Well into the new millennium, the analog cassette tape continues to claw its way back from obsolescence. In Unspooled, Rob Drew traces how a lowly, hissy format that began life in office dictation machines and cheap portable players came to be regarded as a token of intimate expression through music and a source of cultural capital. Drawing on sources ranging from obscure music zines to transcripts of Congressional hearings, Drew examines a moment in the early 1980s when music industry representatives argued that the cassette encouraged piracy. By telling the cassette’s long and winding history, Drew demonstrates that sharing cassettes became an acceptable and meaningful mode of communication that initiated rituals of independent music recording, re-recording, and gifting.
- Publisher : Duke University Press Books (March 5, 2024)
- Paperback : 232 pages
- ISBN-13 : 978-1478025597
- Dimensions : 6 x 0.5 x 9 inches
