What Ever Happened to Tapes?

I'm back at my house in New Mexico, which has recently re-introduced me to the old music form of cassette tapes.

Now I probably don't need to tell most of you this, for just in case, compact cassette tapes were an ancient device used to store music. They existed somewhere after 8-tracks, but before CDs. An entire album (or collection of songs) was laid out to an entire tape, and you had to listen to them sequentially. At the end of each side on had to flip the tape to hear the other side, this was changed after new technology allowed you to play both sides. 

I remember back in the day when I was out here the car didn't have a CD player, so I had to listen to only cassette tapes. I remember there were only three I needed in the car: "Graceland" - Paul Simon, "Live at Carnegie Hall" - Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble, and "Exodus" - Bob Marley. Of course I had radio too, but all three albums were so good I had no problems listening to them back to front. 

I think today will all of the MP3's, iTunes, Rhapsodys, and whatever other electronic song gathering we do people very rarely buy albums any more.  I know I'm guilty of this often. My music collection looks like a bunch of singles rather than chunks of artists. I think it's kind of a shame. This is tough for artists, and it's especially tough for the music listening masses. Instead of hearing a bands full gamut of style and technique the audience knows only slices of a bands true talent. And instead of trying to experiment and try new things artists are continually looking for that hook and catchy lyric (yes pop music, I'm talking to you). 

The moral of my story is next time you go to hear some music listen to the whole album. Or if you're buying some music, buy the whole album. I promise, you'll be pleasantly surprised by what you find.