by Joe Wallace

Is this really happening? According to the Dallas Observer, yes. Cassettes are apparently getting their own little renaissance. I personally have spotted cassettes–new ones–for sale in my neighborhood home of all things vinyl and groovy, Laurie’s Planet of Sound, which I highly recommend.

Tapes have been on the pop culture radar for ages–you can buy cassette tape themed tees at Old Navy, Threadless and elsewhere, and I myself just purchased a mix tape button from one of my fellow Etsy sellers, Buttonhead.

Butthonhead seems to be a fellow retro junkie, and if her work–and all those tape tees–can be used as a barometer of the rise of tape culture, we might just be in for an interesting new collector frenzy.

Suits me just fine–I drive a vehicle still equipped with a tape deck in spite of having been made in 2003. But it’s strange, isn’t it? In the age of CD Baby, iTunes, and digital distro that the physicality of cassettes–not just vinyl or even 8-track tapes–is still in demand. A cultural meme. A fetish?

The mix tape was definitely a major part of 80s and 90s culture and nothing has come along to quite replace it–it was a unique animal to be sure, and no matter how hard you try, “mix disc” just doesn’t have the same ring to it.

What’s YOUR take on this trend? I’d welcome a return of the mix tape, myself…

One-inch Mix Tape buttons by Buttonhead. I own the blue one.