Audio cassette tapes first hit the market in the early 1960s, but it took nearly a decade for them to go mainstream. And when they did, they transformed many music lovers’ lives; they could no longer just listen to their favorite albums on the go, but collect and trade their own custom listening experiences. By the ’80s, blank tapes had become a household staple for these consumers, on par with batteries and toilet paper. And like those frequently replenished products, everyone seemed to have a favorite brand.
Some people preferred tapes made by Philips, the original developer of the compact cassette format, while others had their choice of brands from Fuji, BASF, Sony, Radio Shack, Scotch (which also made adhesive tape), and many others.
Even people from the post-cassette generation still remember the old catchphrases. “Is it live or is it Memorex?” or Maxell’s “A surprised man” Scarf and LC2. If you’ve ever recorded your own tapes, you don’t need a logo to recognise the brand – just look at the design of the cassette itself. Online Archive (tapedeck.org).
“I built tapedeck.org to showcase the surprising beauty and (sometimes) strangeness found in the design of common audio tape cassettes.” The site’s creator, Oliver Gelbrich, wrote:“It starts from the early 60s and has an incredible range of designs. Functional cassette designColorful and playful 70’s Audio Tapes Throughout the ’80s and ’90s, amazing variations in shape were created. A growing collection Brands, play times, colors, and even tape coatings (chrome, ferro, ferrochrome, metal) all make different differences that audiophiles value.
It’s a little hard to believe that the cassette tape has made a comeback in an age when even home CD burning has been replaced by near-instant streaming and downloading of digital music. The mythical appeal of the mixtape has only grown in recent years as artists from minor to major have released cassette tapes, or even cassette-only releases. This seems to be happening all over the world. A few weeks ago, while strolling through the arts school district of Seoul where I live, I passed a coffee shop that offered to rent both tapes to young customers and Walkman-type players to listen to them on. As another generational slogan goes, everything old is new again.
via Huge
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Based in Seoul, Colin MaOnershall Writing and broadcastingHe has written papers on cities, languages, and cultures, and his projects include the Substack newsletter. Books about cities And books A city without a state: Walking through 21st-century Los Angeles. Follow us on Twitter CollinhamOnershall or Facebook.
