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Electronic Cottage post #1

4/17/2018

8 Comments

 
Cassette Culture is described approximately as the time period from 1980-2000. There is some argument about this as many people had converted to CD by 1995 and the scene that had once flourished started to fade. The beginning date for this scene is also in question too. In Europe and Britain they generally list the “start” date for the Cassette Movement as about 1980 and namecheck Throbbing Gristle and other so called industrial bands as founding members of this period.

In America things were a bit different, at least for me and many of the other home tapers I made contact with early on. In 1984 I bought a copy of OP magazine in a store in Seattle when I was there visiting. Option and Sound Choice magazines came about not long after and seeing the cassette reviews and offers of “will trade” was very exciting and inspirational to me.

So, for me, Cassette Culture (we did not call it that at the time) did not begin until about 1984. Of course I had already been doing home recording for many years but had never packaged these songs into albums appropriate for trading to others. I quickly put together my songs into albums, made covers and started to write to the addresses in the mags.

And because I had an existing radio show it soon became a vehicle for presenting these newly traded home tapes. I was very happy not only to acquire all this neat new music in many styles but to create, develop and maintain friendships and associations with many people worldwide.
This was part of the revolution of this period. No agents, managers, or music business bullshit but actual one to one human interaction. I dedicated myself and my radio show to this scene and have done so ever since.

In future pieces I will describe and outline how this has all evolved because to me this is not just about the period outlined above. To me, the community never died. It certainly contracted and changed but I have tended my relationships for the most part, continued home recording myself and sharing my music with others, and offering an outlet for underground musicians to get their music out to more ears on the radio and internet.   Many, many others dropped out of sight, some stopped making music and almost everyone discontinued sending out as many packages in the post. So, I heard that the scene “died”. Perhaps for some but not for me. 

Others faded away (and some returned later) because it was a lot of work to be part of this. Making the music is taxing enough but to package it, mail it out, write letters, maintain relationships…well, it’s not easy and it costs money too.

So, for almost 35 years I have stayed at it, daily. Things are easier in a lot of ways now and that will part of the next chapter. There was never any grieving for me of a scene gone by because it never left my consciousness or life.
Sure, I have worked enormously hard and for a long time but I have done it out of love for the unique perspective it has given me and the relationships I have made.

Much like the punk and mail art scenes (out of which some say it arose), Cassette Culture never had a leader or a centralized manifesto. Certainly there were various accepted “rules” (like don't screw people over if they bought your tape or wanted a trade), have a little patience (because the mail moved slowly then), have respect and act as politely as possible…but there was never supposed to be any “stars”…there was no “making it”…there was no “hierarchy”…anyone could enter at any level and trade tapes with as many people as they wanted. I always liked that.

Some people were voracious traders, some didn't trade at all. Some people wrote long personal letters and others sent cryptic and confusing communiques. Sometimes people would take the next step and contact each other by phone, and then maybe in person. It is interesting to me that I have had relationships with many people I call friends and with some I have never met them or even talked to them on the phone.
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There are as many stories as there are participants in this culture. On my Living Archive site my goal was to get as many of those stories out as possible and expose people to as many unusual individuals doing their music at home and sending it out without regard to the music biz.

I started The Living Archive in 2009 and spent several years hard at it daily. Then, I incorporated other things into my life (like helping to manage a community radio station and other things) and updating The Living Archive became difficult. I don’t do it much at this point. Occasionally I make new entries and articles but not much. Of course I still do my radio shows (I am on 4 separate stations currently plus podcasts and still record my own music) .

However, there is a lot of timeless material there. Check the link in the sidebar. And it was always meant to be interactive.
Cassette Culture still lives with me and that’s why I called my site, “The Living Archive Of Underground Music”. It is part of the continuum that began a long time ago now. There are still many stories to tell and history to be made.

…Don Campau, 4-16-18

8 Comments
Frank
4/17/2018 02:40:24

Nicely written and I am definitely looking forward to many more stories!

Reply
Lord Litter link
4/17/2018 06:36:52

Without any pretentious schmaltz .. I still see Don Campau as the center of an idea that, once discovered in 1986, changed my life forever.

I'm speechless regarding his tireless work since more than 30 years. Whenever I was going up and down, left and right..stopping.. irritated by doubt .. he just kept on..

I recently produced 2 radioshows dedicated to his early work...:

>> The Don Campau special, part1....................
https://archive.org/details/lord_litters_radio_on_show_2017_36_don_campau_special_1

>> The Don Campau special, part2...................
https://archive.org/details/lord_litters_radio_on_show_2017_37_don_campau_special_2



Reply
C. Goff III link
4/17/2018 07:34:52

Living Archive = Unequaled Cassette Culture Yumminess
No Pigeonholes (all versions) = Radio Adventure Extraordinaire
Lonely Whistle Music = A Label For All Seasons, Expression Beyond Genre
Don Campau = Legend And Hero

2 Hours of the Lo Finest Show devoted to Don's classic cassette releases:

https://archive.org/download/lofinest/lofi24a.mp3
https://archive.org/download/lofinest/lofi24b.mp3

Reply
Hal McGee
4/17/2018 08:17:29

The earliest verifiable published use of the term “cassette culture” in the USA can be found in the Fall 1981 issue of OP magazine in Graham Ingels’ Castanets column. Jerry Kranitz came across it in 2016 when researching his upcoming book on Cassette Culture (January 2019, VOD). Me personally, I do not recall using the term in the 1980s. The term I recall is “The Cassette Network”.

Reply
Hal McGee
4/17/2018 08:56:36

By the way, whether we call it Cassette Culture or The Cassette Network or something else, doesn't actually matter. The points in Don's article are the most important things: the values of independence, of communication, of contact, of international camaraderie and cooperation are the legacy to which so many of us have remained true, which we still live by today. I was merely pointing out that what we now commonly refer to as "Cassette Culture" was a thing we were living, regardless of whether we called it the same thing.

Reply
Evan Cantor link
4/17/2018 14:41:44

For about four years, 1983-1986, I lived, ate and breathed "cassette culture" via my band Walls Of Genius...I don't remember what we called it back then, but, of course, "cassette culture" didn't come into general usage until later. Oh my goodness, it got to be too much for me, too many trades, too many contacts, all wonderful folks no doubt. Life had to go on in so many different directions, but the underground lives on to this very day and only a fool wouldn't appreciate the efforts of dee-jays, musicians and historians such as Don who have kept the flame burning. Here's to you, Don!

Reply
Robot Citizen link
4/19/2018 11:06:17

This describes it for me in the late 90s and early 00s; received and heard so much great music; made many friends around the world; kept life interesting; it did eventually overwhelm me though!

Reply
Frank
4/17/2018 23:39:30

I am having myself a Don Campau day...

-radio special of C.GoffIII
-radio special of Lord Litter
-Reupholsered vinyl

That must get me to a nice part of a rainy day

Reply



Leave a Reply.

    Picture

    Don Campau

    My name is Don Campau and I have been involved in underground and non mainstream music and radio since 1969. I continue to be an active home taper and Cassette Culture archivist with my own site, The Living Archive.

    Links to know me better:
    The Living Archive
    Lonely Whistle Music
    (my music catalog  and radio listings)

    I have no interest in the music business. I believe in giving my music away for free (although people can trade or buy if they want) and I handmake every single CD I send out. I am interested in human relationships and the community of independent and underground musicians and artists. I like contact and will play your music on the radio.

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