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The Distorted History of the Cassette Tape
by Marc Masters
Book Reviewed by:Marc Masters explores the history of the cassette tape from its invention in the early 1960s to today.
The cassette tape was revolutionary. Cheap, portable, and reusable, this small plastic rectangle changed music history. Make your own tapes! Trade them with friends! Tape over the ones you don't like! The cassette tape upended pop culture, creating movements and uniting communities.
This entertaining book charts the journey of the cassette from its invention in the early 1960s to its Walkman-led domination in the 1980s to decline at the birth of compact discs to resurgence among independent music makers. Scorned by the record industry for "killing music," the cassette tape rippled through scenes corporations couldn't control. For so many, tapes meant freedom—to create, to invent, to connect.
Marc Masters introduces readers to the tape artists who thrive underground; concert tapers who trade bootlegs; mixtape makers who send messages with cassettes; tape hunters who rescue forgotten sounds; and today's labels, which reject streaming and sell music on cassette. Their stories celebrate the cassette tape as dangerous, vital, and radical.
The cassette tape has always been dangerous. Ever since it emerged in the early 1960s, it has been used to create, to invent, to individualize. In ways unlike any other audio format, the cassette tape offered freedom to artists, musicians, and fans—the kind of freedom that scared anyone used to dictating how music is made, sold, and heard.
Maybe you've heard the phrase "Home taping is killing music." Sounds pretty scary—but to the British Phonographic Industry, not scary enough. To get cassette tape users truly spooked, in the early 1980s the BPI created an advertising campaign that plastered this sensationalistic motto in bold block letters atop an ominous graphic. A cassette-shaped skull with its two holes serving as watchful eyes sat ready to pounce if you dared to tape music at home. Beneath were crossbones and another warning: AND IT'S ILLEGAL.
The horror suggested by this creepy cartoon must have been confusing. Could the cassette tape really murder an entire ...
Masters' work is thorough: from the creation of the cassette tape to Grateful Dead bootlegging to indie record labels, he covers just about every aspect, complete with quotes from a wide range of musicians. The book is thoroughly researched, and it's obvious that the author enjoyed every minute of it. I was impressed by how much was new to me. And the details that I knew became more magical when collected together. I focus on nostalgia a lot when describing this book, but maybe "hopeful" is a better sentiment. Like one reel connects to the other, tape connects people. It shows us that bonds made on now-deteriorated magnetic material can persist. Given that, who can help but be hopeful?..continued
Full Review
(777 words)
(Reviewed by Erin Lyndal Martin).
Tom Scharpling, author and host of The Best Show with Tom Scharpling
Who knew that the oft-disparaged cassette was responsible for literally bringing the world together? Marc Masters knew, and he does an astounding job tying endless threads into a story that is entertaining, surprising, and ultimately inspiring, showing us all how the cassette tape changed the culture time and time again.The portability and low price point of cassette tapes meant that they were easily integrated into many areas of technology, as Marc Masters explores in High Bias. Toys began incorporating tapes too, and the most famous tape-playing toy of all was named Teddy Ruxpin. First introduced in 1985, Teddy was quickly a favorite cutting-edge toy as well as the first fully animatronic one.
Inventor Ken Forsse was Teddy Ruxpin's creator. A longtime engineer for Disney, Forsse created the first animatronic animals at Disney theme parks, as well as the Haunted Mansion ride. His career also included stints at Chuck E. Cheese and Atari. Once he had the idea, Forsse assembled a four-person team to bring Teddy Ruxpin to life. (A similar toy named AG ...
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