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The tape runs out
We're slightly dubious about the claims that Currys decision to stop stocking cassettes is the official end of the road for the tape, because Currys do have a bit of form for announcing that it's taking some piece of technology or other off its shelves, so there's a haunting feeling this is just a bit of PR to take advantage of a quiet news period. But even so, with Woolworths apparently having dropped them too (to be honest, it's more surprising to hear that Woolworths is still going than that they're not selling tapes), it does feel like the end of an era. Currys managing director Peter Keenan tries to be gentle at this difficult time:
"I remember the tape with some fondness," said Peter Keenan, the managing director of Currys. "The hours spent putting together compilation tapes and the all-too-familiar experience of finding your deck had chewed your tape, will resonate with many now in their 30s and 40s."
Yes, who wouldn't remember "with fondness" their favourite tape being chewed to death. It's like having a chuckle over scratching your best single.
5 comments:
I'm having trouble thinking of "Fond recollections of compilation tapes" and "Managing Director of Currys" in the same sentence. It's like when George W Bush tried to crack a joke about looking for WMDs under the sofa; They just don't go together, they're two different worlds. Somehow I can't picture the Managing Director of Currys sitting by a tape deck with a stack of CDs and vinyl, carefully crafting the perfect tracklisting for that girl who works in the record-shop.
"Ummm... Here, I've put together a few songs for you... Thought you might like them... You, er, said you liked the new Dinsoaur Jr stuff, so, I, er... this is some other stuff you might like..."
"Thanks! I'll listen to it tonight."
"That's great! Now, have you thought about what would happen if that tape was accidentally damaged? I know we try to be careful, but these things do happen. We all know the all-too-familiar experience of finding your deck has chewed your tape. My sister had a tape just like this, and she dropped it into a lawn-mower. The good news is that you can protect your tape for just £35 per year, or £467 for five year- Hello? Where are you going? Let me leave you this leaflet..."
Indeed. And you'd have thought that a future MD of Currys would have more respect for the "Home Taping is Killing Music" warning that was affixed to most record sleeves.
James - good point; if his mixtapes are anything like those godawful showreels they constantly run on their TV displays, it'd be a fright. Although when i was in buying a coffee maker the other week there was a wall of Jarvis Cockers.
Although that might have been Comet. It's hard to tell the difference.
Karl: He's fine with music being killed, so long as hometaping doesn't also kill the fridge market, too.
My chief memory of cassette tapes: spending hours making mix tapes for assorted girlfriends; working out whether to put a 40-min album on a 60-min tape or put it all on one side of 90-min and find some complementary tunes; having 10 top-price Spectrum games on one cassette tape; getting free cassettes from petrol stations via parents and the 15-second silence and clunk when a tape side came to an end.
Tapes: Rest In Peace.
I had Lou Reed's transformer on one side of a C-90. I can't listen to it on CD anymore without expecting Prokofiev's Lt Kije suite to start up immediately after 'Goodnight Ladies'.
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