What did people used to do before mixtapes?

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Before audio tape was common, or even invented...

Did people exchange sheet music compilations?

Poemtry?

Or were there really that many people serenading? Oh, god that would have been horrible...

― dave225 (Dave225), Wednesday, 25 August 2004 13:30 (twenty-one years ago)

reel to reel

― Velveteen Bingo (Chris V), Wednesday, 25 August 2004 13:33 (twenty-one years ago)

People used to go round to each others houses, youth clubs etc. with a bundle of 7"s & LPs andl isten in real time. Surely you've seen those old '50s pics of kids kneeling round the Dansette.

― Jez (Jez), Wednesday, 25 August 2004 13:33 (twenty-one years ago)

No, before that.. Before recorded media was widely available...

http://winn-dixie.com/reward_card/images/promotions/makemeover/troy_Kurtis_Serenading_Kim_sm.jpg

― dave225 (Dave225), Wednesday, 25 August 2004 13:34 (twenty-one years ago)

esp. if considering the mixtape as romantic gesture

― sexyDancer, Wednesday, 25 August 2004 13:39 (twenty-one years ago)

Give fully stocked jukeboxes as presents.

― Neil FC (Neil FC), Wednesday, 25 August 2004 13:48 (twenty-one years ago)

Or fully-stocked player pianos, before the record/wax cylinder...

― dave225 (Dave225), Wednesday, 25 August 2004 13:50 (twenty-one years ago)

Maybe before mixtapes people actually told other people they fancied them rather than blushing shyly and meaningfully to that special Field Mice lyric.

But no, that would be preposterous.

― Tom (Groke), Wednesday, 25 August 2004 13:51 (twenty-one years ago)

Frolic in sun-kissed fields.

― Wooden (Wooden), Wednesday, 25 August 2004 13:51 (twenty-one years ago)

wooden that be lovely

― lukey (Lukey G), Wednesday, 25 August 2004 13:54 (twenty-one years ago)

chaperones, dude.

― sexyDancer, Wednesday, 25 August 2004 13:55 (twenty-one years ago)

people would slice together reel-by-reel compilations with a razor blade like little Pierre Schaeffers.

playing records over the phone>mix tapes

― Dan Selzer (Dan Selzer), Wednesday, 25 August 2004 14:17 (twenty-one years ago)

listen to the radio?

― officer pupp, Wednesday, 25 August 2004 14:37 (twenty-one years ago)

Die too young from malaria.

― Mark (MarkR), Wednesday, 25 August 2004 14:42 (twenty-one years ago)

They were too busy working in the cotton mines to listen to music, let alone fall in love.

― dog latin (dog latin), Wednesday, 25 August 2004 14:45 (twenty-one years ago)

an old professor of mine had lots of old reel-to-reel dubs of sundry 45s from his friends. kind of unwieldy for crush purposes though.

― amateur!!st, Wednesday, 25 August 2004 15:45 (twenty-one years ago)

They barked like wild dogs.

― Star Cauliflower (Star Cauliflower), Wednesday, 25 August 2004 16:13 (twenty-one years ago)

The Charleston

― oops (Oops), Wednesday, 25 August 2004 16:15 (twenty-one years ago)

They had verandas, back then. Now they have kids with headphones lurking in bedrooms painted black.

Nothing wrong with either, of course.

― Thea (Thea), Wednesday, 25 August 2004 21:21 (twenty-one years ago)

they got drunk and jack their bodies to the ripping sounds of big band jazz.

― Disco Nihilist (mjt), Thursday, 26 August 2004 03:35 (twenty-one years ago)

Masturbated a lot and dreamed of rebellion.
Just like you and me.

― Forksclovetofu (Forksclovetofu), Thursday, 26 August 2004 03:48 (twenty-one years ago)

they'd walk out into the woods, rub Marmite on their chests and pretend to be wolves.

Note: other spreadable yeast products are available.

― Loki, Tuesday, 31 August 2004 18:13 (twenty-one years ago)

Shoot squirrel. Salt meat. Yodel.

― Evanston Wade (EWW), Tuesday, 31 August 2004 23:55 (twenty-one years ago)

"they'd walk out into the woods, rub Marmite on their chests and pretend to be wolves. "

ha, some still do this, indeed am i guilty as charged. instead of marmite blood of caribou or elk is used by myself. i do not prentnd to be wolf, for as black-souled warrior of nightspirit i am also lycanthrope.

as for music, the black music sounding from the horns of Valhalla is immortal can be heard throughout the darkest, nightspirit chanels of astral plain. byzantum is closest to this in eartly terms.

― Vas Djifrens (latebloomer), Wednesday, 1 September 2004 00:13 (twenty-one years ago)

Don't know about you, but I'm still stunned over the thought of someone blushingly handing a Field Mice mixtape to the object of one's desires. Surely such an act must rate as The All-Time Stupidest Moment In (Failed) Courtship History.

What do you suppose the girl who was handed the tape said/did? (Because no girl would ever be dumb enough to make a Field Mice mixtape for a guy, and the recipient must be a girl, not a woman, as no one over the age of 13 would ever own a Field Mice record in the first place. Furthermore, no girl would be dumb enough to even own a Field Mice recording.)

On the other hand, it may indeed be more likely that the Field Mice Mixtape Courtship was committed (and subsequently consumated) at an upper class boarding institution amongst two buggering twit lads, and nary a female within a 20-mile radius.

Yes, now that I think about it, that would be the only logical explanation.

― Helke, Wednesday, 1 September 2004 04:22 (twenty-one years ago)

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