Turntable Revolution

I can still remember the smell of the styrofoam/cardboard aroma that wafted out of the box as I tore into it, revealing my greatest purchase ever: a dual cassette deck with AUTO REVERSE.

I was 15 years old, in the middle of a successful hair-brush-mic-karaoke-in-my-bedroom-mirror career, and now, with this awesomely cool dual cassette ghetto blaster with bass boost, I was COOL.

(Well, coolER. My mom told me I'd ALWAYS been hip....obviously....)

This phenemonal advance in technology allowed the music-lovin' masses the opportunity to enjoy their favourite tapes without the hassle of flipping over to side B once the tuneage on side A ended. A stellar step up in the world of technology. How on earth could anything beat this? What on earth could they come up with next?

Little did I know, my "greatest purchase ever" was soon to become a primitive piece of audio enjoyment - could any 15yr old really prepare for the flood of fascinating toys that was about to inundate the industry?

In a flurry of evolutions and revolutions, from CDs (super audio and otherwise) to mp3s, discmans (discmen?) and iTunes, studio sound booths to some kid's mom's basement in front of the computer with a mic patched in, the development of the music scene, both production and distribution-wise, has had a more far-reaching effect than it once did just years before.

(Thanks, Internet!)

But, oddly enough, after I sadly recognized the short shelf life of my "greatest purchase ever", and after I'd caved and purchased successors to my beloved boom box (the CD player, the iPod), I couldn't help but find a hint of hilarity (or sense of pride perhaps?) in the sustainability of the cassette's predecessor, the popular LP. 

Yep, the good ol' record player. My first music-playing medium. (I had one just like this! Ahh, the memories...)

The hilarity stems from the fact that, after all the creative ways to produce and play music, vinyl - my earliest music-related memory - is making its comeback. Of course records have always been around, but their popularity waned in light of more recent innovations. And now, they're becoming the mainstream medium again. So what the heck? What about mp3s? And all my CDs that have been sitting around, unused for years (with the exception of Hootie & the Blowfish - that disc's propping up a dresser)...is this a case of history repeating itself? Have we just run out of ways to preserve and play tunes? Or has vinyl just been the constant, steadfast formidable force in audio playback, unmatched in quality?

I'm going with the latter.

After wading through a variety of mediums, I find myself back where I began, only putting a modern spin on my classic memory: slowly building up my collection of LPs and enjoying them on my new state-of-the-art turntable (purdy, ain't she?!). Only this time, I've got U2 and Beatles vinyl (a far cry from the Sesame Street and Disney "records" my parents used to buy me).

Of course, with this having come full-circle in my life, I've got complete faith cassette decks will be big again. (They've just GOT to be, right?!) C'mon, Auto Reverse was an amazing breakthrough, I really don't think it got the appreciation it deserved.

So, in the wake of the Turntable Revolution, let's start an Occupy the Ghetto movement to bring back the blaster!  

(I may or may not still have my El DeBarge cassette ready to rock when that day comes...)

SoundTracking: No Regrets (Tom Cochrane)