Various mixtapes

random
music

Back in the olden days (the 1980s), my first car didn’t come with a radio or any music-playing capability. My second car, however (purchased in 1982), did. And with the advent of a car that could accept cassette tapes came an innovation - the mixtape.

At the time I hadn’t heard of mixtapes, so when I cobbled together some of my favourite songs of the time onto cassettes, I gave them the name ‘Various’.

During the 1980s I compiled four such ‘Various’ cassettes. Surprisingly these tapes survived until this morning when they were collected by our local garbage collectors. The cassettes and music therein aren’t for the most part garbage, but we have no sensible way of playing them anymore, so they are refuse.

But for posterity I have made a list of the contents on each cassette:

Various I (1982)

Side A

  1. Knockin’ on Heavens Door, Bob Dylan
  2. Let it Be, The Beatles
  3. Stairway to Heaven, Led Zepplin
  4. Camelia, Bette Midler
  5. The Rose, Bette Midler
  6. Us and Them, Pink Floyd
  7. Tunnel of Love, Dire Straits
  8. Ziggy Stardust, David Bowie
  9. Live and Let Die, Paul McCartney and Wings

Side B

  1. Mother, Pink Floyd
  2. Bohemian Rhapsody, Queen
  3. The Rover, Led Zepplin
  4. Hotel California, The Eagles
  5. My Love, Paul McCartney and Wings
  6. Happy Christmas, John Lennon
  7. Telephone Line, Electric Light Orchestra
  8. Kashmir, Led Zepplin

Various II (1982)

Side A

  1. Chariots of Fire, Vangelis
  2. Stairway to Heaven, Led Zepplin
  3. An Unguarded Moment, The Church
  4. Rosanna, Toto
  5. Every Grain of Sand, Bob Dylan
  6. If You Want My Love, Cheap Trick
  7. Private Investigations, Dire Straits
  8. Watching the Wheels, John Lennon
  9. Almost With You, The Church

Side B

  1. Mother, Pink Floyd
  2. Under Pressure, David Bowie and Queen
  3. Rock and Roll, Led Zepplin
  4. Fade to Grey, Visage
  5. Armistace Day, Midnight Oil
  6. Covenant Woman, Bob Dylan
  7. Knockin’ on Heavens Door, Bob Dylan
  8. One Perfect Day, Little Heroes
  9. I Know There’s Something Going On, Anni-Frid Lyngstad
  10. Short Memory, Midnight Oil
  11. Stay With Me Till Dawn, Judy Tzuke

Various III (Circa 1983)

Side A

  1. Love Over Gold, Dire Straits
  2. Africa, Toto
  3. Down Under, Men At Work
  4. If Leaving Me Is Easy, Phil Collins
  5. Where Do The Children Play, Cat Stevens
  6. Comfortably Numb, Pink Floyd
  7. Maralinga, Midnight Oil
  8. Tomorrow Never Knows, Phil Collins
  9. Tunnel of Love, Dire Straits

Side B

  1. In the Flesh, Pink Floyd
  2. The Thin Ice, Pink Floyd
  3. You Can’t Always Get What You Want, Bette Midler
  4. Burning Down One Side, Robert Plant
  5. I’m Not In Love, 10CC
  6. Baker Street, Gerry Rafferty
  7. Stay With Me, Bette Midler
  8. Ashes to Ashes, David Bowie
  9. Imagine, John Lennon
  10. You Can’t Hurry Love, Phil Collins

Various IV (1985)

Side A

  1. Heat of the Moment, Asia
  2. Wish You Were Here, Pink Floyd
  3. I’ll Find My Way Home, Jon and Vangelis
  4. Romeo and Juliet, Dire Straits
  5. We Belong, Pat Benatar
  6. Boys of Summer, Don Henley
  7. Under Pressure, David Bowie and Queen
  8. Pressing On, Bob Dylan
  9. Going Home, Mark Knopfler
  10. Is This the World We Created, Queen

Side B

  1. I’ll Remember You, Bob Dylan
  2. Burn For You, INXS
  3. Live It Up, Mental As Anything
  4. Love of the Common People, Paul Young
  5. Dance Hall Days, Wang Chung
  6. Missing You, John Waite
  7. Radio Ga Ga, Queen