Rolling Stone Australia — June 2017

since age six, i have been obsessed

with music and fascinated with the mediums

bywhichitisdelivered.Afterthebarelypor-

table,clunking,vibeannihilating8-tracktape

had realised its potential, the mass produced

cassette soon took its place. Tapes were cheap

and although fragile, afforded someone with

limited means to have a lot of music.

Even better, you could buy

ablanktapeandcreateyour

ownsoundtrack.Thecoolness

of this was immediately as-

similated and the mix tape

became a standard means of

expressive communication.

Howmanymillionhourswere

racked up by lonely boys craft-

ing the mix tape for the girl, as a sonic testimo-

nial perfectly portraying their tortured aff ec-

tions? Putting Slayer’s “Angel of Death” right

before Al Green’s “La La For You”, there was no

way she wouldn’t understand, right?! Writing

song titles on the j-card with care to not only

prevent misspellings but not run out of room

was nerve splitting.

As the years went on, mix tapes became

a captain’s log of your life, a sonic snapshot

chronicling your musical interests and emo-

tional development. The only mistake you

could make would be to throw them out or re-

cord over them. I have mix tapes that are al-

most 40 years old and still play them, but wince

at some of the titles: “Henry Hates You”, “Leave

Me Alone” and the sequel, “Leave Me Alone II”.

These tapes provided escape on countless band

tours. And then, I got a recordable CD player.

Thecassettequickly became a medium to re-

cord live shows, listen to album mixes and then

put away. I made mix CDRs and listened to

them for years. Several years

ago, I went back to cassettes

and they quickly regained

their rightful place in my lis-

tening schedule. I noticed

that tape decks were no lon-

ger being made and felt lucky

I had kept and maintained my

four pro models.

In a world of streaming digital content

(which sounds awful), a cassette with analog

source audio saturating the magnetic parti-

cles that cling tenaciously to the tape is a great

thing. Bulky and easy to break as they are, they

sound great.

And this is why, to my great elation, cas-

settes are back. The newly initiated are hear-

ing what digital literally can not help but deny

them! Tapes are on merch tables of touring

bands and fans are digging it. Hopefully new

tape decks are on the way.

Analog is real. Digital is some computer

talkin’ to ya. Rock the cassette!

Ju ne, 2017 RollingStoneAus.com | Rolling Stone | 31

The Yes frontman – on

tour with the Yes offshoot

band Anderson, Rabin

and Wakeman – is part of

the Rock and Roll Hall of

Fame’s 2017 class.

The Beatles

“Eleanor Rigby”

The Beatles were a very

progressive band. It’s a

very interesting lyric, dark

and strange. No matter

how many times you hear

it, it still sounds amazing.

Nina Simone

“IPutaSpellonYou”

In the early days of my

career, I would always

carry around a Nina

Simone tape. She went

through hell to become

a great artist.

Jimi Hendrix

“Purple Haze”

I saw him play at a pub

in Munich right after his

fi rst album came out. This

song was really the be-

ginning of powerful rock.

Rickie Lee Jones

“Magazine”

She’s defi nitely one of the

greatest singer-song-

writers of all time. My wife

and I saw her play recent-

ly, and I was an emotional

wreck by the end.

Randy Newman

“In Germany Before

the War”

This is an incredible,

powerful, sad, lonely

song. Not many people

go there. He’s just magic,

and I love his songwriting.

MY LIST

Five Songs That

Inspired Me

Jon

Anderson

HENRY ROLLINS REKINDLES HIS LOVE OF THE CASSETTE

AFan’sNotes

CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: ILLUSTRATION BY MICHAEL WELDON; GETTY IMAGES

“Digital is some

computer talkin’ to

ya. Rock the

cassette!”