A mixed tape was once a personal show of expression. An arrangement of songs purposefully set to invoke an emotion. Happy, sad, psych-up workouts, breakups, love making… all depends.
Spending time to record a deliberate mix of songs in order for someone else was devotion.
When you’ve heard a specific mixed tape enough you anticipate the next song. Almost like the PBS TV ads promoting Country Music anthologies. One song blends into the next after hearing it so many times you string the next song into the last by memory. (eg. Sixteen tons to Blueberry Hill)
One mixed tape I made, a Maxell Metal 90, for a 90’s cross-country roadtrip journey was burned into my mind. A mix of 60’s to 70’s Neil Young, Led Zeppelin, Canned Heat, etc. and other “hippy” stuff.
I never noticed it went missing but one day, 10+ years later, I was near the Blackcomb Daylodge Rental shop when I heard the transition of one song to the other. I predicted the order of the next three songs, seemingly psychic, only to discover I made the mix a decade before.
Never did I think I was creating something. Not my own.
Curating or ordering something was not creating but yet personal preference. Still an art.
In this Apple Music/Google Play/Spotify generation I suspect there will be a hint of nostalgia in playing certain songs together.
A Side / B Side – I wonder if “flipping” media at any specifc point should result in different results.
People not algorithms will ultimately create the most personal selection.
AI/ML will still take your job. Rock on!