Rob Walker: Why Cassette Culture?

Examples of nostalgic reference to cassette tape seem to be everywhere. As I procrastinated in writing up a spotlight on NY Times magazine columnist Rob Walker‘s recent piece ‘Hitting Rewind on the Cassette Tape‘, I couldn’t help to see cultural reminders pop up on my daily RSS trawl. I found Cassette Street Art, SD card reading MP3 players shaped as cassette tapes, neck ties made from recycled tape and I swear I saw somewhere some sort of table attached out of a wall where it was designed to look like a cassette sticking out of a player.

The combination of all of these representations of the cassette tape can make you wonder if we’ll see a resurgence of the dead tech like we have seen with Polaroid photos or the tape’s cousin vinyl.

In his article, Rob Walker notices the presence of so much cassette paraphernalia and wonders what it all means. One reason for the popularity of the technology he uncovers is that they have been part of the time in someone’s life when they were in love. If that was the case why hasn’t there been a resurgence in tape sales? Walker concludes that maybe it’s the memory of this love that is more powerful than the actual experience of it:

It seems the romance of the cassette is strongest in its connection to actual romance: the carefully picked batch of songs transformed a sorry piece of plastic into a precious object.

…Maybe this is why cassette imagery seems to be a good bit more durable than the medium itself. Tapes are an ex, and this romance isn’t really about wanting the past to come back; it’s about wanting to keep remembering it, fondly.

NY Times: Hitting Rewind on the Cassette Tape