. It really was the envy of all my friends.

I also had developed a collection of LP's. It began with the Beatles and some Rolling Stones and by the time the cassette deck was in the dashboard I was well into the Heavy Metal phase. I imagine I had around 80 or so albums.

Since necessity is the mother of invention and blank TDK cassettes were about 7 bucks for a package of three, the mix tape came into my reality. It didn't take long before you realized that audio whiplash could take place when actually listened to the tape you were making and Lynerd Skynard's "Free Bird" preceeded Iron Maiden's "Run to the Hills."

There really is/was an art to making a good mix tape. That reality came when you would try to impress the girl you were dating with a Valentine's Day mix tape or coming up with the perfect set of tunes for the two-hour road trip with the guys...of course, the "art of the good mix tape" theme has been discussed in movies like "High Fidelity" et. al. Albums scattered on the floor, runs up to the upstairs of the fraternity house to get that Romeo Void album, checking out a couple of classical collections from the library, etc...about four hours worth of time, too.

So, kids, today, let's save some time, and practice that art by coming up with a "Blogger Virtual Mix CD" today. Two themes: First, for my Christian readers...12 worship songs/remakes released within the last 5 years. Second, a good 12-mix of songs you want to listen to when you need to get in a creative mood.

To get you started: Song 1, CD 1: Awesome God by the Insyderz. Song 1, CD 2: Chronic Town, by R.E.M.

Ready...MIX!