Popular Culture
Instructor Mark Singleton
Mentor Chris Ross
Spring 2004

Mix Tape/ CD Assignment

Dick Clark, famous producer and host of American Bandstand, said, "Music is the soundtrack to our lives." Music, as Shakespeare states, is the fruit of love. It incites us to action, to passivity, to reflection, or, more directly, to emotion. Pythagoras even extended mathematics to music and found that the ratios of the harmonic scale are also found in the natural world and in his "golden triangle".

As vinyl gives way to MP3, as the phonograph is replaced by the iPod, and the terms of music creation change, sharing music has become a public matter. Our current culture begins to grapple with the idea of "free music" because of the repercussions of Napster, but this is not the first time private copyright interests have battled with the consumer sharing music.

The mix tape, or its contemporary cousin the mix CD, has been an artifact of our culture for the last fifteen years. There are as many meanings of the mix as there are people whom create them. We also see the mix tape as artifacts in our popular culture. In Boogie Nights, "a scene featuring the tape titled 'Awesome Mix' is an utterly warped scene with Night Ranger blasting in the background.  Side A of the mix ends abruptly mid-song (adding tension to an already tense scene)."

Assignment

Create a mix tape or mix CD (I would prefer a mix CD, but you will not get counted down if you stick to the mix tape medium). It should be approximately seventy (70) minutes long with clear delineations of "Side A" and "Side B". It should also have a thesis. Your mix must also be turned in with a written explanation of what you have included and why you have included it. The written portion should be about 3-4 pages long.

Guidelines

• Your mix should be between sixty (60) and seventy-five (75) minutes of music without "dead air".
• This is graded assignment. You will not be graded on musical taste, but rather on your ability to form a clear thesis/meaning for your tape and support it with each and every song.
• Your mix must not be an "inside joke/message". The thesis/meaning of the mix should be clear.
• The written portion should have an introduction paragraph with your mix-thesis as its thesis. Every song should be listed in bullet with artist. Two or three sentences should follow that support your songs inclusion and support your thesis.
• Extra Credit shall be given to those who decorate the outside of the mix tape/CD (liner notes, cover art, etc.).

Possible Ideas (all but the last mix taken from Art of the Mix)

The Romantic Mix
This kind of mix, when dating, can be a tricky mix to make.  You could either be very successful or else quickly end the relationship.

The Break-Up Mix
As an antidote to the Romantic mix, the Break-Up mix is for listening to upon the failure of a relationship.   (Perhaps you gave the person a Romantic mix which he/she didn't like. . .) 

The Platonic Mix
Mixes made by friends are great. You might make a tape for a friend deliberately with the person's musical taste in mind. Or, the mix might just be a record of what you felt like listening to a certain moment.  The mixed tape becomes, for your friend, a record of you at a moment in time. A series of mixed tapes over the years made by one person becomes a kind of document of that person's life. 

The Dance Mix
There is quite an art to this kind of mix.  The point is to create an ambiance and insure people continue to have a good time.  If you're real good at this kind of mix, forget making mixed tapes for friends and go make money as a DJ.

The Theme Mix/Genre Mix
A tape made with a theme (i.e., X-mas songs) or one that adheres to a particular genre (i.e., exclusively rockabilly).

The Workout Mix
This tape is a stand-by for all aerobics instructors as well as anybody who is trying to burn off a few pounds.  A good exercise tape makes the minutes go by faster.

The Hangover Mix
The hangover mix is meant for the morning after when it feels like someone is pounding a nail into your forehead and you need some music to distract you from the pounding as well as console you about any behavior that may have occurred the prior night. Rolling Stones ballads usually work well on this sort of mix.

The Sleep Mix
The sleep mix is a tape made for listening to when falling asleep, the great moment when you are in the zone between waking and sleeping, consciousness and unconsciousness.

Indoctrination Mix
The Indoctrination Mix a mix whose explicit purpose is to introduce someone else to a particular aspect of your taste. It usually centers on a certain artist, style, or geographical area. Sort of a musical Crusade; failure brings disappointment and a nagging shame, but a successful conversion illuminates where once there was darkness.

Narrative Mix
You have written a television narrative for this class. Now set it to music. If your life is a musical, what is song is you? What song is your significant other? Your parents? What does meeting your significant other sound like? What is the soundtrack to your life right now? Your freshman year? Your first day of school?