Mixtapes and the death of the author

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If you make a mixtape, are you worried about the hidden meanings your choice of songs might contain? Of course you're trying to say something with a tape, but is it worth worrying about whether giving a friend a tape with song called "I Love You" or similar is going to make your friend think you have a crush on them? I sometimes leave off tracks for this kind of reason. Should I just accept that the recipient is going to get their own meanings from the damn thing anyway?

(I know there are lots of mixtape-related threads already but I couldn't see one that covered this. Probably wrong though. And this is supposed to be here, not ILM - I'm interested in the politics/etiquette etc rather than the tunes.)

― beanz (beanz), Thursday, 24 June 2004 11:17 (twenty-one years ago)

Lordy I thought this was going to be about copywright infringement.

― suzy (suzy), Thursday, 24 June 2004 11:50 (twenty-one years ago)

Oh yeah, now I read my own title it could have been. That'll be my next way of asking the same question maybe. Perhaps it should have been from the first - this seems a bit lightweight compared to last night.

― beanz (beanz), Thursday, 24 June 2004 12:08 (twenty-one years ago)

As a recovering indie boy I thought the *whole point* was to include hem-hem unintended meanings. Plausible deniability as standard.

― Enrique (Enrique), Thursday, 24 June 2004 12:11 (twenty-one years ago)

That's kinda what I mean - everyone knows this, so you can't get away with it. Or you can. Depending on how flirty you do want to be. But I guess the bit I worry about is, what genuinely unintentional messages might I be sending?

― beanz (beanz), Thursday, 24 June 2004 12:39 (twenty-one years ago)

Yeah I worry that I'm unintentionally including loads of passive-aggressive swipes delivered via pithy lyrics and stuff. The theme and possibly title of the mix I'm making for a friend at the moment is pretty much transparently LIKE KRAUTROCK, YOU BASTARD, so it's quite liberating.

― Fergal (Ferg), Thursday, 24 June 2004 12:43 (twenty-one years ago)

Enrique painfully OTM.

― Matt (Matt), Thursday, 24 June 2004 12:44 (twenty-one years ago)

Ah, you see, even when I was an indie boy I never had any interest in doing anything other than just putting fucking great tunes on a mixtape for someone.

― Sick Mouthy (Nick Southall), Thursday, 24 June 2004 12:47 (twenty-one years ago)

Hahahaha, the first mixtape my now-boyfriend made for me before we hooked up included the Momus song "Closer to you". I simultaneously got THE FEAR and was a bit flattered by his evident voyeuristic tendences. He now claims he had no intention of conveying any sort of message through that tape but I think he is LYING.

― Hanna (Hanna), Thursday, 24 June 2004 12:52 (twenty-one years ago)

Ah, you see, even when I was an indie boy I never had any interest in doing anything other than just putting fucking great tunes on a mixtape for someone.

Fake indie boys gah! Obv I put on GREBT FUCKING CHOONS. But once that just happened to hint at the lothario lurking within my painfully awkward and introverted and t-shirted exterior. And once a young lady mistook my mixing for Grandmaster Flash. Serious.

― Enrique (Enrique), Thursday, 24 June 2004 13:03 (twenty-one years ago)

Hanna, how do you think I must have felt to get mixtapes from the man himself with CERTAIN DEMOS included? Sheesh. Although I did drop the mean bits if Crowds by Bauhaus ("you ruthless bitch/you fickle shit!") in the middle of a really long mix of UFOrb done for Nick, just to nark him off.

― suzy (suzy), Thursday, 24 June 2004 13:19 (twenty-one years ago)

Hanna, that's exactly the sorta thing I worry about. Haven't put any Momus tracks down yet though.

I never had any interest in doing anything other than just putting fucking great tunes on a mixtape

Ahh, but what did the recipients think they were getting?

― beanz (beanz), Thursday, 24 June 2004 13:52 (twenty-one years ago)

Hopefully just great songs - people actually used to compliment me on not trying to theme them or send a message but just putting on great tunes.

― Sick Mouthy (Nick Southall), Thursday, 24 June 2004 13:58 (twenty-one years ago)

That doesn't sound very indie to me.

― Enrique (Enrique), Thursday, 24 June 2004 14:01 (twenty-one years ago)

I was never very indie, I just liked guitars.

― Sick Mouthy (Nick Southall), Thursday, 24 June 2004 14:02 (twenty-one years ago)

Nick Southall, I kiss you

― People love Gravity and Ebullition! (ex machina), Thursday, 24 June 2004 14:03 (twenty-one years ago)

Should I be glad?

― Sick Mouthy (Nick Southall), Thursday, 24 June 2004 14:03 (twenty-one years ago)

I'm relieved that kind of transparency is possible then, Nick. (Sounds facetious but I do mean that)
xpost

― beanz (beanz), Thursday, 24 June 2004 14:05 (twenty-one years ago)

Man, if I fancied someone when I was 16 I'd just write thema fucking letter, you know? All this pussy-footing around with a mixtpae wastes valuable space for actualyl enjoying music!

― Sick Mouthy (Nick Southall), Thursday, 24 June 2004 14:09 (twenty-one years ago)

B-b-but obv Nick was misreading the compliments, which were themselves invitations to hitherto unimagined acts of unconstrained intimacy...

I never pussied around with letters obv.

― Enrique (Enrique), Thursday, 24 June 2004 14:10 (twenty-one years ago)

On my radio show last night, I dedicated a quiet storm type song to a fellow heterosexual male, because I thought he'd get a kick out of it and he did me a favour last week covering for me when I was on holidays. Halfway through the song though, I was like, oh boy, he's gonna think I'm hot for him.
Which maybe, y'know, will be an ego boost for him.

― Huk-El (Horace Mann), Thursday, 24 June 2004 14:12 (twenty-one years ago)

And get you a reach-around!

― Sick Mouthy (Nick Southall), Thursday, 24 June 2004 14:13 (twenty-one years ago)

Suzy, haha!!

― Hanna (Hanna), Thursday, 24 June 2004 14:23 (twenty-one years ago)

My friend J is the worst person to make mixtapes for. He is a classical musician and theorist and he doesn't like it when my mixes fuck with genres.

― AdamL :') (nordicskilla), Thursday, 24 June 2004 14:51 (twenty-one years ago)

Hahaha! He'd hate mine! Why does he hate it? That's quite sad in a way.

― Sick Mouthy (Nick Southall), Thursday, 24 June 2004 14:53 (twenty-one years ago)

He doesn't like eclecticism.

And he only really likes jazz, classical, and hip hop. As long as they are kept apart.

― AdamL :') (nordicskilla), Thursday, 24 June 2004 14:55 (twenty-one years ago)

I keep wanting to say "LOOK! IT SEEMS ECLECTIC BUT BY MY JUXTAPOSITIONS, I AM SUGGESTING A UNIFYING THREAD RUNNING THROUGH THESE SONGS THAT TRANSCENDS GENRE!!!!!!!!".

Never mind. I am making him a grime mix now.

― AdamL :') (nordicskilla), Thursday, 24 June 2004 14:56 (twenty-one years ago)

Including Pussy Galore's "Cunt Tease" usually elimnates this problem.

― hstencil (hstencil), Thursday, 24 June 2004 14:58 (twenty-one years ago)

My Neck, My Back by Khia would also be a good addition.

― beanz (beanz), Thursday, 24 June 2004 15:03 (twenty-one years ago)

Mouthy OTM about the great tunes. Then again, I barely listen to lyrics, so who knows if I ever sent someone the wrong message. Actually, I think someone DID ask me once if I meant something by a particular song, and I was all like "wha?"

― jaymc (jaymc), Thursday, 24 June 2004 15:08 (twenty-one years ago)

In eighth grade, my best friend and I got into an arguement. I made him a tape and put "We Can Work It Out" by the Beatles on it. He told me I was gay.

― Pleasant Plains (Pleasant Plains), Thursday, 24 June 2004 15:14 (twenty-one years ago)

But men aren't supposed to listen to lyrics!!!

― AdamL :') (nordicskilla), Thursday, 24 June 2004 15:18 (twenty-one years ago)

mix tapes are only good for getting me laid.

― Ian c=====8 (orion), Thursday, 24 June 2004 20:53 (twenty-one years ago)

I got laid a lot more once I stopped making mixtapes.

― hstencil (hstencil), Thursday, 24 June 2004 20:54 (twenty-one years ago)

that's not because making mixtapes is foreplay.

― cozen (Cozen), Thursday, 24 June 2004 20:56 (twenty-one years ago)

so, joel, what you're trying to say is that your music taste is repulsive and a "turn off" for "women"?

― Ian c=====8 (orion), Thursday, 24 June 2004 21:06 (twenty-one years ago)

no, what I'm trying to say is women don't give a shit about that faux-sensitive crap.

― hstencil (hstencil), Thursday, 24 June 2004 21:08 (twenty-one years ago)

what if your mixtapes are more "Let's Pretend We're Married"/"Too Funky" than "Let Tomorrow Be(e)"/"Bowl Of Oranges"?

― CeCe Peniston (Anthony Miccio), Thursday, 24 June 2004 21:10 (twenty-one years ago)

it's not about being faux sensitive, it's about making sure they're not scared off my loud things.

― Ian c=====8 (orion), Thursday, 24 June 2004 21:11 (twenty-one years ago)

― hstencil (hstencil), Thursday, 24 June 2004 21:14 (twenty-one years ago)

Adam, make me a mix tape! Or, you know a mix CDr, something.

― Casuistry (Chris P), Thursday, 24 June 2004 21:15 (twenty-one years ago)

okay...I hve no idea what music you like, Chris. I know what music you make. I think that you don't like pop music.

― AdamL :') (nordicskilla), Thursday, 24 June 2004 21:27 (twenty-one years ago)

And frankly, your ignorance of R Kelly on this thread borders on the criminal.

But okay then.

― AdamL :') (nordicskilla), Thursday, 24 June 2004 21:28 (twenty-one years ago)

I only make mixtapes that are completely random, no messages, nope not ever.

― jel -- (jel), Thursday, 24 June 2004 22:01 (twenty-one years ago)

though I do often put Eric's Trips "Allergic to Love" at the end of tapes.

― jel -- (jel), Thursday, 24 June 2004 22:04 (twenty-one years ago)

I prefer poppy music to pop music. And I don't know hiphop et al for shit. And I like eclecticism. But honestly I don't want you to give my tastes too much of a thought, just put on stuff you like.

I barely listen to music these days anyways, but I think that was mostly because I was working on the album. Now that's done and I can listen to music again for a few months before I start writing the new one! So hit me now!

(P.S. The goodies I have long promised to send you, turns out there's a bit of a problem with them, the 2nd disc is corrupted, so I'll either send you just disc 1 until we get disc 2 working or... something.)

― Casuistry (Chris P), Thursday, 24 June 2004 22:06 (twenty-one years ago)

Any mixtape with any Violent Femmes or "Love Is Tearing Us Apart" on it = DUD*!
_________________________
*Unless said mixtape was made before January 1, 1984.

― Pleasant Plains (Pleasant Plains), Friday, 25 June 2004 15:36 (twenty-one years ago)

Oh no! The goodies!

(it's okay, Chris)

― AdamL :') (nordicskilla), Friday, 25 June 2004 16:00 (twenty-one years ago)

Nipper to article.

― the bellefox, Friday, 25 June 2004 16:02 (twenty-one years ago)

the goodies were great! bill oddie kinda reminds me of bruce dickinson.

― jel -- (jel), Friday, 25 June 2004 16:03 (twenty-one years ago)

seven years pass...

my friend just referred to mixtapes as "mixedtapes" on fb

― ASPIE Rocky (dayo), Tuesday, 8 November 2011 13:11 (fourteen years ago)

i have heard that. will rep for tapemixtures.

― Abattoir Educator / Slaughterman (schlump), Tuesday, 8 November 2011 13:13 (fourteen years ago)

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