I’m 57. If you grew up at our around the same time or call yourself GenX you should be able to remember a time of entertainment scarcity. If you wanted to hear a song by a band you had to own the vinyl or cassette (later CD) or wait by the radio for the DJ to play it. You could call the station and request they play it… if they even play that type of music. being a fan of a band or wanting to hear a song ment you had to hunt for it.
I was a big cassette buyer back in the day. Never really had a good stereo system with a turn table and used my parents system they got as a wedding gift back in the 60s. I did have a cassette player similar to this one.
Back then when I spent money on a cassette at the mall record store I would wear the tape out listening to it. Didn’t matter if there was only a single listenable song on it it MY MONEY AND I WILL LOVE at worse like this. Yes I listened to BOTH sides of this …
Back then having the scarcity and cost behind music and movies made you feel you had skin in the game.
Today with everything online stream or otherwise music just doesn’t have the same feel as it it did in the 80s. Not talking the new artist… but all artists. I have no skin in the game when I call yell out to Alexia to play No Guilt by the Waitresses. At one point that was super rare.
I have a digital library of Alexandria at our beck and call… but I have lost the ability to sit still and let a single piece of art change me. I miss the weight of that cassette. I miss the feeling that if I did not pay attention, I might miss a life-changing song.
No if you excuse me I am going to watch the Star Wars Christmas Special on my phone as my wife drives the family to visit my inlaws.
