MY FIRST MIX TAPE

[jbd]

the first "MIX TAPE" i ever created came at the request of my high school GYM TEACHER, who asked me to make him a 90 minute "PARTY ROCK" cassette for a shindig/cookout he was throwing at his house on a lake. this was in the late 70s, when there simply WEREN'T many various artists comps commercially available, aside from K-TEL albums. this was also a time before the term CLASSIC ROCK had even been created, though that's what the playlist looks like in retrospect.

my gym teacher chose about a fifth of the songs, and i filled in the rest. he didn't know many group's names, or have many LPs of his own. but he knew what he wanted, and asked me as a favor, and i was happy to oblige. he seemed to be going for good-time singalong rock songs by artists with a slight bluesy/RNB twist, tho i had no clue what "blooze" meant back then. J. GEILS and GEORGE THOROGOOD were easily his two favorite acts, so i used them for a 'jumping off" point. this was actually still a few years before GEORGE had any huge hits like BAD TO THE BONE. in fact, my teacher didn't WANT the tape to be all huge hits you heard on the radio all the time, just a good mix of SOME biggies, mixed with more obscure (cult) classics.

if i know that gym teacher, he probably STILL has those tapes, which would be exactly 30 yrs old by now.

HOUSE PARTY-J. GEILS
FEEL LIKE A NUMBER-BOB SEGER
THE LAST TIME-STONES
STONE BLUE-FOGHAT
MOVE IT ON OVER-THOROGOOD
KEEP PLAYIN' THAT ROCK & ROLL-EDGAR WINTER'S WHITE TRASH
YOU AIN'T NOTHIN BUT FINE-ROCKPILE
TRAVELIN BAND-CCR
BAREFOOTIN-BROWNSVILLE STATION
BIG TEN INCH RECORD-AEROSMITH
RAMBLIN GAMBLIN MAN-BOB SEGER
I DO-J. GEILS
GIMME THREE STEPS-LYNYRD SKYNYRD
WHAT YOU GOT-DUKE & THE DRIVERS (NEW ENGLAND legends who almost made the national TOP 40 with this "BTO meets GEILS" classic, to this day never available on CD!)
JUMPIN' JACK FLASH-STONES
BOTTOM OF THE SEA-THOROGOOD
TAKE IT LIKE A MAN-BTO
UP AROUND THE BEND-CCR
MUSTA GOT LOST-J. GEILS
ONE WAY OUT-ALLMAN BROTHERS
MAMA KIN-AEROSMITH
ROCK & ROLL NEVER FORGETS-BOB SEGER
FOOL FOR THE CITY-FOGHAT
SATURDAY NIGHT SPECIAL-LYNYRD SKYNYRD
WHO DO YA LOVE-THOROGOOD
IT'S ALL OVER NOW-STONES

you get the idea...i've made hundreds of mix tapes and CDs since then, under every theme and musical genre imaginable.

what was YOUR first mix tape?...

[m c dornan]

Never made a mix tape. But I have lots of cassettes with songs taped off the radio. It was whatever came on, when it came on, no order to it. The anarchy of it all!

[jbd]

hey, that counts as a mix tape to me!...