On the Mixed CD/Tape

The first mixed tape I ever got was from an OLDER guy. You know one of those guys FROM THE NEIGHBOURHOOD. I never liked him or anything, not much anyways. I definitely thought he was INTERESTING. He had one of those hats with the plastic bird poop on it that said DAMN SEAGULLS; and I thought that was the coolest thing ever. I think the only reason he made me the tape was because I had brought my sister’s RAP TRAXX tape to school and was teaching everyone the rhymes of Young MC at recess.

On my walk home from school one day he handed me the homemade tape with a booklet of all the lyrics painstakingly written out by hand; no small feat considering they were all rap songs and had so many words in them. He just stuffed the tape and the booklet in my hand and ran off to soccer practice saying that he made me this. There were definitely no love songs on this tape. I mean he was at least in 8th grade and I was way younger. There was no “You invade my soul,” or “You jump, I jump.” But there was magic in that tape and magic in the next two months as I memorized every lyric and wore the tape down to its shreds. There was magic when he would quiz me on my lyric memorization afterschool and philosophize on the finer points of Boogie Down Productions and Digital Underground. I’m not sure why he picked those particular songs. I’m sure I never will know.

I'm really not into fashion or craze

Just the one who pays and how soon I get a raise

You're probably in a daze, acting out of sympathy

Wrote a couple of rhymes and think that you can get with me

Boogie Down Productions – Poetry.


There's always one bitch in every town

Every time you see her, her panites are down

Always dressed fresh in the ladies' wear

She sports the weave instead of hair

2live Crew – We want some pussy.

Okay maybe his motives were a bit QUESTIONABLE. But still as a young girl unwise in the ways of boys beyond hair pulling and skirt lifting; this mixed tape cemented the relationship between music and experience for me. I can never hear 2Live Crew without thinking of those DAMN SEAGULLS.


Since then my history with the mixed tape and its successor the mixed CD, has been a bit more straight-forward.

You know, the song from that time we…… and the song that was playing the first time we…… this song is about a girl who is way too…… this song is about a guy that is so lucky to be with a girl like you that is so ………. Where the originality comes in, I think, is the inscription and the details. It is all about the details. The CD case. The notes. The computerized graphics. That is the extra effort. Not only are there cuddle points for the Mixed CD itself but any garnish around the CD and extra bits you added or meaning given to explain why certain songs were chosen is like extra chocolate sauce on a super-duper sundae with the works.

The beauty of the mixed CD is its uniqueness. This mixed CD is made for YOU. See it has your name on it! See there are songs that talk about things we talk about! See there are songs by bands we like! You can’t make a bland mixed CD, well you can but you can’t make a bland mixed CD in the sense of a guy giving a girl a mixed CD.

Or so I thought.

Recently I was the surprise recipient of what I believe to be a social anomaly. A mutant in the pool of guy-girl presents. A deviant in the natural progression of music acting as a mirror for relationships. I think I received a mass-produced Mixed CD. I know. I know it sounds like an oxy-moron. But it’s true. A faceless mixed CD with my name and a few cute notes that were probably provided by mad-libs. What kind of person takes something as sacred as the MIXED CD and turns it into some kind of legal Rohypnol?

A cunning person, that’s who. A cunning person who can zone on the girls that watch too much teen television and still want to be popular in high school and feed them exactly what they have been hungry for.

Who doesn’t relate to an Avril Lavigne song? ( Losing Grip)
Who doesn’t always want to be right? ( Little Miss Can’t Be Wrong- Spin Doctors)
Who hasn’t wanted a night to last forever? ( The Brilliant Dance- Dashboard Confessional)
Who doesn’t wish she could erase her past? ( No Lies, Just Love – Bright Eyes)
Who isn’t interested in just getting wasted? ( Nth Degree – Morningwood)
Who doesn’t want to run away and be rich and fabulous? ( Come Away with Me- Fabulous)

None of these songs scream PREETADELIC, you know. Well maybe Losing Grip but that’s a lucky guess. This experience has sullied my lofty perception of the MIXED CD and its significance. Why not just stand on a street corner with a whole box of them and the first girl that recognizes half the songs becomes your girlfriend? GREAT. Soooo romantic.