Heavy Metal cassettes are still useful to me
You know something… I am sick and tired of the throw away mentality that surfaces about, in regards to the media in which we listen to music. Turntables are still being sold and so are cassette tape decks. I can understand if younger generations are not at all interested in vinyl records, cassette tapes or (gulp) – 8-track tapes. The younger dudes did not have record or tape collections to replace with CD’s… a very costly endeavor at that, which can take a lifetime to rebuild with CD’s, depending on how large your music collection was. However, in the last three years alone, I have purchased two “brand new” combination stereo systems for my daughters and guess what? Both of these combination stereos have built-in cassette decks!! Both stereos were purchased at Target, a major upscale department store that is supposedly in the know – on the cutting edge of having the latest home electronics technology! So, if cassette tapes are supposed to be so archaic, so outdated and symbolic of poor taste in music listening enjoyment, then why are they still being manufactured? To pacify us older dudes who have still hung on to our cassette collections? Out of sympathy for us nostalgic Metalheads?
My number one music genre, is of course, Heavy Metal and all related Heavy and Extreme Music genres. With that appreciation I have for my music, I still covet the Heavy Metal cassettes that I, to this very day… hunt down and find at thrift stores and yard sales. Hey, I have the means to still play them! As a bonus for me… my model year 2000 Ford Tauras has a built-in… you guessed it… cassette deck! Therefore, I am not wasting my loot when I purchase these Heavy Metal cassettes from yesteryear. No matter what thrift store I frequent, the standard price for each cassette tape is only fifty cents. Fifty cents!! C’mon, let’s be real, that is nothing compared to the sticker prices for the newly released, Heavy Metal CD’s you find today. My recent CD purchases, of the newest releases of Metal bands, have ranged in price from $9.99 upwards to $17.99… and we are not talking about any one of them being a double CD either! These CD prices will never thwart my addiction to Heavy Metal and frequent purchasing. The point I am making is simple… for fifty cents, I am still getting the same enjoyment from the music I listen to, albeit the sound quality of a CD versus the cassette tape equates to the CD wins. (I will not argue about the sound quality)
There are dozens of Heavy Metal cassettes that I find that are currently not available on CD. The cassettes I buy must have the original liner notes intact, in near mint to mint condition. Take my word for it, these liner notes are a piece of Heavy Metal nostalgia for the respective band on the cassette… I still get a kick out of reading the cool liner notes that have full lyrics and interesting credits. You would be surprised at what one may learn from reading the liner notes of these old cassettes… especially the ones that are currently not available on CD. I have posted in the past, the last laugh the turntable and record albums are currently having on the music marketplace… it is the Heavy Metal cassette tape that is silently having the last laugh as well.
Metal Odyssey > Heavy Metal Music Blog 
June 5, 2009 at 2:07 pm
I have pretty much replaced all of my cassettes with CDs now…but it took a while. I scanned online Cd shops and ebay for years and just about completed my search. fortunately there have been a lot of foreign record labels who have bootlegged stuff to CD in very limited pressing, but I got em. Sometimes it was done by having someone convert the tape/vinyl to a digital format for me but that was only on a few rare occasions. I’m pretty sure that it you look around you can find most of what you are looking for. if you need anything from my list I’d be glad to upload it for you if it’s not something that is readily available.
http://rateyourmusic.com/list/acacia70/cd_collection
June 7, 2009 at 11:49 pm
Thanks for letting me know you can provide the Metal goods… I want to buy a copy of Capricorn USA… visited the myspace page… cool, really cool. I remember years back… I begged the manager of Strawberries Records (east coast records chain) for the Motorhead promo poster for “No Remorse”… he finally after weeks of begging, gave it to me. I have it hung up to this day. I understand the devotion to Motorhead… yet you actually acted on it – that is commendable.
– In Metal – Stone
July 15, 2011 at 9:30 pm
Right there with ya, I still have quite a few cassettes that I haven’t got rid of, even though my tape player is dust and I have way of listening to them or converting them to disc.
I used to love to read the “thank you’s” on my cassettes, I always used to like to see if I knew who they were thanking.