Mixtape Nostalgia: Culture, Memory, and Representation

Jehnie I. Burns

doi:10.5771/9781793616807

Summary

Mixtape Nostalgia: Culture, Memory, and Representation tells the story of the mixtape from its history in 1970s bootlegging to its resurgence as an icon of nostalgic analog technology. Burns looks at the history of the mixtape from the early 1980s and the rise of the cassette as a fundamental aspect of the music industry. Stories from music fans collecting hip hop mixtapes in the Bronx or recording songs off the radio permeate the book. She discusses the continued contemporary appeal of the mixtape as musicians, novelists, memoirists, playwrights, and even podcasters have used it as a metaphor for connection and identity. From Rob Sheffield’s Love is a Mix Tape to Questlove’s Mixtape Potluck Cookbook, Burns analyzes how the mixtape can function as a plot point, a stand-in for emotional connection, or an organizing structure. The book shows how creators use the iconography of the mixtape cassette to create ephemera, from coffee subscriptions to board games, which speaks to the appreciation of the tangible and the analog. The desire to find connection through sharing a physical artifact permeates the various creative uses of the mixtape. From blockbuster films like Guardians of the Galaxy to mixtape throw pillows, Burns highlights the mixtape as a site of collective memory tied to youth culture, community identity, and sharing music.

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Bibliographic data

Edition: 1/2021
Copyright Year: 2021
ISBN-Print: 978-1-7936-1679-1
ISBN-Online: 978-1-7936-1680-7
Publisher: Lexington, Lanham
Language: English
Pages: 266
Product Type: Monograph

1. Contents No access
2. List of Figures No access
3. Acknowledgments No access
1. Notes No access
1. What Is a Mixtape? No access
2. The Compact Cassette No access
3. Generation X No access
4. Notes No access
1. Youth Culture No access
2. Hip Hop No access
3. Punk No access
4. The Dominance of Cassettes No access
5. Notes No access
1. Making a Mixtape No access
2. Music No access
3. Books No access
4. Notes No access
1. Nostalgia and Collective Memory No access
2. Understanding Emotionality and Music No access
3. Mixtape lyrics No access
4. Books No access
5. Notes No access
1. Cultural Memory No access
2. Musicians Making Mixtapes No access
3. Books No access
4. Performance No access
5. Notes No access
1. Kitsch and Camp No access
2. Digital Mixtapes No access
3. Music No access
4. Books No access
5. Performance No access
6. Notes No access
1. Books No access
2. Performance No access
3. Mixing Analog and Digital Technology No access
4. Organizational Structure No access
5. Notes No access
1. As a Teaching Tool No access
2. Visual Representation No access
3. Notes No access
Notes No access Pages 227 - 258
Index No access Pages 259 - 266