The Tameside Radio presenter writes about the revival of the cassette tape, which has been an interesting musical development in recent times...
There's an awful lot going on this month. A trio of bank holidays, the King's Coronation (if that's your thing), Eurovision in Liverpool (ditto), not to mention local elections. It's the first time you'll need to remember your ID rather than just giving your name and address, and I'm really uncomfortable with any measures that make democracy more difficult. I'm not aware that electoral fraud was a pressing problem that required solving. I hope that staff manning polling stations don't get a load of verbal from those who haven't paid attention to the messaging.
I've written before about my love of renting films by post, and I've always been a fan of a rummage through a record shop. I spent many happy hours in the Virgin Megastore and HMV in Liverpool during my Uni days, not to mention the little independent shops on Bold Street, picking out CD and vinyl bargains.
I was heartened to read that HMV plans to return to its spiritual home on Oxford Street in London in time for Christmas, replacing the ludicrious neon overpriced American candy store that took its place during the pandemic. It was their first store, opened by Sir Edward Elgar, the British composer. It hosted a Spice Girls Christmas lights switch-on and a Blur rooftop concert back in the mid-90s, and owner Doug Putmann says its reopening will be "the launchpad for an exciting new era for HMV".
The Stockport store survived the 2019 cull, and remains a great place to visit. Another interesting musical development which the Times recently reported on is the resurgence of the cassette tape. Seen as largely obselete in recent years, it seems the likes of Arctic Monkeys and Harry Styles releasing their music onto tape is reviving its fortunes, albeit still in fairly small numbers so far.
Back in my childhood, making someone a mix tape was kind of a big deal, and clearly took a lot more effort than building a Spotify playlist. Similarly, taping the latest hits off the Radio 1 chart took some skill, with Bruno Brookes helpfully allowing the tracks to fade very slightly before he spoke, meaning a pause button pressed with aplomb could hopefully cut out the chat.
Looking at the sales stats from the BPI, the representative body for music labels, 195,000 cassettes were bought in 2022. This may sound a low number, but it's rising (it stood at around 160,000 in 2020). Tapes were top of the tree in the UK format-wise from 1985 all the way to 1992. Remember 'cassingles'? Played the same both sides! I had shoe boxes full of cassettes, and used to make my own compilation series called "Sound Trax". Yes, I've always been a geek!
It seems nostalgia does play a huge part in the revival of the tape, with Guardians of the Galaxy's 2014 soundtrack selling well for much of the last decade. Perhaps with a third film hitting cinemas this weekend, it will shift some more copies. It contains some great songs from the likes of Redbone, Rupert Holmes and David Bowie. An Iron Maiden album from 1982, "The Number Of The Beast", is also popular amongst cassette buyers.
Mars Tapes in Manchester has everything from Slayer to Snoop Dogg, Phil Collins to Pink Floyd, and even the vintage Walkmans to play them on. I miss the days when auto reverse and "Dolby Noise Reduction" were considered the height of technology. Also the drama of sorting out a tangle in your favourite tape, with deft employment of a pencil. Simpler times.
CD sales still eclipse both vinyl and cassettes by some margin, but the gap has narrowed. Not everything is available to stream, and it can be withdrawn at any time. Effectively, you're renting rather than buying.
Cassettes were the strongest format known to man, too. They could be dropped, mangled, and still they went on. The only issue which could really spoil a mixtape is someone not taking the tabs out, then taping over your masterpiece creation. If you're young, you might not know what on earth I'm talking about now.
Proclaimers recently got dropped from the King's Coronation playlist, as they've been quite vocal about their Republican views in the past. It's not as easy to remove a song from a compilation cassette. Maybe they'll be track one on my next mixtape.
Have a good week, and enjoy the extra Bank Holiday. I'll be on Tameside Radio from 11am till 3pm if you fancy tuning in. Coronation Quiche and proclaimations not compulsory.
